Does the Lorentz factor aid understanding of SR, or obscure it?

I had a look at a number of books that deal with Special Relativity. Many, if not most, textbooks on the theory of Special Relativity introduce the Lorentz factor ##\gamma## $\gamma=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}}$ Different textbooks introduce ##\gamma## differently; some use it only as a... Read more