Re: left/right symmetry, manifest or not

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

Robert Cohen wrote:
> OK, but am I correct in stating that the cross product follows the RHR only
> because we use a right-handed coordinate system?

I think "only because" is too strong a term.

I would say that somehow or another, there needs to be
a notion of right-handedness.  Once you have that notion,
you can define a right-handed coordinate system and/or a
cross product.

If you have either a RH coordinate system or a cross
product, you can define the remaining one in terms of
the other.

I hesitate to apply the word "because" to situations
like this.  Causation means something very special, as
discussed at
  http://www.monmouth.com/~jsd/physics/causation.htm