Downey A.B. Physical Modeling in MatLAB

3rd. ed. — Needham (Mass.): Green Tea Press, 2019. — 169 p.Modeling and simulation are powerful tools for explaining the world, making predictions, designing things that work, and making them work better. Learning to use these tools can be difficult; this book is my attempt to make the experience as enjoyable and productive as possible. By reading this book — and working on the exercises — you will learn some programming, some modeling, and some simulation:With basic programming skills, you can create models for a wide range of physical systems. My goal is to help you develop these skills in a way you can apply immediately to real-world problems.
This book presents the entire modeling process, including model selection, analysis, simulation, and validation. I explain this process in Chapter 1, and there are examples throughout the book.
Simulation is an approach to modeling that uses computer programs to implement models and generate predictions. This book shows how simulations are used to run experiments, answer questions, and guide decision-making.To make this book accessible to the widest possible audience, I try to minimize the prerequisites. I assume that you know trigonometry and some calculus, but not much. If you understand that a derivative represents a rate of change, that’s enough. You will learn about differential equations and some linear algebra, but I will explain what you need to know as we go along. I assume you know basic physics, in particular the concepts of force, acceleration, velocity, and position. If you know Newton’s second law of motion in the form F = m a, that’s enough.
I have tried to present a small set of tools that provides the most versatility and power, to explain them as clearly as possible, and to give you chances to practice what you learn.