- #1
Saladsamurai
- 3,020
- 7
I am reading a math review in my thermodynamics text and I a little confused by this. Here is the excerpt:
I am confused by the part where it says
If they selected x = (y, z) then isn't that saying that x is dependent on y? So how can we just turn around and say y = y(x, z) ? That is, if we selected x as dependent in the first function, why can we turn around and call it independent in the second.
Sorry, this might be a stupid question. I just don't see why we bother calling variables independent and dependent in a situation like this?
I am confused by the part where it says
For example ... consider 3 quantities x, y, and z, any of which may be selected as the independent variables. Thus we can write x = x(y, z) and y = y(x, z).
If they selected x = (y, z) then isn't that saying that x is dependent on y? So how can we just turn around and say y = y(x, z) ? That is, if we selected x as dependent in the first function, why can we turn around and call it independent in the second.
Sorry, this might be a stupid question. I just don't see why we bother calling variables independent and dependent in a situation like this?