- #1
krishna mohan
- 117
- 0
hi...
We generally use the Pythagoras formula for distance between two points in 2D, when the Cartesian co-ordinates are given...
One directly extends it to 3D..having the distance going as [tex]\sqrt{x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}}[/tex]...
For a curved co-ordinate system, we have distances measured by something like
[tex]ds^{2}=g^{\mu\nu}dx_{\mu}dx_{\nu}[/tex]...
I was wondering why it is all about squares and square roots..and not, say cubes and cube roots or fourth roots or something...
We generally use the Pythagoras formula for distance between two points in 2D, when the Cartesian co-ordinates are given...
One directly extends it to 3D..having the distance going as [tex]\sqrt{x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}}[/tex]...
For a curved co-ordinate system, we have distances measured by something like
[tex]ds^{2}=g^{\mu\nu}dx_{\mu}dx_{\nu}[/tex]...
I was wondering why it is all about squares and square roots..and not, say cubes and cube roots or fourth roots or something...