I'm curious as to why elliptic functions seem to be relegated to the if-we-have-time-this-semester sections of textbooks. 1. Are elliptic functions useful for closed form solutions of things other than tumbling bricks? 2. What specific feature about tumbling bricks would give a clue that elliptic functions were needed in its solution? At 09:34 AM 7/4/03 -0700, Eugene Salamin wrote:
I've written a paper which reviews the exact mathematical solution for the tumbling motion of torque-free rigid body whose three principal moments of inertia are different. This has all been known for over 100 years, and is adapted from Whittaker's "Analytical Dynamics". It's an orgy of elliptic functions and theta functions. I'll be delighted to email the paper to anyone who wants it. It is a Microsoft Word document.
--- "R. William Gosper" <rwg@spnet.com> wrote:
Wouter suggested http://www.myphysicslab.com/collision.html . That's very nice, but I meant one 3D brick tumbling without collisions in 0g. Also, can anyone suggest a url detailing the Runge-Kutta iteration for an n body problem (n small)? --rwg