Mathematical Modeling

Catalog description

Mathematics is a powerful language for describing real world phenomena and providing predictions that otherwise are hard or impossible to obtain. The course gives the students pre-requisites for translating qualitative descriptions given in the professional non-mathematical language into the quantitative language for mathematics. While the variety in the subject matter is wide, some general principles and methodologies that a modeler can pursue are similar in many applications. The course focuses on these similarities. The course is based on representative case studies that are discussed and analyzed in the classroom, the emphasis being on general principles of developing and analyzing mathematical models. The examples will be taken from different fields of science and engineering, including life sciences, environmental sciences, biomedical engineering and physical sciences. Modeling relies increasingly on computation, so the students should have basic skills for using computers and programs like Matlab or Mathematica. Prereq: MATH 224 or MATH 228 .