[Elecraft] Maxwell's Equations.

[John Ragle]

Nothing is being hidden away! The 20 quantities you mention are not 
independent, and by a bit of manipulation one can set up the description 
in terms of a set of equations which contain the same information but 
not redundantly.

John Ragle -- W1ZI

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On 3/6/2011 5:56 PM, Alexey Kats wrote:
> "how do you characterize a system with twenty unknowns in four equations?"
>
> It's called generalization. Compare it with Newton's law for gravity - even
> though the size, shape, and movement of objects does play its role the law
> is not concerned with them and still adequately describes the effect of
> gravity. (Let's not start comparison between Newton's law and general
> relativity.)
>
> So, too many unknowns are needed when one wants to calculate the precise
> effect of something. But they might not be important when one wants to
> express the relationship between effects, so why not to hide them where they
> are not needed until the moment comes?
>
> On Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 2:37 PM, Kevin Rock<kevinr at coho.net>  wrote:
>
>> I have always wondered how he condensed the original twenty equations in
>> twenty unknowns down to just four of them.  The quaternions he used
>> initially were out a favor with the physics community of the day so he
>> needed to get them into vector form.  Heaviside did a good job but how do
>> you characterize a system with twenty unknowns in four equations?  What
>> has been lost in the translation?
>>     Kevin.  KD5ONS
>>