Newton's Principia Problem

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1. Jan 9, 2015

Solomon Chang

Furthermore, is there any way of understanding the Principia in a more numerical ways rather than words like this? Just asking.
Again, thank you very much.

2. Jan 10, 2015

Doug Huffman

S. Chandrasekhar Newton's Principia for the Common Reader Chapter 3, Section 15, pp 50-52 in modern integral notation.

3. Jan 10, 2015

Philip Wood

I think that in modern terms, this is $s = \frac{1}{2} a t^2$. So $\frac{s_1}{s_2} = (\frac{t_1}{t_2})^2$. This is constant acceleration from rest. Since it's at the very beginning off the motion, the force won't have had time to change?

Last edited: Jan 10, 2015
4. Jan 10, 2015

Stephen Tashi

It would interesting to know whether Newton is representing a graph of a function of position vs time with time on the y-axis or whether he is thinking of the curves as trajectories of an object in 2-D space.

5. Jan 10, 2015

Solomon Chang

Wao, thank you everyone, this helps much

6. Jan 11, 2015

Staff: Mentor

Last edited by a moderator: May 7, 2017