Recent content by quozzy

This problem just occurred to me while I was taking photos indoors: Light sources powered by mains fluctuate in intensity due to alternating current. In other words, a lightbulb will actually flicker on and off at 50Hz/60Hz (or, really, 100Hz/120Hz, since I guess it should be the absolute...

Yeah, I realize now how silly this question really was. As I pointed out in my edit, for some reason I completely blanked out on basic arithmetic. I guess that's what happens when you're overdue for a good night's sleep...

Okay, I feel stupid posting this, but algebraic manipulation is failing me. I know these two expressions are the same, but can anyone help me see how one could arrive at one of these from the other? EDIT: *facepalm* Alright, I was trying to figure this out for a half hour before I posted. Of...

So, in lectures we derived the equation for damped SHM by solving the differential equation relating position (x), mass (m), spring constant (s), and damping coefficient (r): m\ddot{x}=-\frac{s}{m}x-r\dot{x} Using a solution of the form Ae^{\alpha t}, we find that: x=Ae^{-pt}e^{\pm qt}...

Thanks, that helps!

Colour "Chords" Hi, couldn't think of a better title, but it turns out to be rather fitting for what I'm about to describe, I think... I thought of this shortly after being introduced to my first lab involving a spectrometer. We perceive different wavelengths of light in the visible...

The velocity of a particle moving in a plane in polar coordinates is {\bf{v}} = v_r {\bf{\hat r}} + r\omega \hat \theta where v_r = \frac{{dr}}{{dt}} and \omega = \frac{{d\theta }}{{dt}}. By differentiating w.r.t. time, show that the acceleration of the particle is {\bf{a}} =...

Hi all, so... now that I have to write lab reports at uni level, I'm starting to wonder what software would be best suited for the task. Currently, my workflow goes like this: iWork Pages (or MS Word) for the actual report. imported LaTeX (or Mathematica) PDFs for mathematical equations...

Thanks for your help, emyt. I double-checked the L'Hopital version and it worked, but your approach looks more elegant. I'll give it a shot tomorrow, but right now I need sleep... :) -q

Here's the deal. The problem is this: \lim_{x\to1}{\frac{1+\cos{\pi x}}{\tan^2{\pi x}}} No matter how I twist and turn the variables around, I can't get it to behave nicely. I end up with either (infty - infty) or (infty * 0) or similar. I can't use l'Hopital because it doesn't apply in this...

Huh. It appears you're right. I had even tried entering <my answer> - <w.a. answer>, and it came out nonzero, but I must have mistyped something. Well, I'm glad I'm not missing anything. Thanks for the clarification!

Alright, I'm not technically stuck on this one, but I consistently get a result that disagrees with what Wolfram Alpha shows when I enter the problem to check my answer. Sorry 'bout the lack of LaTeX, but it should be simple enough to read. Here goes: Problem: Differentiate y=sin-1[x/(1+x)]...

Another nice way to do it (if you've got the time) is to solve it graphically, by drawing a scaled version of the problem out. Even if you end up solving it numerically, a sketch often helps by showing you roughly what you should be getting.

Technically, I guess it is. I'm pretty sure it would be much more economic to just use EM waves in the radio spectrum like they do now, though. Heh, I wasn't expecting the answer to be this sneaky. This idea has me fascinated. New experimental uses of active noise cancellation and...

Hi there, I'm sorry if this sounds incredibly vague, but I'm having difficulties narrowing down the research question for my Physics EE. I'm sure of the field I want to do it in: acoustics. The problem with most experiments involving applied acoustics (ideal room sound, etc.) is that, unless...