 Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-1-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2014/4/b/solution

The number of degrees of freedom is the number of independent coordinates needed to specify an allowed configuration locally. For

N

unconstrained point particles in three dimensions it is

3 N

;

k

independent regular holonomic constraints reduce it to

3 N - k

. Redundant constraints must not be counted twice, and nonholonomic velocity restrictions require separate care.

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