Galilean Addition of Velocities
As Galileo observed, if a ship is moving relative to the shore at velocity v, and a fly is moving with velocity u as measured on the ship, calculating the velocity of the fly as measured on the shore is what is meant by the addition of the velocities v and u. When both the fly and the ship are moving slowly compared to light, it is accurate enough to use the vector sum
where s is the velocity of the fly relative to the shore.
Read more about this topic: Velocity-addition Formula
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