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1、2THEPROFESSIONALGEOGRAPHERTRANSPORTATION,SOCIALPHYSICS,ANDTHELAWOFREFRACTIONWilliamWarntzAmericanGeographicalSocietyForanyscienceagreatdesideratumofitspractitionersshouldbetoreduceittothesmallestnumberofdominantprinciples.Surelyitisinphysicsthatthisaimhasbeenmostsuccessfullyachieved.Inclassic
2、alphysicsallknownformulasarecapableofexpressioninahandfulofbasicdimensions.Eachofthedimensionshasbeenquantifiedthroughtheselectionofappropriateunits.Everytermwhichoccursinanyequationcanbeexpressedastheproductofpowersofoneormoreofthebasicdimensions.Moreover,itcanbedemonstratedthatsimilarpatter
3、nsandrelationshipsrevealthemselvestimeandagainamongstthevariousbranchesofphysics;andproblemsinthermodynamics,forexample,becomeisomorphicwiththoseinelectromagneticsormechanicsthroughvocabularyequivalences.Itcanbefairlysaidthatsocialscientistshaveonlyjustbeguntheneces-sarysearchforthebasicdimen
4、sionsofsocietysoessentialifprinciplesaretobedevelopedwhichwillpermittheunificationofthediversebranchesofsocialsciencethroughvocabularyequivalences.AusefulpioneeringworkisStuartDodd’sDimensionso/Society,MacmillanCompany,NewYork(1942).Howeverunobtainablethisgoalmayseemtomanyscholars,itis,never-
5、theless,theavowedobjectiveofasmallbuthardworkingforceofinvestigatorsledbyProfessorJohnQ.StewartofPrincetonUniversity.ThisSocialPhysicsGrouphasmadeprogressintwoways,Onehasbeenthroughtheexaminationofdemographicandeconomicstatisticswiththediscoveryofvariousmathematicalregularitiesinhumanbehavior
6、;theotherconsistsoftestingtheisomorphismsbetweenphysicalandsocialscience.Itwassoonrevealedthatamechanicalintelpretationcouldbemadeformanyoftheregularitiesthathadbeendiscovered,andabranchofsocialphysicsisomorphicwithphysicalmechanicswasthusestablishedandappropriatelynamedsocialmechanics.Inthep
7、ublicationscitedinfootnote1,emphasisisuponpopulationpotentials,productsupplypotentials,demographicenergy,timeaccessibility,andthelike.Inmanycasesallthathasbeennecessaryistosubstitutesuchquantitiesas“numberofpeople,”“sizeofincome,”or“quantityp
