Code style query: multiple assignments in if/elif tree

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Tue, 01 Apr 2014 17:55:32 +1100, Chris Angelico wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 5:13 PM, Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Then your computation is incorrect and will systematically
>> underestimate the stopping distance.  Assuming for simplicity that the
>> acceleration actually increases linearly until it reaches maximum,

We're talking deceleration, so it actually decreases linearly until it 
reaches minimum :-)


>> picture the velocity graph between, say, t=0 and t=1s.  You are
>> modeling it as a straight line segment.  However, it would actually be
>> part of a quadratic curve connecting the same points, convex upwards.

Concave upwards, since we're decelerating.


>> The line segment is short-cutting the curve between the two points. The
>> distance traveled is the integral of the curve, and it is easy to see
>> that the integral of the line segment is less than the integral of the
>> actual curve.

Integral of the line segment is greater than the integral of the actual 
curve. 


> .... great.
> 
> Okay. I never studied calculus, so this is beyond my expertise. Is this
> going to make a majorly significant difference to the end result?

I thought that there was a chance that there might be, but it turns out, 
not so much. There is a difference, but for the purposes of the 
simulation it probably doesn't matter. If you were trying to land a 
spacecraft on Mars, that's a different story...


-- 
Steven