Science and Computers -- PHY307/607
Course and audience
This course is aimed at non-experts who are
interested in both science and computing. The goal of
the course will be to show how computers
can be used to learn about
scientific concepts and how they can be used as a tool
in solving scientific problems. Our main scientific examples will be
drawn from the field of Chaos and we will study them using a new
and versatile programming language called Java.
The course will place much emphasis on the Web - as a source of
course material, programs and for running simulations
- much of the assessment of the course will
be based on Java based labs.
Topics to be covered
- Programming:
- Introduction to the Web, simple HTML and Java. How to make
a homepage, how to create and use simple Java applets.
- Introduction to chaos:
- Bacteria in a jar -- simple maps, fixed points, periodic
behavior and the transition to chaos.
- Chaotic systems are unpredictable:
- Lyapunov exponents and the weather.
- Picturing chaos:
- Fractals and strange attractors. Fractal
drawing algorithms. Fractional dimension. The Mandelbrot and
Julia sets.
- Multifractals and fractals in Nature:
- Example: the coastline of Norway.
- More examples:
- Stellar orbits in globular clusters, tumbling of Hyperion,
chaos in the solar system, earthquakes, billiard balls.
What makes this course unique
This course differs from other science courses
in that it approaches a modern, cross-disciplinary set of topics
using computers as the primary tool of discovery - we use the results of
computer-based simulations to uncover different aspects of
the physics of chaotic systems. Java is particularly suited to this
as it allows for the easy creation of graphics allowing
simple visualization of the systems under study.
There will be a little teaching
of programming to get started, but the emphasis will be on how
to analyze scientific questions using existing software. Most of
the Java programs will be provided to you and you will need
only to make small changes to these in the labs.
Math 285/6 or Math 295/6 are required as corequisites.
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This page maintained by Simon Catterall, last updated 23 August, 1999.