- #1
shiftless
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Hi folks, I have a problem that I am trying to figure out that I hope you can help me with. I don't want to be spoon fed as I like discovering things for myself, but this one has me stumped and I'd appreciate some guidance.
The end result I am trying to obtain is a function which allows me to calculate the displacement of a land vehicle with respect to time, given its mass (constant, for the purposes of this simplified calculation), thrust from its jet engine (same), no friction, and here is the kicker, atmospheric drag. The problem as I am sure you are well aware is that drag increases as a square of velocity. The velocity function is a derivative of displacement so I am looking at a function which includes its own derivative.
I have studied Calculus I and II in college and I don't believe they alone provide me with the tools I need to solve this problem. It's been a while though so it's possible I've simply forgotten something that could help me. I did some Google searching and it appears that differential equations are what I need to know. However, I don't want to have to go out and buy a book on differential equations and study it for 6 weeks just to solve this one problem; if someone could just give me a somewhat detailed summary of what I'm up against and some tips and ideas on how I should go about tackling it, that would be very helpful.
Thanks in advance!
The end result I am trying to obtain is a function which allows me to calculate the displacement of a land vehicle with respect to time, given its mass (constant, for the purposes of this simplified calculation), thrust from its jet engine (same), no friction, and here is the kicker, atmospheric drag. The problem as I am sure you are well aware is that drag increases as a square of velocity. The velocity function is a derivative of displacement so I am looking at a function which includes its own derivative.
I have studied Calculus I and II in college and I don't believe they alone provide me with the tools I need to solve this problem. It's been a while though so it's possible I've simply forgotten something that could help me. I did some Google searching and it appears that differential equations are what I need to know. However, I don't want to have to go out and buy a book on differential equations and study it for 6 weeks just to solve this one problem; if someone could just give me a somewhat detailed summary of what I'm up against and some tips and ideas on how I should go about tackling it, that would be very helpful.
Thanks in advance!
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