Index notation tensors quick question

In summary, the first and second terms cancel out due to the renaming of dummy indices, leaving only the third and fourth terms. When relabeling indices, it is important to relabel all terms in which the index appears and to avoid relabeling if it results in an illegal expression.
  • #1
1,250
11
My text has:

##\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}V^{p}-\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{r}}V^{r}+\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}T^{p}_{qr}V^{r}+\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}\frac{\partial }{\partial x^{q}}V^{p}=\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}T^{p}_{qr}V^{r}+\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}\frac{\partial }{\partial x^{q}}V^{p}##

Looking at the 1st and 2nd terms, I see that ##p## and ##r## are dummy indices, so we can just rename them. But, surely this affects the 3rd term - e.g- say I name ##p=r## then they cancel, but I would have 4 r's in the 3rd term - which is not allowed. you can only have an index repeated twice in a single term right?

I'm not sure how to manipulate the indices to get this equality.

Thanks for your help.



(this won't look like anything well-known, I've taken out the irrelevant terms that do not contain any of the indices above).
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
binbagsss said:
My text has:

##\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}V^{p}-\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{r}}V^{r}+\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}T^{p}_{qr}V^{r}+\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}\frac{\partial }{\partial x^{q}}V^{p}=\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}T^{p}_{qr}V^{r}+\frac{\partial x^{a}}{\partial x^{p}}\frac{\partial }{\partial x^{q}}V^{p}##

Looking at the 1st and 2nd terms, I see that ##p## and ##r## are dummy indices, so we can just rename them. But, surely this affects the 3rd term - e.g- say I name ##p=r## then they cancel, but I would have 4 r's in the 3rd term - which is not allowed. you can only have an index repeated twice in a single term right?

I'm not sure how to manipulate the indices to get this equality.

I'm not sure what manipulation you are talking about. As you noted, the first term is the negative of the second term, which you can see by renaming dummy indices. So they cancel, leaving just the 3rd and 4th terms.
 
  • #3
stevendaryl said:
I'm not sure what manipulation you are talking about. As you noted, the first term is the negative of the second term, which you can see by renaming dummy indices. So they cancel, leaving just the 3rd and 4th terms.
But..surely this affects the 3rd term - e.g- say I name p=r then they cancel, but I would have 4 r's in the 3rd term - which is not allowed. you can only have an index repeated twice in a single term right?
 
  • #4
If you relabel a free index in one term, you have to relabel this index in all the terms in which it appears. If you relabel a pair of dummy indices index in one term, you do not have have to relabel dummy indices in any terms. In fact, you are prohibited from relabeling if relabeling results in something illegal.
 
  • #5
George Jones said:
If you relabel a free index in one term, you have to relabel this index in all the terms in which it appears. If you relabel a pair of dummy indices index in one term, you do not have have to relabel dummy indices in any terms. In fact, you are prohibited from relabeling if relabeling results in something illegal.

I see. thanks.
 

Suggested for: Index notation tensors quick question

Replies
4
Views
644
Replies
12
Views
2K
Replies
8
Views
2K
Replies
10
Views
982
Replies
30
Views
5K
Replies
22
Views
1K
Replies
6
Views
988
Replies
14
Views
2K
Back
Top