Re: symbol for KE

[John Denker <jsd@AV8N.COM>]

Carl Mungan wrote:
> ...  I'm thinking of obstinately using K on the board even
> though our classical mechanics text uses T, but before I do this, I'd
> like to hear any opinions why this might not be a good idea.


The fundamental problem is that there are so many
quantities of interest that assigning single-letter
names to them is an unwinnable game.

If the Subject: line is a question, it seems to
answer itself.  "KE" seems like a perfectly good
symbol for KE.

I prefer KE to K.  K seems no better than T.  I use T
unless it conflicts with something else in the problem,
in which case I switch to KE.

If you want to be artistic you can turn around one
of the letters (K or E) and push them together to
make a monogram.  The same trick works for potential
energy.

====================

The only downside is the same downside you get whenever
you do anything that diverges from the textbook.  Students
get confused, not knowing which convention to follow.
Also you'll get a weird mixture of conventions on the
assignments that get turned in.

On the third hand, it is quite likely that the text is
already self-inconsistent, so you can take comfort that
you haven't made anything significantly worse.

=================

The only real solution has two parts:

1) Use whatever symbols you like.  For complicated
calculations, you will need multi-character symbols.

2) Write down a legend.  Spell out in detail what each
symbol means.  In particular for potential energy, the
legend is a good place to state what gauge is being
used.