From the course: Assembling Calculus

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Dimensional analysis

Dimensional analysis

From the course: Assembling Calculus

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Dimensional analysis

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- [Instructor 1] Dimensional analysis is the practice of checking to see that the units in an equation makes sense with the physical situation being modeled and that they are internally consistent. Strictly speaking, it isn't a calculus topic, but it can be very useful for checking your work. The idea is simple. We treat units like variables and make sure that they cancel out appropriately in our calculations. For instance, let's check Newton's relationship among force, mass, and acceleration, F = m a. Force is stated in a unit called a Newton. What might we expect that unit to be? Mass is units of kilograms. Acceleration has units of meters per second, per second, which can be thought of as meters per second squared. If we know that F equals m a, we might anticipate that force can be expressed as kilogram meters per second squared. If we look it up, we find that indeed those are the underlying units defining a…

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