Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/8/b/ii/solution

The signed rapidity corresponding to velocity is
Equivalently , , and . Thus the Lorentz boost from part (i) becomes
Multiplying two such matrices gives diagonal entries and off-diagonal entries , by the addition identities for hyperbolic functions. Hence
The resulting rapidity is . In velocity variables this is the relativistic velocity-addition formula .

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