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Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications

Product ID: 99772
Supplementary Print
Undergraduate

Geological Dating - A Calculus Application (UMAP)

Author: Peter Bruns and L.R. King


With this module, the student develops a technique to date sediment levels in actual core samples taken from the deep sea. This dating serves as a basis for a discussion of errors: precision, accuracy, and error propagation.

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION

CORE SAMPLE DATING

DATING AND THE DERIVATIVE

PUTTING THE DERIVATIVE TO WORK

MASS ACCUMULATION: THE IRIDIUM MODEL

THE RECORD FUNCTION: PUTTING THE INTEGRAL TO WORK

PRECISION, ACCURACY, AND ERROR

FURTHER DIRECTIONS

SOLUTIONS TO THE EXERCISES

REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

©1999 by COMAP, Inc.
UMAP Module
24 pages

Mathematics Topics:

Calculus

Application Areas:

Physical Sciences, Geology, Earth Science

Prerequisites:

Fundamental theorem of calculus; chain rule for derivatives; inverse function theorem

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