Page:Scientific Papers of Josiah Willard Gibbs - Volume 2.djvu/148

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DETERMINATION OF ELLIPTIC ORBITS.



For control:


Components of

The computer is now to assume any reasonable values either of the geocentric distances, or of the heliocentric distances, (the former in the case of a comet, the latter in the case of an asteroid), and from these assumed values to compute the rest of the following quantities:

By equations By equations By equations


IV.

Calculations relating to differential coefficients.

Components of Components of Components of

These computations are controlled by the agreement of the three values of

The following are not necessary except when the corrections to be made are large: