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| | Scholium |
 | | Considering that the first Scholium of Newton's Principia begins with the famous assertion "absolute, true, and mathematical time...flows equably, without relation to anything external", it's ironic that Newton's theory of universal gravitation can be interpreted as a theory of variations in the flow of time. |
 | | Suppose in Newton's absolute space we establish the Cartesian coordinates x,y,z, and then assign a fourth coordinate, t, to every point. |
 | | So, despite Newton's conception of the perfectly equable flow of time, his theory of gravitation can well be interpreted as a description of the effects of the inequable flow of time. |
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