Re: How would Ariane 5 have behaved if overflow checking were notturned off?

[Shark8 <onewingedshark@gmail.com>]

On Mar 16, 3:13 pm, Hyman Rosen <hyro...@mail.com> wrote:
> On 3/16/2011 5:09 PM, Shark8 wrote:
>
> > Not quite.
> > In the "nudge a fraction more warp factor out of the engines" there is
> > indeed a valid range limitation: since we are talking about speeds*
> > there can NEVER be a negative value as "speed*" is an absolute-value."
>
> > *Velocity, to be more technically correct.
>
> When they are sucked into a quantum singularity, their motion
> is so odd with respect to the rest of the universe that the
> equations make sense only if their speed is considered negative.
> Fortunately, the Enterprise software is written in Forth :-)

From Wikipedia:
In physics, velocity is the measurement of the rate and direction of
change in the position of an object. It is a vector physical quantity;
both magnitude and direction are required to define it. The scalar
absolute value (magnitude) of velocity is speed [...]

If you are going to 'redefine' something than ALL items which
are based upon that definition are subject to change. BTW, there
is no way with which a vector's magnitude can be negative, any
such "negation" would merely flip the point-and-tail of the
vector.