Class 1, 1/6/03


Highlights of Class 1

* The MKS system  (meter, kilogram, second)
* Powers of 10 (also called scientific notation)
* Speed vs velocity
* Speed of light in scientific notation to two significant figures
* Of special interest is that meter is now defined in such a way that  the speed of light (a fundamental physical phenomenon) is a specific integer number (given in class) in m/s
* Two significant figures (rounding off rules)
* The ubiquitous pi:
        ** lenghth of the circumsference of a circle
        ** area of a disc
        ** area of the surface of a sphere
* Density
* Guidance to  HW1, which asks student to apply the above info.

Related reading material: A-4 to A-12 of  Cosmic Perspective, 3rd ed.

** Bonus-point project: Locate the scientific research article which reported that bees use vector analysis to find home.

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We lost time due to computer connection glitches. So we did not get to show the following. We will find time to show it in the future

* We will give an overview of the subject of the course by viewing the multimedia movie made by Chau's Davis Honor's Challenge Seminar class of 2001.