Generalized Coordinate

A generalized coordinate is a symbolic variable representing the mechanism configuration, typically as either a length or angular dimension. It is time-varying, and is alternately termed a degree of freedom. When using the classic interface, the generalized coordinate dialog is used to create the symbolic variable, which is later selected in the frame or vector dialogs as a dimension.

Keyword Arguments

param str name

string Key to be used when referencing this coordinate in the mechanism.q dictionary. Can be entered using LaTeX symbol formatting, i.e. theta yields θ, etc

param numeric initial

Initial value for the generalized coordinate

param str description

Description of the generalized coordinate

return str

Message describing the created generalized coordinate