OF THE ENERGIES OF A SYSTEM.
91
the integration being extended, with constant values of the coördinates, both internal and external, over all values of the momenta for which the kinetic energy is less than the limit
.
will evidently be a continuous increasing function of
which vanishes and becomes infinite with
. Let us set

(277)
The extension-in-velocity between any two limits of kinetic energy

and

may be represented by the integral

(278)
And in general, we may substitute

for

or

in an

-fold integral in which the coördinates are constant, reducing it to a simple integral, when the limits are expressed by the kinetic energy, and the other factor under the integral sign is a function of the kinetic energy, either alone or with quantities which are constant in the integration.
It is easy to express
and
in terms of
. Since
is function of the coördinates alone, we have by definition

(279)
the limits of the integral being given by

. That is, if

(280)
the limits of the integral for

, are given by the equation

(281)
and the limits of the integral for

, are given by the equation

(282)
But since

represents a quadratic function, this equation may be written

(283)