Glossary

<BODY LANG="EN" > <HR><center> <table border=1> <td><A HREF="node14.html"><img height=36 width=36 alt="PREVIOUS" src="/UCESIcons/tools/previous.gif"></A></td> <td><A HREF="diffeq.html"><img height=36 width=36 alt="UP" src="/UCESIcons/tools/up.gif"></A></td> <td><A HREF="node16.html"><img height=36 width=36 alt="NEXT" src="/UCESIcons/tools/next.gif"></A></td> <td><a href="contents-node15.html"><img height=36 width=36 alt="CONTENTS" src="/UCESIcons/tools/toc.gif"></a></td> </table> </center> <HR> <H1>Glossary</H1> <HR> <B><FONT SIZE="+1"><A NAME="rel">Non Relativistic Particle</A></FONT></B> <P> A particle is non relativistic if the velocity of the particle is <i>v</i> << <i>c</i>, with <i>c</i> the velocity of light in vacuum. <P> <HR> <B><FONT SIZE="+1"><A NAME="consf">Conservative</A> Force</FONT></B> <P> A force <I>F</I> is called conservative if the work done by this force to move a mass between two points is independent of the path taken. If the force is conservative, it can be expressed as <IMG WIDTH=72 HEIGHT=17 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="F = -grad V" SRC="img131.gif">, where <I>V</I> is a potential. <P> <HR> <B><FONT SIZE="+1">Inertial frame of reference</FONT></B> <P> <A NAME="infr">An interial frame</A> of reference is one in which Newton's First Law is valid. <P> <HR> <B><FONT SIZE="+1">Algorithm</FONT></B> <P> An <A NAME="algor">algorithm</A> is a set of rules for getting mathematics done. <P> <HR> <B><FONT SIZE="+1"><A NAME="supp">Principle of linear superposition</A></FONT> </B> <P> Suppose <IMG SRC="aoft.gif" alt="a(t)" ALIGN=top WIDTH=24 HEIGHT=15> and <IMG SRC="boft.gif" alt="b(t)" ALIGN=top WIDTH=22 HEIGHT=15> are solutions of a linear equation like <P> <IMG WIDTH=336 HEIGHT=34 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="[ linear ODE]" SRC="img132.gif"> <P> Then <IMG WIDTH=96 HEIGHT=15 ALIGN=ABSMIDDLE ALT="alpha*a(t) + beta*b(t)" SRC="img9.gif"> is also a solution for arbitrary values of the constants <IMG WIDTH=7 HEIGHT=7 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="alpha" SRC="img10.gif"> and <IMG WIDTH=9 HEIGHT=15 ALIGN=ABSMIDDLE ALT="beta" SRC="img11.gif">. <P> <HR><center> <table border=1> <td><A HREF="node14.html"><img height=36 width=36 alt="PREVIOUS" src="/UCESIcons/tools/previous.gif"></A></td> <td><A HREF="diffeq.html"><img height=36 width=36 alt="UP" src="/UCESIcons/tools/up.gif"></A></td> <td><A HREF="node16.html"><img height=36 width=36 alt="NEXT" src="/UCESIcons/tools/next.gif"></A></td> <td><a href="contents-node15.html"><img height=36 width=36 alt="CONTENTS" src="/UCESIcons/tools/toc.gif"></a></td> </table> </center> <HR> </BODY>