Tevian Dray

The Lorentz transformations at the heart of special relativity are just hyperbolic rotations.  We outline here how to use "hyperbolic triangle trig" to solve problems in special relativity.

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This approach to special relativity grew out of class notes for a course on Reference Frames, which in turn forms part of a major upper-division curriculum reform effort, the Paradigms in Physics
project [1], begun in the Department of Physics at Oregon State University
in 1997, and supported in part by NSF grants DUE{965320 and DUE{0231194. This presentation is largely excerpted from a
book in preparation, where further details can be found, and has
also appeared in The Physics Teacher.

 
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