WildLinAlg3: Center of mass and barycentric coordinates
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Description
Vectors are used throughout engineering and physics because their arithmetic parallels the standard ways of combining force, velocity, acceleration, and other quantities. In this video we look at some examples of each of these, and introduce some games to help you get the feel for velocity anjd acceleration in a vector framework. Then we discuss Archimedes' Principle of the Lever, and give a vector reformulation of it, which naturally leads to the definition of the center of mass of two or more objects. Barycenteric coordinates link center of mass to affine combinations of vectors.  
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This is the Introductory lecture to a beginner's course in Algebraic Topology, MATH5665, given by N J Wildberger of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW in 2010. The course is suitable for 3rd and 4th year mathematics majors, hopefully with some prior knowledge of group theory. Others...
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