What I'm Learning
Jun. 18th, 2008 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trickykittyJust because it's fun to make other people's heads spin when it comes to the very much non-English things I'm learning in class.
From the preface to my textbook:
"In the independent presentations of mechanical vibrations and population dynamics, nonlinear ordinary differential equations are analyzed by investigating equilibria solutions and their linearized stability. The phase plane is introduced to discuss nonlinear phenomena. Discrete models for populations growth are also presented, and ... a discussion of iterations of the logistic map and the period doubling route to chaos."
I find it fun writing out long equations and manipulating them by applying many lines of algebra and calculus. I get excited seeing how one equation morphs into a new, different, simple equation that will solve all the world's ills (or at least give the world a tool for analyzing traffic jams). Also, being more math based than engineering based, I get a kick out of watching the EE majors pull their hair out in what to them is such a mundane class. They are well known for ignoring the math behind the equations they utilize to solve problems, just as much as they also like to ignore the physics and only focus on the applications. This class is so much more difficult in the grand scheme of things as compared to my senior thesis class, and my oh my if I'm not back in my natural element again. prrrrrrr
From the preface to my textbook:
"In the independent presentations of mechanical vibrations and population dynamics, nonlinear ordinary differential equations are analyzed by investigating equilibria solutions and their linearized stability. The phase plane is introduced to discuss nonlinear phenomena. Discrete models for populations growth are also presented, and ... a discussion of iterations of the logistic map and the period doubling route to chaos."
I find it fun writing out long equations and manipulating them by applying many lines of algebra and calculus. I get excited seeing how one equation morphs into a new, different, simple equation that will solve all the world's ills (or at least give the world a tool for analyzing traffic jams). Also, being more math based than engineering based, I get a kick out of watching the EE majors pull their hair out in what to them is such a mundane class. They are well known for ignoring the math behind the equations they utilize to solve problems, just as much as they also like to ignore the physics and only focus on the applications. This class is so much more difficult in the grand scheme of things as compared to my senior thesis class, and my oh my if I'm not back in my natural element again. prrrrrrr
