Question

why do people use v and u to represent final velocity and initial velocity, respectively?

Answer 1

The same reason why humans kill each other for no reason: imperfection. :)

Answer 2

Scientists made it like that... no idea :|

Answer 3

no...that's not the form of the scientists

Answer 4

May be because they fixed other letters for something more important.

Answer 5

it seems to be a high school thing

Answer 6

Yeah, I tend to use \(v_i\) and \(v_f\) more often.

Answer 7

u => symbol for potential energy
v => symbol for velocity

Answer 8

Hmm, yeah.

Answer 9

people usually put it as
\[x = \nu _ 0 t + \frac{at^2}2\]
but for some reason, i always see \[d = ut + \frac{at^2}2\]

Answer 10

from OpenStudy at least

Answer 11

The books I'm in uses \[v_0\] for initial, and just v for final. I've seen \[v_i, v_f\] as well, but I wouldn't ever want to use u for velocity for fear of mixing it up with potential energy.

Answer 12

my /guess/ would be that they first used v to represent velocity and needed another symbol to represent initial velocity - so they just chose the previous letter in the alphabet - namely u

Answer 13

No....Problem.....u Can Choose u as final and v as initial it is upto ur wish

Answer 14

well i know it's not randomm...why u and v? of all letters and symbols?

Answer 15

its for our convinient....you may use any other letters, but in general those are used

Answer 16

i think it stems from vectors. u and v are generic vectors

Answer 17

It depends on the books you use, and the 'cultural' differences in the countries they were written.

In France, we use :
initial: \(v_0\) (value)
any time: \(v(t)\) (function)
final : \(v_1\) or \(v_f\) (value)

Answer 18

i know you are referingto yesterdays commen,well i am in Africa and the units we use are v and u.i think its jus a matter of the syllabus