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Re: [Phys-l] time to bottom of ramp

On Oct 27, 2006, at 2:29 PM, Jack Uretsky wrote:

For a frictionless quarter-circle arc of radius h, the time to
travel the arc is (barring arithmetic errors) about 2.6 times to slide
down an inclined ramp between the same 2 points. The answer can be
expressed as a beta-function.

Nah. Doesn't make sense. Here's my stab: I get that the curved ramp takes 7.4% less time. The ratio of curved ramp time to straight ramp time is

B(1/4,1/2) / [4 sqrt(2)] = 0.927 ...

John Mallinckrodt

Professor of Physics, Cal Poly Pomona
<http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm>

and

Lead Guitarist, Out-Laws of Physics
<http://outlawsofphysics.com>