Problems with a particular symmetry, such as cylindrical or spherical, are best attacked using coordinate systems that take full advantage of that symmetry. For example, the Schrödinger equation for t...Problems with a particular symmetry, such as cylindrical or spherical, are best attacked using coordinate systems that take full advantage of that symmetry. For example, the Schrödinger equation for the hydrogen atom is best solved using spherical polar coordinates. For this and other differential equation problems, then, we need to find the expressions for differential operators in terms of the appropriate coordinates.
We are going to meet, in this section, the symbol ∇ . In North America it is generally pronounced “del”, although in the United Kingdom and elsewhere one sometimes hears the alternative pronunciation ...We are going to meet, in this section, the symbol ∇ . In North America it is generally pronounced “del”, although in the United Kingdom and elsewhere one sometimes hears the alternative pronunciation “nabla”, called after an ancient Assyrian harp-like instrument of approximately that shape.
