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It makes me wonder how many other points of confusion there are for
our students, and how could we identify them ahead of time to create
a better learning experience.
joe
Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
On Aug 8, 2007, at 11:35 PM, Ken Fox wrote:
Egad! I had no idea of how confused my students must have been as I
blithely
discussed that the independent variable should be on the x or
horizontal
axis and the dependent on the y or vertical axis. How else can you
plot a
function? I am sure I was understood. Then again, my teen aged
children
understood what I meant by being home by 11 PM. ;-)
My students taught me how to distinguish ordinate from absissa.
They learned
from a math teacher. When you say absissa, your mouth stretches
horizontally
(assuming a normal sitting or standing position) with the ..iss..
sound and
for ordinate the mouth goes vertical when saying or....Now you
know, too.
Ken Fox
(I am not convinced that the H-R diagram is designed to be a
functional plot
and thus does not follow any of the rules we have been trying to agree
upon.)
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Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l