MATH201 Lecture : ch1-2.pdf
16 Apr 2014
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Document Summary
Many fundamental principles or laws governing the behaviour of the natural world are expressed in terms of certain quantities and their rates of change. In mathematical terms these expressions take the form of equations involving these quantities and their derivatives. An equation involving some unknown function and its derivatives is called a di erential equation. A di erential equation, or perhaps a system of di erential equations, that describe some physical process is often called a mathematical model of the process. In order to understand these physical processes requires an understanding of, and an ability to solve, di erential equations. Below we discuss a few physical problems and the mathematical models that govern them. Everyone is familiar with newton"s second law of motion which states that force acting on an object is equal to the product of its mass and acceleration. This is represented mathematically by the following simple equation:
