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Computational Biophysics
Computational physics is the study and implementation of numerical analysis to solve problems in physics for which a quantitative theory already exists. Historically, computational physics was the first application of modern computers in science, and is now a subset of computational science. It is sometimes regarded as a subdiscipline (or offshoot) of theoretical physics, but others consider it an intermediate branch between theoretical and experimental physics - an area of study which supplements both theory and experiment. Overview In physics, different theories based on mathematical models provide very precise predictions on how systems behave. Unfortunately, it is often the case that solving the mathematical model for a particular system in order to produce a useful prediction is not feasible. This can occur, for instance, when the solution does not have a closed-form expression, or is too complicated. In such cases, numerical approximations are required. Computational ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Numerical Analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of numerical methods that attempt at finding approximate solutions of problems rather than the exact ones. Numerical analysis finds application in all fields of engineering and the physical sciences, and in the 21st century also the life and social sciences, medicine, business and even the arts. Current growth in computing power has enabled the use of more complex numerical analysis, providing detailed and realistic mathematical models in science and engineering. Examples of numerical analysis include: ordinary differential equations as found in celestial mechanics (predicting the motions of planets, stars and galaxies), numerical linear algebra in data analysis, and stochastic differential equations and Markov chains for simulating living cells in medicine a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graphical Method
This is a list of graphical methods with a mathematical basis. Included are diagram techniques, chart techniques, plot techniques, and other forms of visualization. There is also a list of computer graphics and descriptive geometry topics. Simple displays *Area chart *Box plot ** Dispersion fan diagram * Graph of a function ** Logarithmic graph paper * Heatmap * Histogram **Bar chart *Line chart * Pie chart * Plotting *Scatterplot * Sparkline * Stemplot * Radar chart Set theory *Venn diagram * Karnaugh diagram Descriptive geometry * Isometric projection * Orthographic projection *Perspective (graphical) Engineering drawing *Technical drawing **Graphical projection * Mohr's circle *Pantograph *Circuit diagram *Smith chart *Sankey diagram Systems analysis *Binary decision diagram *Control-flow graph *Functional flow block diagram *Information flow diagram *IDEF *N2 chart *Sankey diagram *State diagram *System context diagram *Data-flow diagram Cartography *Map projection *O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LU Decomposition
In numerical analysis and linear algebra, lower–upper (LU) decomposition or factorization factors a matrix as the product of a lower triangular matrix and an upper triangular matrix (see matrix decomposition). The product sometimes includes a permutation matrix as well. LU decomposition can be viewed as the matrix form of Gaussian elimination. Computers usually solve square systems of linear equations using LU decomposition, and it is also a key step when inverting a matrix or computing the determinant of a matrix. The LU decomposition was introduced by the Polish mathematician Tadeusz Banachiewicz in 1938. Definitions Let ''A'' be a square matrix. An LU factorization refers to the factorization of ''A'', with proper row and/or column orderings or permutations, into two factors – a lower triangular matrix ''L'' and an upper triangular matrix ''U'': : A = LU. In the lower triangular matrix all elements above the diagonal are zero, in the upper triangular matrix, all the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
System Of Linear Equations
In mathematics, a system of linear equations (or linear system) is a collection of one or more linear equations involving the same variables. For example, :\begin 3x+2y-z=1\\ 2x-2y+4z=-2\\ -x+\fracy-z=0 \end is a system of three equations in the three variables . A solution to a linear system is an assignment of values to the variables such that all the equations are simultaneously satisfied. A solution to the system above is given by the ordered triple :(x,y,z)=(1,-2,-2), since it makes all three equations valid. The word "system" indicates that the equations are to be considered collectively, rather than individually. In mathematics, the theory of linear systems is the basis and a fundamental part of linear algebra, a subject which is used in most parts of modern mathematics. Computational algorithms for finding the solutions are an important part of numerical linear algebra, and play a prominent role in engineering, physics, chemistry, computer science, and economics. A sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newton's Method
In numerical analysis, Newton's method, also known as the Newton–Raphson method, named after Isaac Newton and Joseph Raphson, is a root-finding algorithm which produces successively better approximations to the roots (or zeroes) of a real-valued function. The most basic version starts with a single-variable function defined for a real variable , the function's derivative , and an initial guess for a root of . If the function satisfies sufficient assumptions and the initial guess is close, then :x_ = x_0 - \frac is a better approximation of the root than . Geometrically, is the intersection of the -axis and the tangent of the graph of at : that is, the improved guess is the unique root of the linear approximation at the initial point. The process is repeated as :x_ = x_n - \frac until a sufficiently precise value is reached. This algorithm is first in the class of Householder's methods, succeeded by Halley's method. The method can also be extended to complex fun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Root-finding Algorithm
In mathematics and computing, a root-finding algorithm is an algorithm for finding zeros, also called "roots", of continuous functions. A zero of a function , from the real numbers to real numbers or from the complex numbers to the complex numbers, is a number such that . As, generally, the zeros of a function cannot be computed exactly nor expressed in closed form, root-finding algorithms provide approximations to zeros, expressed either as floating-point numbers or as small isolating intervals, or disks for complex roots (an interval or disk output being equivalent to an approximate output together with an error bound). Solving an equation is the same as finding the roots of the function . Thus root-finding algorithms allow solving any equation defined by continuous functions. However, most root-finding algorithms do not guarantee that they will find all the roots; in particular, if such an algorithm does not find any root, that does not mean that no root exists. Most num ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Numerical Error
