Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Raising Student Awareness Of Environmental Issues Via Writing Assignments With Differential Equations, Michelle L. Ghrist

CODEE Journal

In this paper, I discuss two environmentally-focused writing assignments that I developed and implemented in recent integral calculus and differential equations courses. These models of carbon storage and PCB’s in a river provide interesting applications of one-compartment mixing problems. The assignments were intended to focus student attention on sustainability concerns while also developing other essential skills. I discuss these assignments and their effect on my students’ technical writing and environmental awareness. Detailed introductory instructions and mostly complete solutions to these assignments appear in the appendices, to include sample student work.

Solar Panels, Euler’S Method And Community-Based Projects: Connecting Differential Equations With Climate Change, Victor J. Donnay

CODEE Journal

How does mathematics connect with the search for solutions to the climate emergency? One simple connection, which can be explored in an introductory differential equations course, can be found by analyzing the energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines. The power generated by these devices is typically recorded at standard time intervals producing a data set which gives a discrete approximation to the power function $P(t)$. Using numerical techniques such as Euler’s method, one can determine the energy generated. Here we describe how we introduce the topic of solar power, apply Euler’s method to determine the energy generated, and …

Population Growth Models: Relationship Between Sustainable Fishing And Making A Profit, James Sandefur

CODEE Journal

In this paper, we develop differential equations that model the sustainable harvesting of species having different characteristics. Specifically, we assume the species satisfies one of two different types of density dependence. From these equations, we consider maximizing sustainable harvests. We then introduce a cost function for fishing and study how maximizing profit affects the harvesting strategy. We finally introduce the concept of open access which helps explain the collapse of many fish stocks.

The equations studied involve relatively simple rational and exponential functions. We analyze the differential equations using phase-line analysis as well as graphing approximate solutions using Euler's method, …