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3-130-S-MatterOfSomeGravity
07 Aug 2019 | | Contributor(s):: Kurt Bryan
This project introduces the concept of an inverse problem (or parameter estimation), in the context of the simple linearized pendulum ordinary differential equation. The theme of the project is that one often has a physical model for a system but in which the model contains unknown parameters or...
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2017-Groetsch-HammerANDFeather
09 Sep 2017 | | Contributor(s):: Brian Winkel
Groetsch, C. W. 2017. Hammer and Feather: Some Calculus of Mass and Fall Time. Mathematics Magazine. 90: 3-7.The paper opens this way,“Does a heavy object fall faster than a lighter one? In 1971 NASA astronaut Dave Scott, Commander of the Apollo 15 lunar mission, used a hammer and a...
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3-019-S-ShuttlecockFall
30 May 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Brian Winkel
We are given data on the time and position of a shuttlecock as it falls to the ground from a set height. We attempt to model the falling object and we confront the different resistance terms and models. Finally, we introduce a new way of comparing models, the Akaike Information Criterion, and...
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3-013-S-WhiffleBallFall
30 May 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Brian Winkel
We are given data on the time and position of a whiffle ball as it falls to the ground. We attempt to model the falling ball and we confront the different resistance terms and models. Finally, we introduce a new way of comparing models, the Akaike Information Criterion, and apply it to our models.