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Positive/negative is really just semantics for something that is the opposite of something else. In both cases you have a quantity of something so you can e.g.
by dcow 8y ago
Positive/negative is really just semantics for something that is the opposite of something else. In both cases you have a quantity of something so you can e.g. take the square root of it perfectly fine. However in a discrete system the square root is only defined for whole number results anyway. For velocities perhaps a polar coordinate system is more “simple”.
- michaelcampbell 8y agoSo taking your last 2 posts... > Is there any physical law that demands [semantics for something that is the opposite of something else]? I think not. Does this sound as absurd to you as it does to me?
- dcow 8y agoMy point is that the mathematic negative/positive duality is often either too specific (doesn’t allow for scenarios where you may have more than two “directions” so we invented dimensions) or too general (allows for negative values where you don’t want them, so we use abs or square things to correct).