In software engineering and mathematics, numerical error is the error in the numerical computations. Types It can be the combined effect of two kinds of error in a calculation. * the first is caused by the finite precision of computations involving floating-point or integer values * the second usually called truncation error is the difference between the exact mathematical solution and the approximate solution obtained when simplifications are made to the mathematical equations to make them more amenable to calculation. The term truncation comes from the fact that either these simplifications usually involve the truncation of an infinite series expansion so as to make the computation possible and practical, or because the least significant bits of an arithmetic operation are thrown away. Measure Floating-point numerical error is often measured in ULP (unit in the last place). See also * Loss of significance * Numerical analysis * Error analysis (mathematics) * Round-off error ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaos Theory
Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of scientific study and branch of mathematics focused on underlying patterns and deterministic laws of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, and were once thought to have completely random states of disorder and irregularities. Chaos theory states that within the apparent randomness of chaotic complex systems, there are underlying patterns, interconnection, constant feedback loops, repetition, self-similarity, fractals, and self-organization. The butterfly effect, an underlying principle of chaos, describes how a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state (meaning that there is sensitive dependence on initial conditions). A metaphor for this behavior is that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can cause a tornado in Texas. Small differences in initial conditions, such as those due to errors in measurements or due to roundin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
N-body Problem
In physics, the -body problem is the problem of predicting the individual motions of a group of celestial objects interacting with each other gravitationally.Leimanis and Minorsky: Our interest is with Leimanis, who first discusses some history about the -body problem, especially Ms. Kovalevskaya's 1868–1888 twenty-year complex-variables approach, failure; Section 1: "The Dynamics of Rigid Bodies and Mathematical Exterior Ballistics" (Chapter 1, "The motion of a rigid body about a fixed point (Euler and Poisson equations)"; Chapter 2, "Mathematical Exterior Ballistics"), good precursor background to the -body problem; Section 2: "Celestial Mechanics" (Chapter 1, "The Uniformization of the Three-body Problem (Restricted Three-body Problem)"; Chapter 2, "Capture in the Three-Body Problem"; Chapter 3, "Generalized -body Problem"). Solving this problem has been motivated by the desire to understand the motions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and visible stars. In the 20th century, und ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Many-body Problem
The many-body problem is a general name for a vast category of physical problems pertaining to the properties of microscopic systems made of many interacting particles. ''Microscopic'' here implies that quantum mechanics has to be used to provide an accurate description of the system. ''Many'' can be anywhere from three to infinity (in the case of a practically infinite, homogeneous or periodic system, such as a crystal), although three- and four-body systems can be treated by specific means (respectively the Faddeev and Faddeev–Yakubovsky equations) and are thus sometimes separately classified as few-body systems. In general terms, while the underlying physical laws that govern the motion of each individual particle may (or may not) be simple, the study of the collection of particles can be extremely complex. In such a quantum system, the repeated interactions between particles create quantum correlations, or entanglement. As a consequence, the wave function of the system i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computational Complexity Theory
In theoretical computer science and mathematics, computational complexity theory focuses on classifying computational problems according to their resource usage, and relating these classes to each other. A computational problem is a task solved by a computer. A computation problem is solvable by mechanical application of mathematical steps, such as an algorithm. A problem is regarded as inherently difficult if its solution requires significant resources, whatever the algorithm used. The theory formalizes this intuition, by introducing mathematical models of computation to study these problems and quantifying their computational complexity, i.e., the amount of resources needed to solve them, such as time and storage. Other measures of complexity are also used, such as the amount of communication (used in communication complexity), the number of gates in a circuit (used in circuit complexity) and the number of processors (used in parallel computing). One of the roles of compu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computational Cost
In computational complexity theory, a computational resource is a resource used by some computational models in the solution of computational problems. The simplest computational resources are computation time, the number of steps necessary to solve a problem, and memory space, the amount of storage needed while solving the problem, but many more complicated resources have been defined. A computational problem is generally defined in terms of its action on any valid input. Examples of problems might be "given an integer ''n'', determine whether ''n'' is prime", or "given two numbers ''x'' and ''y'', calculate the product ''x''*''y''". As the inputs get bigger, the amount of computational resources needed to solve a problem will increase. Thus, the resources needed to solve a problem are described in terms of asymptotic analysis, by identifying the resources as a function of the length or size of the input. Resource usage is often partially quantified using Big O notation. Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
