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Re: little gee and its sign




Operationally, g(x) is the acceleration of a free particle (at location x)
relative to the chosen reference frame.

Haven't we just gone over all this? I think that John just does this to
irritate the hell out of some of us.

In my usage, "g(x)" is not acceleration -- ever, anywhere, anyhow. And, in
my opinion, such usage is extremely pedagogically detrimental. Depending on
the level of the class g is a local gravitational constant/factor. The
operative word here is "local" -- This usage doesn't require the value to
be the same everywhere on the face of the Earth for all time. (And if that
usage isn't free from dispute, then I will massage the definition until it
fits.) But others are free to use or misuse the language anyway they like.

And I do commonly write g=Gm/r^2 just to show where it comes from (with an
explanation as required for a given class.)

But of course this is just little me over here in my corner of the galaxy.


Jim Green
mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen