This list has a way of waving its hands a lot -- as if we were
dealing with a oral exam. The original question was what is in your
head when you see the equation F=ma. Joe Belina(sp) gave a
straightforward reply. Thank you
Q1) In F=ma do you (not your students -- not for a doctoral oral) --
do you now think of F as force or as acceleration?
If i push on a block with my hand and the block accelerates, don't
I think of the push as a cause and the acceleration as the
result? Then I think of F=ma and say to myself aha I know a law
which applies. In this case the push is F and the acceleration is
a. Here F is a cause and a is the result.