The Genesis of Simulation in Dynamics. Pursuing the Fermi Pasta Ulam Problem. With 68 illustrations.

Weissert, Thomas P.

ISBN 10: 038798237X / ISBN 13: 9780387982373

Published by Springer, New York, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1997

About this Item

23.5 x 15.5 cm, paperback, xiv, 176 pages, Text in English, very good/ fine condition, see picture. Historical and conceptual study of the origins of simulation in nonlinear dynamics, focusing on the Fermi Pasta Ulam experiment. Explores how computational experiments reshaped the study of dynamical systems. 280g.

Seller Inventory # 80866

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Genesis of Simulation in Dynamics. Pursuing the Fermi Pasta Ulam Problem. With 68 illustrations.
• Publisher: Springer, New York, Berlin, Heidelberg
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 038798237X
• ISBN 13: 9780387982373
• Binding: Soft cover
• Weight: 280 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Wetenschap, Techniek

About this title

Synopsis

We hear a lot about dynamical systems theory these days-"chaos dy­ namics" is the popular idiom-but very little of this abstract discipline is taught in undergraduate or even in graduate school, unless that happens to be one's own field. People may have heard some of the terms, but they may not understand what a dynamicist does. Just what does a dynamicist do? Although I've been through the training, I spend much more time talk­ ing and thinking about dynamics than actually doing it, which is a circum­ stance that affords me an interesting perspective. Some time after defending my dissertation, when I stopped back by my alma mater on a visit through Boulder, I ran into one of my advisors, a practicing dynamicist, and he was excited to show me his new workstation and its resident software. Hope­ fully, by relating what I experienced then, I may in part help to answer my opening question. He sat down in front of a very large screen, at least 19 inches across, so closely, that it filled his field of view completely. At his fingertips were the usual mouse and keyboard. He fired up the software and chose a model; I think we were out to explore "just the standard map. " As the program began, the screen remained black, except for a small blinking cursor at the middle.