Re: left/right symmetry, manifest or not

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

Robert Cohen wrote:
> I wouldn't blame the cross product.  I would say the *coordinate system* is
> flipped in the mirror and the cross product follows suit.

I do blame the cross product, because without the cross
product, flipping the coordinate system wouldn't have
any effect on the way we write the laws of physics
(excluding weak nuclear interactions).

> For example, meteorologists may use a left-handed coordinate system where
> one axis points toward the east, another points toward the north, and the
> third points in the direction of increasing pressure (down).  If we define
> ixj=k then the cross product in this coordinate system follows the LHR.  As
> far as I am concerned, this is just math.

But we use math to write the laws of physics.
There evidently were people on this list who thought
the laws of electromagnetism were right-handed, because
of the prominent cross products in the usual form of the
Maxwell equations.  The cross-product math isn't really
wrong, but it can be misleading.

> The physics is contained in the circulation,

Yes!

> which is the same in both coordinate systems.  Likewise, the
> wedge product is the same in both coordinate systems.  I think.

It is.  It rather directly portrays the circulation, so
it is bulletproof.