3 ms·

There is an exact solution for the pendulum problem: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/39575612_Exact_solution_for_the_nonlinear_pendulum https://www.res

• ojnabieoot 6y ago
  Thanks - I wasn’t actually aware of this but I meant to write “elementary” rather than “exact” so I’m glad you brought this up. I had supposed there was probably some incantation of special functions that solved the equation :) It’s been a long time since I’ve studied ODEs and mathematical physics but this solution seems easier than I had guessed (in the sense that it’s accessible to advanced undergrads instead of specialists).
• leephillips 6y ago
  Weird paper. Eq. 32 is supposed to be an approximation to eq. 31, but they are the same equation.