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472 bytes added ,  03:22, November 16, 2009
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::The term "field theory" is still frequently used, so we can't simply "punt" on this.  We should explain it as best we can.  Under your proposed definition, which is not the meaning of the original term, Newtonian gravity is not a field theory, correct?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 22:17, 15 November 2009 (EST)
 
::The term "field theory" is still frequently used, so we can't simply "punt" on this.  We should explain it as best we can.  Under your proposed definition, which is not the meaning of the original term, Newtonian gravity is not a field theory, correct?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 22:17, 15 November 2009 (EST)
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:::Still frequently used by whom? I don't hear teenagers on the subway talking about it. It's a technical term and deserves a technical definition.
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:::What do you think the "meaning of the original term" was?
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:::Newtonian gravity was, in Newton's formulation, an acceleration vector field theory, yes. Lagrange rewrote the equations to express it as a scalar field theory and that's what we used until 1916. --[[User:KSorenson|KSorenson]] 22:22, 15 November 2009 (EST)
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