Related papers: Six textbook mistakes in computational physics
Computation is a central aspect of modern science and engineering work, and yet, computational instruction has yet to fully pervade university STEM curricula. In physics, we have begun to integrate computation into our courses in a variety…
We describe various errors in the mathematical literature, and consider how some of them might have been avoided, or at least detected at an earlier stage, using tools such as Maple or Sage. Our examples are drawn from three broad…
This is part two of a series of four methodological papers on (bi)quaternions and their use in theoretical and mathematical physics: 1- Alphabetical bibliography, 2- Analytical bibliography, 3- Notations and terminology, and 4- Formulas and…
Computational Thinking (CT) is still a relatively new term in the lexicon of learning objectives and science standards. There is not yet widespread agreement on the precise definition or implementation of CT, and efforts to assess CT are…
Basic principles of mathematical modeling are reviewed in this book, with the focus on physics and its practical applications, and examples of selected mathematical methods are presented. Most of the models have been imported from physics…
The problems and beauty of teaching computational neuroscience are discussed by reviewing three new textbooks.
More than a speculative technology, quantum computing seems to challenge our most basic intuitions about how the physical world should behave. In this thesis I show that, while some intuitions from classical computer science must be…
During the last decade we have witnessed an impressive development in so-called interpreted languages and computational environments such as Maple, Mathematica, IDL, Matlab etc. Problems which until recently were typically solved on…
Textbooks play a fundamental role in teaching and learning in school science classrooms. In this paper we investigate the presentation of the nature of the electromagnetic field in a dozen of the world's most popular introductory university…
The paper describes two general problems encountered in computational assignments at the introductory level. First, novice students often treat computer code as almost magic incantations, and like novices in many fields, have trouble…
The study guide (textbook) is part of a set of materials designed to support high-quality practical training in physics. It includes a collection of tasks for organizing both in-class and independent work. The guide serves as a foundation…
Computational physics is a key part of what it means to do physics in the twenty-first century. However, upper division computational physics remains a largely understudied area. We set out to understand the experiences of students in an…
This paper addresses different aspects of "coupled" model descriptions in computational electromagnetics. This includes domain decomposition, multiscale problems, multiple or hybrid discrete field formulation and multi-physics problems.…
Physics and mathematics are difficult enough without the aditional burden of bad habits. In this article, we examine some helpful habits that tend to be underemphasized by many physics teachers (mainly because they seem so obvious!).
Computation, the use of a computer to solve, simulate, or visualize a physical problem, has revolutionized how physics research is done. Computation is used widely to model systems, to simulate experiments, and to analyze data. Yet, in most…
The beliefs of physicists can bias their results towards their expectations in a number of ways. We survey a variety of historical cases of expectation bias in observations, experiments, and calculations.
Momentum exists in the physics community for integrating computation into the undergraduate curriculum. One of many benefits would be preparation for computational research. Our investigation poses the question of which computational skills…
We comment about the general argument given to obtain the rocket equation as it is exposed in standard textbooks. In our opinion, it can induce students to a wrong answer when solving variable mass problems.
Courses in mathematical methods for physics students are not known for including too much in the way of mathematical rigour and, in some ways, understandably so. However, the conditions under which some quite commonly used mathematical…
In the last two decades, the field of neutrino physics has made enormous progress in measuring the strength and frequency of neutrino and antineutrino oscillations. Along the way, there have been many instances of misunderstanding which led…