Right Hand Rule for Magnetic Fields

[musiliu]

Hi, I am wondering if anyone here has heard of or can explain this variation of the right hand rule:
Most websites i see tells you to point thumb in direction of current and curl the fingers, and the direction of the magnetic field is the direction you're curling.

But my professor uses a weird and confusing way that I still do not exactly know how to do:

He somehow positions his hand along the current and curls his hand toward the point of interest, and claims the thumb points in the direction of the magnetic field. Can someone explain this system and how exactly to do it? (btw, the professor is Russian)

p.s. I'm just in General Physics with Calc II class, so try to explain in simple terms..

edit: sorry, i should have posted this in classical physics forum, can someone move this there?

 

[Hurkyl]

Just do one and then the other and see that they both give the same answer! Since you know the right answer by one method, it shouldn't be that hard to work out the other one by trial and error.

 

[Cruikshank]

Nowhere else in physics has such an enormous amount of effort gone into conveying a single bit of information, than in the myriad versions of the Right Hand Rule.

Imagine x and y axes on paper, and the z axis coming towards you. XxY=Z, YxZ=X, and ZxX=Y. Swapping the factors reverses the sign. Any right hand rule is just trying to tell you that. For example, F=qvxB: v is the first vector, B is the second, F is the third. So long as you don't screw up the 123123 ordering, assign whichever one you want to your thumb, fingers, or palm. Having done that, proceed in the order thumb fingers, out of palm, thumb, fingers, out of palm.

The rules all are trying to say the same thing. Just use whatever version works for you and don't worry about any others, any more than you would worry about learning Russian just to listen to your professor better.