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A particular manipulation of vectors

Physics Asked on May 24, 2021

I have a velocity vector defined as, $$V^i=frac{dX^i}{dt}$$
Then, is the following manipulation correct?
$$frac{mathbf{V}boldsymbol{cdot}mathbf{V}}{V^i}=frac{V_kdelta^k_{,,,,a}V^a}{V^i}=V_kdelta^k_{,,,,a}frac{dX^a/dt}{dX^i/dt}=V_kdelta^k_{,,,,a}frac{dX^a}{dX^i}=V_kdelta^k_{,,,,a}delta^a_{,,,,i}= V_i$$
If not where am I making a mistake? Please help.

Edit: Actually I have an expression like,
$$A_imathbf{e}^i=frac{mathbf{V}boldsymbol{cdot}mathbf{V}}{V^i}mathbf{e}^iequivmathbf{A}=frac{mathbf{V}boldsymbol{cdot}mathbf{V}}{mathbf{V}}implies A_i=frac{V_kV^k}{V^i}$$
And the question is whether,
$$A_i=V_i$$

2 Answers

Your derivation fails in the third equality, when you assume that $frac{dX^a/dt}{dX^i/dt}=frac{dX^a}{dX^i}$. For that to be possible, you would need $X^a(t)$ to be an invertible function, which is not possible for a curve in general. That is, you cannot write $t=t(X^a)$.

Consider for example a 2D circular motion where $vec{X}=(cos t,sin t)$. Given an instant of time, you can find the position uniquely. But given the position, you cannot find $t$ uniquely.

Also, note that $mathbf{A}=frac{mathbf{V}cdotmathbf{V}}{mathbf{V}}$ makes no sense (at least not in the usual sense of vector algebra), because the inverse of a vector is not a vector. In other words, vector division is not defined (again, not in the usual sense of vector algebra.)

Correct answer by Thiago on May 24, 2021

Example in 2D, but it's the same in any other number of dimensions. Represent $mathbf{v}$ in some basis as $(v_x,v_y)$, then $$ A_x = frac{v_x^2+v_y^2}{v_x} = {bigg{|}} frac{dx}{dt} {bigg{|}} + {left( frac{dy}{dt} right)}^2 {left( frac{dx}{dt} right)}^{-1} $$ and similarly for $A_y$. So, the answer is no, $A_x neq v_x$.

Answered by Quillo on May 24, 2021

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