MODELING IN THE SCIENCES: CONSIDERING SPHERICAL COWS

Catalog description

Does it ever make sense to imagine a cow as a sphere? As surprising as it may seem, there are times when the answer is yes. The complexity of the natural world often requires us to simplify the way we represent it. In this course we will explore by example modeling the natural world. We will work at all levels of the modeling process: translating a problem from words into mathematical relationships, checking the basic accuracy of a model, and verifying and validating a model. We will make extensive use of modern computer methods to gain insight into the models we develop.Faculty: R. OLSEN