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Re: reason for "s = distance traveled"




Leigh Palmer writes:
Why is "p" used for translational momentum, or "l" (ell) for angular
momentum?
or theta for angular displacement? or omega for angular velocity? None
of these has >an obvious English root, but they are all conventional
symbols, and many other >examples exist. They are, after all, just
symbols; why is one better than another?

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Standardizing physics symbols would help us communicate concepts and
ideas
better. Have any standards been accepted univerally?

For example the word "force" could have just as well been spelled "fors"
or "forz" but the standardized spelling makes it easier to read a
paragraph containing the word and quickly grasp its meaning.

On the other hand, the physics department of Forest Hills High School in
New York City once taught their students that the distance an object
would travel when it starts from rest and accelerates uniformly in a
straight line is given by the equation:

L = 1/2 a t (square)

The students were shown a device used for mechanical drawing, a T-square,
and told that it can be cut in half to produce the letter L. Thus
they always remembered that L is half a T-square.

Herb Gottlieb from New York City
(Where T-squares and slide rules are now antiques from the good olden
days)