This book speaks about physics discoveries that intertwine mathematical reasoning, modeling, and scientific inquiry. It offers ways of bringing together the structural domain of mathematics and the content of physics in one coherent inquiry. Teaching and learning physics is challenging because students lack the skills to merge these learning paradigms. The purpose of this book is not only to improve access to the understanding of natural phenomena but also to inspire new ways of delivering and understanding the complex concepts of physics. To sustain physics education in college classrooms, authentic training that would help develop high school students’ skills of transcending function modeling techniques to reason scientifically is needed and this book aspires to offer such training The book draws on current research in developing students’ mathematical reasoning. It identifies areas for advancements and proposes a conceptual framework that is tested in several case studies designed using that framework. Modeling Newton’s laws using limited case analysis, Modeling projectile motion using parametric equations and Enabling covariational reasoning in Einstein formula for the photoelectric effect represent some of these case studies. A wealth of conclusions that accompany these case studies, drawn from the realities of classroom teaching, is to help physics teachers and researchers adopt these ideas in practice.

Read this book if you care about students really understanding physics and getting genuine intellectual satisfaction from doing so. Read it too if you fear that this goal is out of reach – you may be surprised! Laurence Viennot here shows ways to deal with the awkward fact that common sense thinking is often not the same as scientific thinking. She analyses examples of frequent and widespread errors and confusions, which provide a real eye-opener for the teacher. More than that, she shows ways to avoid and overcome them. The book argues against over-emphasis on “fun” applications, demonstrating that students also enjoy and value clear thinking. The book has three parts: • making sense of special scientific ways of reasoning (words, images, functions) • making connections between very different topics, each illuminating the other • simplifying, looking for consistency and avoiding incoherent over-simplification The book is enhanced with supplementary online materials that will allow readers to further expand their teaching or research interests and think about them more deeply.

An engaging collection of intriguing problems that shows you how to think like a mathematical physicist Paul Nahin is a master at explaining odd phenomena through straightforward mathematics. In this collection of twenty-six intriguing problems, he explores how mathematical physicists think. Always entertaining, the problems range from ancient catapult conundrums to the puzzling physics of a very peculiar material called NASTYGLASS—and from dodging trucks to why raindrops fall slower than the rate of gravity. The questions raised may seem impossible to answer at first and may require an unexpected twist in reasoning, but sometimes their solutions are surprisingly simple. Nahin’s goal, however, is always to guide readers—who will need only to have studied advanced high school math and physics—in expanding their mathematical thinking to make sense of the curiosities of the physical world. The problems are in the first part of the book and the solutions are in the second, so that readers may challenge themselves to solve the questions on their own before looking at the explanations. The problems show how mathematics—including algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and calculus—can be united with physical laws to solve both real and theoretical problems. Historical anecdotes woven throughout the book bring alive the circumstances and people involved in some amazing discoveries and achievements. More than a puzzle book, this work will immerse you in the delights of scientific history while honing your math skills.

This book is intended for undergraduates and young researchers who wish to understand the role that different branches of physics and mathematics play in the execution of actual experiments. The unique feature of the book is that all the subjects addressed are strictly interconnected within the context of the execution of a single experiment with very high accuracy, namely the redetermination of the Avogadro constant NA, one of the fundamental physical constants. The authors illustrate how the basic laws of physics are applied to describe the behavior of the quantities involved in the measurement of NA and explain the mathematical reasoning and computational tools that have been exploited. It is emphasized that all these quantities, although pertaining to a specific experiment, are of wide and general interest. The book is organized into chapters covering the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with single crystals, linear elasticity and anisotropy, propagation of thermal energy, anti-vibration mounting systems, and data analysis and B-spline interpolation. An essential feature is the focus on the role of Mathematica, an invaluable, fully integrated software environment for handling diverse scientific and technical computations.

In the four decades since Imre Lakatos declared mathematics a "quasi-empirical science," increasing attention has been paid to the process of proof and argumentation in the field -- a development paralleled by the rise of computer technology and the mounting interest in the logical underpinnings of mathematics. Explanantion and Proof in Mathematics assembles perspectives from mathematics education and from the philosophy and history of mathematics to strengthen mutual awareness and share recent findings and advances in their interrelated fields. With examples ranging from the geometrists of the 17th century and ancient Chinese algorithms to cognitive psychology and current educational practice, contributors explore the role of refutation in generating proofs, the varied links between experiment and deduction, the use of diagrammatic thinking in addition to pure logic, and the uses of proof in mathematics education (including a critique of "authoritative" versus "authoritarian" teaching styles). A sampling of the coverage: The conjoint origins of proof and theoretical physics in ancient Greece. Proof as bearers of mathematical knowledge. Bridging knowing and proving in mathematical reasoning. The role of mathematics in long-term cognitive development of reasoning. Proof as experiment in the work of Wittgenstein. Relationships between mathematical proof, problem-solving, and explanation. Explanation and Proof in Mathematics is certain to attract a wide range of readers, including mathematicians, mathematics education professionals, researchers, students, and philosophers and historians of mathematics.