A mathematical model can be a valuable tool in creating structure for a physical phenomenon, provided it capture sessential aspects of the behavior under investigation. A carefully prepared model can lead to a structure that can reveal significant...
The term microcomputer can reasonably apply to the small integrated circuits or chips, based on solid-state physics, used as components in computers. It can also apply to typewriter-sized computers containing such chips, which is the current usage. The...
One of the most important biological applications of integration is the determination of proper ties of flow systems. Among the significant characteristics of a flow system are its flow rate (a heart's output in liters per minute, for example), its...
This article was inspired by the September 1981 issue of Scientific American, which describes the applications of microbiology to past, present, and future technology in a detailed and captivating manner in eight comprehensive articles. Microorganisms...
The use of mathematics as a research language in the social sciences is only now coming into its own, despite the power and versatility of mathematical techniques. Using the Soviet-American arms race as an illustration, the author argues that simple,...
The intuitive appeal of the definition is demonstrated routinely by means of simple examples involving card drawing, dice, and chips in the bowln problems.. These problems are easy to visualize and they do give the student practice in dealing with the...
Suffolk Community College has just completed a major, three-year project to incorporate the use of computers into almost all mathematics courses and related courses in physics, chemistry, earth and space sciences, engineering, and economics. The...
When one asks the question, What do mathematicians do? the immediate answer given by most is that they prove theorems. In this paper we will consider proofs of Euclid's theorem that there are infinitely many primes. Euclid proved this theorem in book...
This paper deals with the philosophy and content of a one semester senior level course entitled Mathematical Systems Analysis. The course was intended for students who had a background including elementary calculus, linear algebra, some ordinary...
The question in the title is intentionally ambiguous. Whom are we interested in--entering students or those already enrolled? The length-of-stay distributions for these two groups will rarely be identical. Social scientists carefully distinguish...
When I taught a calculus class composed mostly of biology students, I looked for a project wherein the students could collect biological data for which a mathematical mode l would be constructed. Although the project was conceived for biology students,...
Anyone who has attempted to teach realistic applied mathematics in a course has no doubt been impressed with the difficulty of this task. In the first place, realworld problems are usually stated in an open-ended fashion, using imprecise terms, and...
Wimbledon watchers and tennis players cannot fail to be aware of the importance of the service. Players like Tanner are noted for the high speed of their service, whilst the fate of a championship often depends on which player manages to get the larger...
This article seeks to trace the historical development of the Principal Axis Theorem. It begins with the work of Rene Descartes and Pierre Fermat (ca. 1640), and is not completely, rigorously established until Karl Weierstrass (ca. 1858). Also,...
Although the origins of gambling are not recorded, there is evidence of it in the histories of most peoples. Dice were invented by the Ancient Egyptians, sports betting was common throughout the Greek and Roman empires, and carnival games were popular...
Power lines are constructed by stringing the conductors from support to support in a continuous manner and then adjusting the tension in the wire in each span (gap between poles or towers) consecutively. This tension is maintained by tying the...
Increasingly, students of biology, natural resources, health sciences and other applied life sciences are taking calculus. Such students appreciate biological applications, especially since most textbooks rely on a standard set of examples common to...
When the mathematics department of the University of Toledo revised its multi-track masters degree programs in applied mathematics in 1978 into a single track program, two courses in mathematical modeling were introduced. One was a course in continuous...
The central question I pose in Superior Beings (Brams, 1983) is: If the reexisted a superior being who possessed the supernatural qualities of omniscience, omnipotence, immortality, and incomprehensibility, how would he/she act differently from us, and...
In September, 1982, we mailed questionnaires to fortyfive departments of mathematics in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana to discover where and how mathematical modeling is taught to undergraduates. Of ten replies, seven came from departments offering...