Abstract
THIS brief but excellent little treatise can be recommended as a good introduction to the modern topic of revolving vectors, and particularly to the use of the symbolic notation in the development of the subject. It opens with a brief historical note on the discovery in 1797, by Wessel, of the use of the imaginary √V-1 as an operator having a geometric function of rotation through a right angle. From this the author leads on to the treatment of complex quantities, and their use in representing harmonic motion. The latter half of the book deals with the application to alternating electric currents and other electrical matters. It is satisfactory that the author conforms to the convention adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission in its recent session in Turin, in using the counter-clockwise sense of rotation as positive.
Revolving Vectors, with Special Application to Alternating-current Phenomena.
By Prof. Geo. W. Patterson. Pp. vi + 89. (New York: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1911.) Price 4s. 6d. net.
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Revolving Vectors, with Special Application to Alternating-current Phenomena . Nature 88, 513 (1912). https://doi.org/10.1038/088513b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/088513b0