Well, sure. But another piece of [mal|mis|dis]information in Sutter's video was "I 
can use a little trick called the Calculus of Variations ..." blahblahblah. I chose 
to focus on integration, in general, mostly because of Stephen's response, but also 
because it's less on point toward the ultimate metaphor Nick seems to want. I'm sure the 
results of applying the mystical Calculus of Variations to typical physically relevant 
functions can also be tabulated (especially in these near-lookup-table-like ANNs that 
have the media in such an uproar these days). But my guess is that sophomores aren't 
doing the up-looking. 8^D

It would be reasonable to simply think "integration" means "to sum up". And, if that were the case, then 
Nick's focus on the minus sign in "Ev-Ep" and "positive and negative vectors" would make reasonable sense. 
But even a brief trip down the rabbit hole that is "integration" would argue that it really means something more akin 
to the standard English definition:

e.g. MW -
1: to form, coordinate, or blend into a functioning or unified whole : unite
2a: to incorporate into a larger unit
2b: to unite with something else
3a: desegregate
3b: to end the segregation of and bring into equal membership in society or an 
organization

Physically, it doesn't matter whether the pieces are aperiodic tiles or regular building 
blocks. Mathematically, it does. But physically, it doesn't ... or it 
"shouldn't", up to some tolerance for aggressive metaphor.

On 7/3/23 09:06, Frank Wimberly wrote:
As a senior at Berkeley I took a course in integration.  It was all about 
Lebesgue measure and integration, Fubini's theorem etc.  We didn't calculate 
the integral of any function arising from physics.  That's for sophomores and 
they can look the integrals up in tables.

---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
Santa Fe, NM 87505

505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM

On Mon, Jul 3, 2023, 9:32 AM glen <geprope...@gmail.com 
<mailto:geprope...@gmail.com>> wrote:

    What do you think "integrate" means?

    On 7/3/23 08:28, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
     > BEGIN HARRUMPH!
     >
     > Just so's you know, I did write:
     >
     > *" And for some reason, the path taken by the object through space will 
integrate this difference across the distance between any two points "*
     > *
     > *
     > But never doubt the capacity of some group of experts, when challenged 
to make sense of themselves, to congeal around some picky point of language.  And 
yes, this is me, saying that.(};-)]
     >
     > And why do we keep calling it by it/s cult name, rather than calling it 
what it is?  The difference between the energy of a moving object conveyed by its 
velocity and that conveyed by its position in a field. If you want jargon,  why 
not just call it Ev-Ep.
     >
     > And yet, nobody tackles the basic question.  Why on earth would E in the 
v-Ep be something that every moving object in the universe tries to accomplish.
     >
     > END HARRUMPH!
     >
     >
     >
     >
     >
     >
     >
     >
     > On Mon, Jul 3, 2023 at 2:17 AM Stephen Guerin <stephen.gue...@simtable.com 
<mailto:stephen.gue...@simtable.com> <mailto:stephen.gue...@simtable.com 
<mailto:stephen.gue...@simtable.com>>> wrote:
     >
     >     The Action is the integral of the Lagrangian along the whole path, 
not just a single instant.
     >
     >     On Sun, Jul 2, 2023, 9:12 PM Nicholas Thompson <thompnicks...@gmail.com 
<mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com> <mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com 
<mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
     >
     >         So the difference is at a positive max when the ball hits the 
ground and at a negative maximum when the ball reaches its highest altitude?  So 
how am I to understand positive and negative?    vectors?
     >
     >         Instantaneious Action is at a minimum when the two terms are 
equal?
     >
     >         I have no intuitive sense of what is going on here.
     >
     >         But thanks for trying, Frank.
     >
     >         N
     >
     >
     >
     >         N
     >
     >         On Sun, Jul 2, 2023 at 12:27 PM Nicholas Thompson <thompnicks...@gmail.com 
<mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com> <mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com 
<mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
     >
     >             Frank,
     >
     >             Thanks SO  MUCH for forwarding this to me.  To any other 
defrocked english majors on Friam, who have listened to these guys blather on 
about LaGrangians for all these years,  I highly, HIGHLY recommend the video. 
Pretty short, AND, you might possibly, conceivably understand Steve Guerin when 
you  get to the end.   Yeah.  Really.
     >
     >             Nick
     >
     >             ---------- Forwarded message ---------
     >             From: *Frank Wimberly* <wimber...@gmail.com <mailto:wimber...@gmail.com> 
<mailto:wimber...@gmail.com <mailto:wimber...@gmail.com>>>
     >             Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2023 at 2:53 PM
     >             Subject: Fwd: Watch "The Most Important Idea in Physics: The 
Principle of Least Action - Ask a Spaceman!" on YouTube
     >             To: Nicholas Thompson <thompnicks...@gmail.com 
<mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com> <mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com 
<mailto:thompnicks...@gmail.com>>>
     >
     >
     >
     >
     >             ---
     >             Frank C. Wimberly
     >             140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
     >             Santa Fe, NM 87505
     >
     >             505 670-9918
     >             Santa Fe, NM
     >
     >             ---------- Forwarded message ---------
     >             From: *Frank Wimberly* <wimber...@gmail.com <mailto:wimber...@gmail.com> 
<mailto:wimber...@gmail.com <mailto:wimber...@gmail.com>>>
     >             Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2023, 12:51 PM
     >             Subject: Watch "The Most Important Idea in Physics: The Principle 
of Least Action - Ask a Spaceman!" on YouTube
     >             To: Thompson, Nicholas <nickthomp...@earthlink.net <mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net> 
<mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net <mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net>>>, Barry MacKichan 
<barry.mackic...@mackichan.com <mailto:barry.mackic...@mackichan.com> <mailto:barry.mackic...@mackichan.com 
<mailto:barry.mackic...@mackichan.com>>>
     >


--
ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ

-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe   /   Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom 
https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives:  5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
 1/2003 thru 6/2021  http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/

Reply via email to