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Re: [Phys-l] Phys-l Digest, Vol 23, Issue 9




On 12/09/2006 at 12:00 PM, phys-l-request@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu wrote:

How widespread is the use of \Delta instead of \nabla^2 to mean the Laplacian
operator in 3-D?

In math, it's almost universal. The only exception is a few very specific
areas of applied math that tend to be more physically than mathematically
oriented.

In 4-D Minkowski space the Laplacian becomes the d'Alembertian. Should the
d'Alembertian operator be a square with or without a superscript 2?

In math the $\Box$ is (almost?) never squared.

--
Phil Parker
--------------------------------------------
URL http://www.math.wichita.edu/~pparker/
Random quote:
Painting is the art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather
and exposing them to the critics.---Ambrose Bierce