Recent content by Lady M

Okay, so would I do that with the entire function in the integral (ex - (b0+b1 x + b2 x2 + b3 x3 +b4 x4))2, or just ex - (b0+b1 x + b2 x2 + b3 x3 +b4 x4)? Assuming I take the derivative of the squared function (because otherwise the min value is just zero except for b0 which is weird), I'm left...

Perhaps I'm being naive, but I think I would take the div of the function with respect to each variable (in this case b0,..., b4) and set it equal to zero.

As promised, here is the original question, with the integral written in a more legible form.

Yes, you are correct, as we want twice the length of x (the sin part of two triangles). As such the final solution is . Thanks to everyone who has helped me with this problem.

Ah, so then would be the final answer in terms of everything we "know"?

Yes, you could just take the sin of that angle, and multiply it by twice the length of the string. So is there a better way to do this? Is there a way to do this without knowing the final angle of separation or the distances between the particles?

The problem mentioned that I should be aware of the small angle approximation, which I did not use. Also, I was uncertain if I would have to account for the second ball in this problem. I feel like I had already done so, but I wanted to be certain of that.

My images did not upload. Give me a second... Sorry. Edit: I've fixed it now. Not sure why it didn't work the first time...

Homework Statement Two identical insulating balls of mass m hang from massless strings of length l and carry identical electric charges, q. you may assume that the angle of separation θ is so small that tanθ ≅sinθ≅θ. What is the separation distance between the two masses x? The Attempt at a...