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Re: [Phys-l] A kinematics question



On 06/28/2008 10:47 AM, Josh GATES wrote:

Using two different methods, I get two different answers for the
acceleration. I suppose that there are a few possibilities:
- I screwed up!
- the problem is overdefined
- the problem's statement is unclear (or unclear to me).

It's not overdefined. It's underdefined. Underspecified is the
more-common expression.

A couple of days ago in another thread, I wrote that you often
need to ask, what's your measure?

The "average" acceleration could be an average over time:

∫ a dt
〈a〉 = --------
∫ dt

Or it could be an average over space:

∫ a dx
〈a〉 = --------
∫ dx

Or any of innumerable other weighted averages.

If you are able to see such things in more than one way, it is a sign
of expertise and professionalism.