Proof of independence of position and velocity

weezy
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A particle's position is given by $$r_i=r_i(q_1,q_2,...,q_n,t)$$ So velocity: $$v_i=\frac{dr_i}{dt} = \sum_k \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial q_k}\dot q_k + \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial t} $$

In my book it's given $$\frac{\partial v_i}{\partial \dot q_k} = \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial q_k}$$ without any proof. So I tried to take derivative of ##v_i## w.r.t ##\dot q_k##. I can only arrive at the proof if $$\frac{\partial r_i}{\partial \dot q_k} = 0?$$ Why is that?
Is it because of explicit dependence of ##r_i##on ##\dot q_k##? Sorry if this question is too basic but I'm confused because I believe it could be written as $$\frac{\partial r_i}{\partial \dot q_k} = \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial q_k}.\frac{\partial q_k}{\partial \dot q_k}$$ and that $$\frac{\partial q_k}{\partial \dot q_k}$$ is not zero.
 
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You said it yourself, ##r_i## is assumed to be a function of the coordinates ##q_k##, not of their time derivatives.
 
In future posts, please do not delete the homework template with its three parts.
weezy said:
A particle's position is given by $$r_i=r_i(q_1,q_2,...,q_n,t)$$ So velocity: $$v_i=\frac{dr_i}{dt} = \sum_k \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial q_k}\dot q_k + \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial t} $$

In my book it's given $$\frac{\partial v_i}{\partial \dot q_k} = \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial q_k}$$ without any proof. So I tried to take derivative of ##v_i## w.r.t ##\dot q_k##. I can only arrive at the proof if $$\frac{\partial r_i}{\partial \dot q_k} = 0?$$ Why is that?
Is it because of explicit dependence of ##r_i##on ##\dot q_k##? Sorry if this question is too basic but I'm confused because I believe it could be written as $$\frac{\partial r_i}{\partial \dot q_k} = \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial q_k}.\frac{\partial q_k}{\partial \dot q_k}$$ and that $$\frac{\partial q_k}{\partial \dot q_k}$$ is not zero.
 
Orodruin said:
You said it yourself, ##r_i## is assumed to be a function of the coordinates ##q_k##, not of their time derivatives.
yes but can't that be written like ##
\frac{\partial r_i}{\partial \dot q_k} = \frac{\partial r_i}{\partial q_k}.\frac{\partial q_k}{\partial \dot q_k}##?
##
\frac{\partial r_i}{\partial \dot q_k} ## is not zero that's obvious so does it imply that ##
\frac{\partial q_k}{\partial \dot q_k}
## is zero?
 
Mark44 said:
In future posts, please do not delete the homework template with its three parts.
Sorry for any inconvenience. I'll be careful.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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