Mathematics Commons^™

Quadrature-Based Gravity Models For The Homogeneous Polyhedron, Jason Pearl

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

A number of missions to comets and asteroids have been undertaken by major space organizations driving a need to accurately characterize their gravitational fields. This is complicated however by their irregular shapes. To accurately and safely navigate spacecraft in these environments, a simple point-mass gravity model is insufficient and instead higher-fidelity models are required. Several such models exist for this purpose but all posess drawbacks. Moreover, there are some applications for which the currently available models are not particular well suited.

In this dissertation, numerical quadrature and curvilinear meshing techniques are applied to the small body gravity problem. The goal …

A Wealth Of Numbers: An Anthology Of 500 Years Of Popular Mathematics Writing, By Benjamin Wardhaugh. Princeton University Press: Princeton, 2012 (Book Review), John A. Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) To describe the landscape encompassed by this book I can do no better than to quote the dust jacket: "A Wealth of Numbers includes recreational, classroom, and work mathematics; mathematical histories and biographies; accounts of higher mathematics; explanations of mathematical instruments; discussions of how math should be taught and learned; reflections on the place of math in the world; and math in fiction and humor." More such details can be found on the Princeton University Press website. I shall use this as a point of departure to describe the highlights of my own trajectory through the book. Not …