Question: the authors use the term "inhomogeneous" to describe the oil pattern. Is there a difference between heterogeneous and inhomogeneous?
fnord77•9mo ago
subtle difference: "heterogeneous" generally implies a mixture of distinct, separate elements or components, while "inhomogeneous" can refer to a lack of uniformity in properties within a single substance
at least in chem
TheJoeMan•9mo ago
Heterogeneous refers to a mix of dissimilar compounds, while inhomogeneous is more about a varying of properties throughout a single compound.
So in the abstract, the friction surface is called inhomogeneous because it's referring to the floor as one component with a varying friction coefficient.
madcaptenor•9mo ago
This reminds me of previous work showing where you should aim in darts (https://www.stat.cmu.edu/~ryantibs/darts/). Basically, if you're very accurate you should aim at the 20, but next to it are 1 and 5, so if you're less accurate there are more forgiving spots on the board.
VectorLock•9mo ago