Class content >Modeling with mathematics

The fact that we are using math in science as a model of the physical world (and not just as a set of numbers to be manipulated) changes a lot. It makes the math carry meaning in a way it typically did not in a math course. It makes our equations a lot "richer" (i.e., "more complicated to interpret") than they are in math. Making our equations "physical" (as opposed to pure math) gives us some very powerful tools, such as dimensional analysis, scaling, and estimation, that will allow us to use our math more effectively.

Here are links to discussions of some of the most important issues.

• How math in science is different from math in math
• Measurement
• Dimensions and units
• Complex dimensions and dimensional analysis
• Changing units 
• Creating equations using dimensional analysis 
• Considering change 
• Multiple symbols: What's a variable? 
• Scaling and functional dependence
• Estimation
• Useful numbers

Joe Redish 7/5/11