Thursday, 24 November 2011

science vs engineering

Science student : "According to Hooke's Law, restoring force,F=-mg sin x = -kx"

vs

Engineering student : "According to Hooke's Law, restoring force, F=-mg sin x. Fortunately, x is sufficiently small in this situation, therefore I can derive an approximation, F=-mgx in order to simplify my calculation. The result is acceptable since I am allowed to have 5% error."

Science- What is true? What is the correct answer?
Engineering- First, what is the percentage error I am allowed to make. Secondly, what is the best, easiest, and simplest way to approach the the answer.

No comments:

Post a Comment