Talk:Line element

Latest comment: 8 years ago by Tim Ocean in topic Terrible

What is the purpose of this stub? edit

I am not sure I see the point, but I have given a few suggestions for improvement in the todo list. ---CH 19:27, 3 March 2006 (UTC)Reply

improvement edit

I think this article might need some more information, like the article [1]. I find that one more descriptive. I myself cannot write much since I'm only a beginner. -I got scammed 11:35, 2 October 2006 (UTC)Reply

Oops, sorry the article meant the Riemannian metric for 2D manifolds, not the full thing. Just got a bit confused (prove I'm a beginner)

square root of metric edit

Line element should apparently be the element of length i.e. square root of the metric tensor, rather than the metric itself. Tkuvho (talk) 04:14, 4 August 2010 (UTC)Reply

I second that. First, line element is described as ds, then ds² is called as line element. Very typical terminological inconsistency, a second example could be plain noun `metric` referring to metric tensor, not metric as in mathematics. --91.152.67.177 (talk) 14:51, 26 July 2014 (UTC)Reply

Rewritten completley... edit

also, I intend to add some images later (but it takes me a long time, even for something simple). F = q(E+v×B)ici 09:55, 27 June 2012 (UTC)Reply

Will also add some (not extensive) info linking classical mechanics and differential properties of curves, i.e. the position vector, velocity as a tangent vector, acceleration as curvature etc, which all require the line element dr, so that we don't bias general relativity all the time, in doing so the links to the Frenet–Serret formulas.
I can't write about Riemann manifolds or advanced tensor calculus, differential geometry and topology etc., as suggested by the TODO list above, but I think the article is fine without so will not add this info. That's on anyone who feels so inclined. F = q(E+v×B)ici 10:04, 27 June 2012 (UTC)Reply

Very Wrong... edit

The opening paragraph starts by talking about affine space, and then talks of spaces with curvature, apparently not aware that affine space is flat. Also not aware that the line element is a simple generalisation of Pythagorean formula to curvilinear coordinates, and hides ignorance behind an irrelevant reference to the Frenet–Serret formulae95.150.154.10 (talk) 21:04, 21 September 2014 (UTC)Reply

Terrible edit

The article is terribe. It wasn't written by a mathematician. I would it all delete Tim Ocean (talk) 11:00, 17 March 2016 (UTC)Reply