- #1
zoobyshoe
- 6,510
- 1,290
Is there a reference list anywhere where I can look for the meaning of a weird physics symbol when I run across one? For instance there is a thing that looks like a sideways capitol M. (There are two of them in the new PF banner to the right of Einstein's face.)
I ran into this sideways capitol M in one version of Hookes law:
(Weird Sideways Capitol M)F = -kx
A different physics text gave Hookes law as F~(triangle)x
The triangle, I believe, is delta, which means change, but I'm not sure what the ~ means.
In both cases I understood the verbal explanations of Hookes law, which is that the restoring force is directly proportional to the amount of displacement from equilibrium.
The meaning of the symbols I don't understand is, no doubt, covered in earlier chapters I haven't read. However I often look things up as background for something else I'm researching and don't have time to read the previous 300 pages to find the symbol that is baffling me. Therefore if anyone has a link to a list of these symbols and what they mean it would be a great help.
Zoobyshoe
I ran into this sideways capitol M in one version of Hookes law:
(Weird Sideways Capitol M)F = -kx
A different physics text gave Hookes law as F~(triangle)x
The triangle, I believe, is delta, which means change, but I'm not sure what the ~ means.
In both cases I understood the verbal explanations of Hookes law, which is that the restoring force is directly proportional to the amount of displacement from equilibrium.
The meaning of the symbols I don't understand is, no doubt, covered in earlier chapters I haven't read. However I often look things up as background for something else I'm researching and don't have time to read the previous 300 pages to find the symbol that is baffling me. Therefore if anyone has a link to a list of these symbols and what they mean it would be a great help.
Zoobyshoe