About this title: What does the path taken by a ray of light share with the trajectory of a thrown baseball and the curve of a wheat stalk bending in the breeze? Each is the subject of a different study yet all are optimal shapes; light rays minimize travel time while a thrown baseball minimizes action. All natural curves and shapes, and many artificial ones, manifest such 'perfect form' because physical principles can be expressed as a statement requiring some important physical quantity to be mathematically maximum, minimum, or stationary. "Perfect Form" introduces the basic 'variational' principles of ...
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Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PRINCETON UNIV PR
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780691026633ISBN:0691026637
Description: New. What does the path taken by a ray of light share with the trajectory of a thrown baseball and the curve of a wheat stalk bending in the breeze? Each is the subject of a different study yet all are optimal shapes; light rays minimize travel time while... read more
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