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DPR
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This has been driving me insane. I don't get how he went from s/c to t/y. If someone could explain step by step how you do it I would greatly appreciate it.
Recall that we arrived at an expression for the length of the momentum vector in three-dimensional space, mΔx/Δt. We have just argued that Δx should be replaced by Δs and Δt should be replaced by Δs/c to form the four-dimensional momentum vector, which has a seemingly rather uninteresting length of mc. Indulge us for one more paragraph, and let us write the replacement for Δt, i.e., Δs/c, in full. Δs/c is equal to [sqrt (cΔt)^2)-(xΔ)^2]/c. This is a bit of a mouthful, but a little mathematical manipulation allows us to write it in a simpler form, i.e., it can also be written as Δt/γ where y=1/[sqrt 1-v^2/c^2)]. To obtain that, we have used the fact that υ = Δx/Δt is the speed of the object. Now γ is none other than the quantity we met in Chapter 3 that quantifies the amount by which time slows down from the point of view of someone observing a clock fly past at speed.
pg 127