Tensor - the indicial notation, beginners problem

1. Sep 19, 2008

Dafe

1. The problem statement and attempt at solution

Given the matrix S_ij and a_i evaluate a),b),c),d) and e)

For a) I think i use Einsteins convention.
b) I just first sum on i, and then on j giving me 9 terms. The answer I get is 24.

d) can i change m with i since they are both dummy indexes?

e) the same problem as d I guess, is this allowed?

I'm trying to learn continuum mechanics by my self, and this is the first step.

Thank you.

2. Sep 19, 2008

HallsofIvy

Yes, that is the sum of numbers on the main diagonal, also called the "trace".

?? I get 28, the sum of the squares of all terms. And, of course, (c) is exactly the same as (b).

Yes, but why would you want to? In any case this is the sum of the squares of the elements of a, 1+ 4+ 9.

No, this is not at all the same problem as (d)! (d) was amam which is, as I said, the sum of the squares of the elements of a: the same as the 'dot product' of a with itself. In particular, there is no "S" in (d). (e) is Smnaman. Multiply the "matrix" S with the column vector a, then take the dot product of that with a.

I'm trying to learn continuum mechanics by my self, and this is the first step.

Thank you.[/QUOTE]

3. Sep 19, 2008

Dafe

I didn't mean that e) was the same problem as d), I just wondered if I could change the indices from m to i and so on... You've answered that though, thank you very much!

4. Sep 20, 2008

Dafe

I'll post some more questions here so I don't spam the forums, hope that's alright.

1. The problem statement and attempt at solution:

As I see it E_kk is a first order tensor and E_ij is a second order one. How do I go from E_ij to E_kk?

Thank you.

5. Jul 28, 2009

jimseng

Try to find out what kronecker delta is! Then you will get the answer.