Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Education

Find, Process, And Share: An Optimal Control In The Vidale-Wolfe Marketing Model, Michael C. Barg Dec 2018

Find, Process, And Share: An Optimal Control In The Vidale-Wolfe Marketing Model, Michael C. Barg

CODEE Journal

The Vidale-Wolfe marketing model is a first-order, linear, non-homogeneous ordinary differential equation (ODE) where the forcing term is proportional to advertising expenditure. With an initial response in sales as the initial condition, the solution of the initial value problem is straightforward for a first undergraduate ODE course. The model serves as an excellent example of many relevant topics for those students whose interests lie in economics, finance, or marketing. Its inclusion in the curriculum is particularly rewarding at an institution without a physics program. The model is not new, but it was novel to us when a group of students …


Experiences Using Inquiry-Oriented Instruction In Differential Equations, Keith Nabb Nov 2018

Experiences Using Inquiry-Oriented Instruction In Differential Equations, Keith Nabb

CODEE Journal

Student-centered instruction can be a challenging endeavor for teachers and students. This article reports on the use of the Inquiry-Oriented Differential Equations (IO-DE) curriculum (Rasmussen, 2002) in an undergraduate differential equations course. Examples of student work are shared with specific reference to research in mathematics education.


Teaching Differential Equations Without Computer Graphics Solutions Is A Crime, Beverly H. West Nov 2018

Teaching Differential Equations Without Computer Graphics Solutions Is A Crime, Beverly H. West

CODEE Journal

In the early 1980s computer graphics revolutionized the teaching of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Yet the movement to teach and learn the qualitative methods that interactive graphics affords seems to have lost momentum. There still exist college courses, even at big universities, being taught without the immense power that computer graphics has brought to differential equations. The vast majority of ODEs that arise in mathematical models are nonlinear, and linearization only approximates solutions sufficiently near an equilibrium. Introductory courses need to include nonlinear DEs. Graphs of phase plane trajectories and time series solutions allow one to see and analyze the …