Batman Says 'Math is Hard'

All of a sudden, the one class I’m taking seems like it will be getting hard real fast. The class is “Thermofluid Systems: Experiments and Testing”—so far, it has been interesting, taught from a real-world perspective, and applicable to my current experimental work. There were a few times where he put up a few integrals (e.g., Gaussian distribution, to determine 95% certainty of results), but it was conceptual and easy to understand (Yes. Area under the curve. Got it.)

Then, we went into how to determine experimental error when you are combining measurements from multiple instruments (each with a different degree of uncertainty) to determine a “computed” value, such as the form of the power coefficient of a centribugal pump:

C_p = f (p, w, D, W shaft) = W shaft / pw³D⁵

where:

C_p is the power coefficient
p (actually rho) is fluid density
w (actually omega) is rotational velocity
D is diameter
W shaft is power input to shaft

This involves solving partial differential equations for each of variables in order to determine overall cumulative error.

That’s when I realized I needed to change my underwear.

You see, I took 18.03 (differential equations, for the non-MIT readers here) my freshman year on pass/fail. Yes, I passed. But this should not be taken as any indicator of (a) a firm grasp of the concepts (b) ability to solve problems of any significance, or (c) the slightest recall of any of it. Also, you have to realize that I haven’t taken a math class since the eighties. (yes… the second half of freshman year was 1989).

So… anybody have recommendations for a math solver program? Something relatively quick to learn? .

To make things even more interesting, my schedule has changed from “mostly open, get stuff done in lab,” to two back-to-back trips (San Francisco and Chicago), with 48 hours on the ground before Assignment #1 is due.

So that’s why I’m tooling on a Friday night on vacation in the Bay Area.