On the surface, the concept of Time Dilation seems so strange to us that we imagine its formula must be one of incredible complexity. In reality, its incredible simplicity almost belies the genius required to conceive of it (Minkowski, Lorentz, Einstein).
It states simply that the time t’ on a clock which is either moving or at a lower gravitational potential (closer to a gravitational body) with respect to time t on a clock that is “at rest” will be slower by the precise ratio given below. As we can see below, the only variable in that ratio is the velocity of the moving body, and its ratio with respect to the speed of light provides a fraction which is subtracted from 1.
