An Even Simpler “Truly Elementary” Proof of Bertrand’s Theorem

An Even Simpler “Truly Elementary” Proof of Bertrand’s Theorem

PDF icon Download Bertrand's theorem - final.pdf (681.22 KB)

Jared Galbraith and Jacob Williams

Southern Nazarene University

Abstract: 

We present a further simplified derivation of a “truly elementary” proof of Bertrand’s theorem, which predicts the exponents in central power-law potentials that produce closed orbits.