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Calculus for the Life Sciences: A Modeling Approach
James Cornette; Ralph Ackerman · A.T. Still University · 2011
Our writing is based on three premises. First, life sciences students are motivated by and respond well to actual data related to real life sciences problems. Second, the ultimate goal of calculus in the life sciences primarily involves modeling living systems with difference and differential equations. Understanding the concepts of derivative and integral are crucial, but the ability to compute a large array of derivatives and integrals is of secondary importance. Third, the depth of calculus for life sciences students should be comparable to that of the traditional physics and engineering calculus course; else life sciences students will be short changed and their faculty will advise them to take the 'best' (engineering) course. In our text, mathematical modeling and difference and differential equations lead, closely follow, and extend the elements of calculus. Chapter one introduces mathematical modeling in which students write descriptions of some observed processes and from these descriptions derive first order linear difference equations whose solutions can be compared with the observed data. In chapters in which the derivatives of algebraic, exponential, or trigonometric functions are defined, biologically motivated differential equations and their solutions are included. The chapter on partial derivatives includes a section on the diffusion partial differential equation. There are two chapters on non-linear difference equations and on systems of two difference equations and two chapters on differential equations and on systems of differential equation.
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Operational Amplifiers & Linear Integrated Circuits: Theory and Application
James Fiore · dissidents · 2018
The goal of this text, as its name implies, is to allow the reader to become proficient in the analysis and design of circuits utilizing modern linear ICs. It progresses from the fundamental circuit building blocks through to analog/digital conversion systems. The text is intended for use in a second year Operational Amplifiers course at the Associate level, or for a junior level course at the Baccalaureate level. In order to make effective use of this text, students should have already taken a course in basic discrete transistor circuits, and have a solid background in algebra and trigonometry, along with exposure to phasors. Calculus is used in certain sections of the text, but for the most part, its use is kept to a minimum. For students without a calculus background, these sections may be skipped without a loss of continuity. (The sole exception to this being Chapter Ten, Integrators and Differentiators, which hinges upon knowledge of calculus.) There is also a lab manual for this textbook.
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A First Course in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Louis Scharf · OpenStax CNX · 2009
This book was written for an experimental freshman course at the University of Colorado. The course is now an elective that the majority of our electrical and computer engineering students take in the second semester of their freshman year, just before their first circuits course. Our department decided to offer this course for several reasons: we wanted to pique student' interest in engineering by acquainting them with engineering teachers early in their university careers and by providing with exposure to the types of problems that electrical and computer engineers are asked to solve; we wanted students entering the electrical and computer engineering programs to be prepared in complex analysis, phasors, and linear algebra, topics that are of fundamental importance in our discipline; we wanted students to have an introduction to a software application tool, such as MATLAB, to complete their preparation for practical and efficient computing in their subsequent courses and in their professional careers; we wanted students to make early contact with advanced topics like vector graphics, filtering, and binary coding so that they would gain a more rounded picture of modern electrical and computer engineering. In order to introduce this course, we had to sacrifice a second semester of Pascal programming. We concluded that the sacrifice was worth making because we found that most of our students were prepared for high-level language computing after just one semester of programming. We believe engineering educators elsewhere are reaching similar conclusions about their own students and curriculums. We hope this book helps create a much needed dialogue about curriculum revision and that it leads to the development of similar introductory courses that encourage students to enter and practice our craft.Students electing to take this course have completed one semester of calculus, computer programming, chemistry, and humanities. Concurrently with this course, students take ph