Timeline for Why have mathematicians used differential equations to model nature instead of difference equations
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 7, 2017 at 21:10 | history | edited | Joonas Ilmavirta | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Reorganized the text.
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| Sep 30, 2014 at 20:38 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by Todd Trimble | ||
| Sep 30, 2014 at 16:21 | vote | accept | Craig Feinstein | ||
| Sep 30, 2014 at 9:23 | history | edited | Joonas Ilmavirta | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 700 characters in body
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| Sep 29, 2014 at 19:51 | comment | added | Joonas Ilmavirta | @RichardHardy, it is true that mathematician provide tools for others, but one should not forget that a lot of pure mathematics has been developed for the very purpose of modelling nature. The boundary between mathematics and other sciences is not always very clear, but that is natural for any field of science. | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 19:27 | comment | added | Tom Leinster | @RichardHardy Welcome to MO! Maybe your point is that pure mathematics does not actually touch "nature"; it's not about the external world...? That I would agree with. Still, I disagree with what you write: there are plenty of mathematicians, both in math departments and in other departments such as biology or engineering, who spend much of their time in a quest to accurately model nature. | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 18:51 | comment | added | Richard Hardy | I would say it is mostly non-mathematicians who model nature, whatever techniques they use. Mathematicians created the tools for other scientists to use at their discretion but you should not hold them responsible for potential misuse of the tools. (This was supposed to be a comment under the question but I do not have a high enough reputation score to be able to post it there.) | |
| Sep 29, 2014 at 18:21 | history | answered | Joonas Ilmavirta | CC BY-SA 3.0 |