16.61 Aerospace namIcs Spring 2003 Degrees of Freedom dOF e DOF=n-m o n= number of coordinates o m= number of constraints Critical point The number of dof is a characteristic of the system and does not depend on the particular set of coordinates used to describe the configuration Example 1 o Particle in space X Coordinate sets: x,y,: or r, e,o DOF=n-m=3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology C How, Deyst 2003( Based on notes by Blair 200216.61 Aerospace Dynamics Spring 2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology © How, Deyst 2003 (Based on notes by Blair 2002) 7 Degrees of Freedom (DOF) • DOF = n – m o n = number of coordinates o m = number of constraints Critical Point: The number of DOF is a characteristic of the system and does NOT depend on the particular set of coordinates used to describe the configuration. Example 1 o Particle in space n = 3 Coordinate sets: x, y, z or r, θ, φ m = 0 DOF = n – m = 3 θ φ r x y z θ φ r x y z