Computational Physics

Catalog description

Numerical experimentation has supplemented laboratory experimentation and theory as a viable approach to studying the laws of nature. Students will learn techniques and traps of programming, and then learn to write computer code to solve applications including: finite difference methods; realistic classical mechanics problems including friction or N mutually-interacting bodies; Laplace's equation in electrostatics; wave motion; random processes including diffusion, cluster growth models, and the Monte Carlo method; Fourier transforms and Fourier filtering.