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.

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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