←back to thread

Beyond velocity and acceleration: jerk, snap and higher derivatives (2016)

(iopscience.iop.org)
181 points EndXA | 1 comments | 19 Jun 24 10:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
Show context
marginalia_nu ◴[19 Jun 24 11:14 UTC] No.40727129[source]▶
Do these higher order derivatives say anything meaningful?

I always got the sense from physics that outside of purely mathematical constructions such as Taylor series, higher order time derivatives aren't providing much interesting information. Though I'm not sure whether this is the inherent laziness of physicist math[1] or a property of the forces in nature.

[1] since e^x = 1 + x is generally true, why'd you even need a second order derivative

replies(8): >>40727177 #>>40727207 #>>40727251 #>>40727544 #>>40728112 #>>40730807 #>>40734568 #>>40735594 #
1. ordu ◴[20 Jun 24 03:26 UTC] No.40734568[source]▶
> Do these higher order derivatives say anything meaningful?

I'm becoming seasick due to a jerkiness of a car. Not due to a speed or a acceleration, but it is jerk that does it for me. I watched it from my childhood, I hated trolleybuses for that: they are electric and they tend to change acceleration instantly. But I didn't understood how it works until much later.