Revision as of 04:02, 17 April 2014 edit 68.173.0.226 (talk) →The Minkowski formulation: introduction of spacetime: Less confusing wording. c as used here ''is'' the speed of light. ← Previous edit		Revision as of 09:29, 17 April 2014 edit undo DVdm (talk \| contribs) Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, New page reviewers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers 138,758 edits Undid g.f. revision 604542481 by 68.173.0.226 (talk) Separating geometry and physics, point is that value is not given a priori. Value and physical significance to be fixed by experiment. Next edit →
Line 93: :<math>s^2 = x^2 + y^2 + z^2 - (ct)^2 \,</math> where ''c'' is ~~the~~a ~~[[speed of light]]~~constant and ''t'' is the time coordinate.<ref group="Note">Originally Minkowski tried to make his formula look like Pythagoras's theorem by introducing the concept of [[imaginary number\|imaginary]] time and writing −1 as i<sup>2</sup>. But Wilson, Gilbert, Borel and others proposed that this was unnecessary and introduced real time with the assumption that, when comparing coordinate systems, the change of spatial displacements with displacements in time can be negative. This assumption is expressed in differential geometry using a [[metric tensor]] that has a negative coefficient.</ref> Multiplication by ''c'', which has the [[Dimensional analysis\|dimensions]] {{nowrap\|''L'' ''T'' <sup>−1</sup>}}, converts the time to units of length and this constant has the same value as the [[speed of light]]. So the spacetime interval between two distinct events is given by :<math>s^2 = (x_2 - x_1)^2 + (y_2 - y_1)^2 + (z_2 - z_1)^2 - c^2 (t_2 - t_1)^2. \,</math>

Introduction to special relativity: Difference between revisions