standard_description: Apply properties of operations as strategies to add and subtract. (Students need not use formal terms for these properties.) Examples: If 8 + 3 = 11 is known, then 3 + 8 = 11 is also known. (Commutative property of addition.) To add 2 + 6 + 4, the second two numbers can be added to make a ten, so 2 + 6 + 4 = 2 + 10 = 12. (Associative property of addition.)
problem_activity: Task
A physics professor says: "Of course, it is easy to see that
$$ L_0 \sqrt{1 - \frac{v^2}{c^2}} = 0 $$
when $v = c$."
Give a possible explanation in terms of the structure of the expression on the left why the professor might say that.
Assuming that $L_0$ and $c$ are positive, what is the greatest possible value of the expression on the left?  Explain your answer in terms of the structure of the expression.


aligns: no