Tuesday, April 6, 2010
April 6, 2010
Video of the day: Nature by Numbers (no Calc III content, just a nice video)
Today’s topics:
- Directional derivative
- Gradient
- Maximum/minimum directional derivatives
- Gradient vector as normal vector
Homework:
- 15.6 – 11, 12, 21, 24, 25, 32, 33, 38, 41, 44, 47
Read for next class:
- 15.7
16 Comments
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The homework was pretty straight forward, but I can see how it would be easy to make a mistake and forget to find a unit vector.
Only question was on 44b. We hadnt discussed the unit line, but I just used the formula from the book.
the video is fascinating and it reminds me of the idea of fractality by Mandelbrot. I am wondering if any Professor in the department has special interest in fractality.
I guess Applied Cominatorics or Complex Analysis would talk about that. The famous Mandelbrot graph seems to be front cover of a book I saw in library…cannot rembemer…
I thought that the homework was simple enough though #38 gave me a little trouble.
I love phi. I love the golden ratio. I love the Fibonacci sequence. So, naturally, I enjoyed the video.
I was unaware of some of the patterns the video showed, such as the pattern of seeds in a sunflower being related to the angle generated by a circle with the ratio of arc lengths equal to phi. I can’t help wondering how some of these more obscure patterns were discovered.
I like how all of the topics we’ve learned throughout the semester are really connected and cumulative as opposed to a number of seemingly unrelated topics.
the last two problems were a little problematic
I am not sure with #38…
I thought the video was very interesting to watch even without understanding where it all came from.
No problems with the homework- 32 was just a little tedious. I thought the video was pretty cool.
The video is so interesting and amazing. I liked how they derived a new concept from the previous animal’s features.
Math is the most beautiful science ever. So proud to be a math major…… :D
The video is so interesting and amazing. I liked how they derived a new concept from the previous animal’s features.
I like the video very much but I have a minor question about our homework.
It is fascinating to see how nature is filled with math.
I did not have too much difficulty with the homework. I made a few careless mistakes, but that was the only issue. These topics are easier than the previous ones.