- #1
Cyrus
- 3,238
- 16
I was reading through my linear algebra book and came across a picture of a mass on a spring! We are not on that chapter but i decided to look at it anyways since we just finished oscillations in physics! . But it seems to me that the author of the linear alebgra book might not understand phyiscs very well, or there's something that I am missing.
he says that the oscillation of the spring can be modeled by the linear equation:
[tex] y(t) = C_1 sin( \omega t) + C_2 cos( \omega t) [/tex]
y(t) = C_1 sin( \omega t) + C_2 cos( \omega t) ( my latex won't work for some reason? I can't post the formula up. its got a red x.!?)
Where in the heck did this extra trig function come from!? I asked my physics teacher and he said, its problably some "damm mathematician" doing a problem without understanding what actually happens. We both agreed that either one of the weights, C1 or C2 has to be zero. They can't both have simulatious nonzero numbers. Do you agree with us? Or is there something else to the problem than meets the eye?
he says that the oscillation of the spring can be modeled by the linear equation:
[tex] y(t) = C_1 sin( \omega t) + C_2 cos( \omega t) [/tex]
y(t) = C_1 sin( \omega t) + C_2 cos( \omega t) ( my latex won't work for some reason? I can't post the formula up. its got a red x.!?)
Where in the heck did this extra trig function come from!? I asked my physics teacher and he said, its problably some "damm mathematician" doing a problem without understanding what actually happens. We both agreed that either one of the weights, C1 or C2 has to be zero. They can't both have simulatious nonzero numbers. Do you agree with us? Or is there something else to the problem than meets the eye?
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