Re: vector notation

[Larry Smith <larry.smith@SNOW.EDU>]

> Randy Knight's new textbook says on page 9, "Some textbooks represent
> vectors with boldface type....  This book will consistently display the
> vector arrow over vector symbols, just as you should do in handwritten
> work."

Randy Knight's editor wrote about the decision:

At 7:35 PM -0400 7/21/04, Black, Adam wrote:
> Dear Larry
>
> Yes, this was a very concious decision based on pedagogy, and what we're
> trying to get the student to do. We consulted a number of pedagogists and
> there was complete consensus that for an intro physics course like this,
> scripting vectors in such a way that's closest to what students should be
> doing is best.
>
> In fact, typographically it's much more complex to do what we've done since
> manually some spacing needs to be tweaked with different letters (Latex
> isn't powerful enough for this sort of typesetting; this book is made up in
> Quark using a very poweful math extension called Powermath).
>
> For our more advanced physics texts, where the audience and long-term
> training goals are rather different, we follow the usual industry standards
> (boldface italic).
>
> Hope that helps! Adam.
>
>
> Dr Adam R. S. Black
> Senior Executive Editor, Physics & Astronomy
> Publisher of Science Technologies
> Addison Wesley
> 1301 Sansome Street
> San Francisco, CA 94111