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2566: "Decorative Constants"

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:36 pm
by ratammer
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Title text: Arguably, the '1/2' in the drag equation is purely decorative, since drag coefficients are already unitless and could just as easily be half as big. Some derivations give more justification for the extra 1/2 than others, but one textbook just calls it 'a traditional tribute to Euler and Bernoulli.'

Is the + C in integration a kind of decorative constant?