I had a look at Careys tractor question this morning and - TopicsExpress



          

I had a look at Careys tractor question this morning and considered two approaches, one straight out of a textbook and the other based on basic principles of momentum. Turns out that when you simplify the equations resulting from the momentum approach, you end up with exactly the same formula as in the textbook. So what!? Well it means that I have re-created some great scientists mathematical achievement, quite unexpectedly and quite by accident. This is a nice example of how the answer to a question is always bigger than the question. The question was simply What happens when a tractor pulls a heavy object? The answer led to the development of a formula that could be applied to many other things in many other situations. It also allows me to understand how that scientist came up with the formula in the first place. Thanks, Carey! -DC
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 23:05:51 +0000

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