3 ms·
Probably the weirdest math I’ve ever encountered is the Frobenius method and more generally power series methods of solving differential equations. I remembered
by raydiatian 5y ago
Probably the weirdest math I’ve ever encountered is the Frobenius method and more generally power series methods of solving differential equations. I remembered encountering Taylor and Maclaurin series in Calc I, and thinking “oh, that’s a cute trick.”
A decade later, I’m casually working my through an introductory QM textbook, and realize that somebody had actually put the stuff to good use. It felt like power series methods are literally just tricking the hard differential equations around single electron 3D atoms into giving up their secrets.
- commandlinefan 5y ago> encountering Taylor and Maclaurin series in Calc I, and thinking “oh, that’s a cute trick.” ... somebody had actually put the stuff to good use Aren't Taylor series expansions how calculators compute sine and cosine values?
- melissalobos 5y agoNot usually. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CORDIC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CORDIC is a bit more common, or if they are using an approximation, some form of min-max rational function approximation.
- raydiatian 5y agoOh I mean you could close your eyes and throw a dart at the map of mathematics and find any clever application thanks to <<insert-name-here>>’s ingenuity. I’m just saying that I had, as of yet, not known about or encountered a significant use of Maclaurin series.