Course Features
Course Description
This
course teaches simple reasoning techniques for complex phenomena:
divide and conquer, dimensional analysis, extreme cases, continuity,
scaling, successive approximation, balancing, cheap calculus, and
symmetry. Applications are drawn from the physical and biological
sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Examples include bird and
machine flight, neuron biophysics, weather, prime numbers, and animal
locomotion. Emphasis is on low-cost experiments to test ideas and on
fostering curiosity about phenomena in the world.