The official description in the Undergraduate Bulletin is:
450(G). MATHEMATICAL MODELING. (3, 0, 3). Development of mathematical models arising in various areas of application in the physical, biological, and social sciences. Prereq: MATH 350 with a grade of C or better and working knowledge of a programming languageThis semester, we will begin by studying carefully certain mathematical models from the physical and biological sciences that were introduced in our calculus sequence and differential equations course; the emphasis will be on using the physical principles to derive the equations, rather than on analytical solution processes. However, we will also review our skills at using the computer to solve mathematical models (normally using Matlab, Mathematica, Fortran, C, or C++, depending on requirements). We will also discuss model parameters and data fitting techniques. After that, we will go on to more complicated models, including derivation of partial differential equations, as well as various models in the biological and social sciences. Students will complete one or more significant projects in which they derive and analyze (i.e. solve numerically or analytically) a model.