Equation 9 · Part 2 · The Arrow of Time and the Engine of Evolution
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What this part means
Capital delta attached to a quantity marks a difference between two values of that quantity; the article’s sign convention determines the order.
Its job in the formula
Capital delta attached to a quantity marks a difference between two values of that quantity; the article’s sign convention determines the order.
Full expression→change→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
[ 5 ] . The result does not say average work equals F — dissipation makes the ordinary average of W larger than F whenever the protocol is not quasistatic — it says a specific nonlinear average of a driven, dissipative, irreversible process reproduces an equilibrium quantity exactly, which is a much stranger and stronger claim.
Learn the underlying idea
Addition combines quantities; subtraction measures the signed difference between them. Parentheses show what is combined before the rest of the expression is evaluated.
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Sources cited in the surrounding passage
These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.