We explicitly show that the well-known transmission and reflection amplitudes of planar slabs, obtained via an algebraic summation of Fresnel amplitudes, are completely equivalent to those obtained from transfer matrices in the scattering approach. This equivalence makes the finite periodic systems theory a powerful alternative to the cumbersome…

This article shows how to use six parameters describing the International Space Station's orbit to predict when and in what part of the sky observers can look for the station as it passes over their location. The method requires only a good background in trigonometry and some familiarity with elementary vector and matrix operations. An included…