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Sometimes in class we will examine "real world" problems and applications of calculus. Links to useful background material on the issues dealt with in these problems will be listed here for you to follow if you are interested.

• An explanation of how a trochoid is constructed


• Animations showing trochoids being drawn


• Slices of pie are a good way to visualize regions specified by inequalities involving polar coordinates





• Wikipedia entry for DNA


• Watson and Crick's 1953 paper on the structure of DNA


• PBS-NOVA Home Page for NOVA Episode 'The Secret of Photo 51'


• PBS-NOVA Promotional Program featuring DNA




• How conic sections are formed using a cone and a plane




• Java applet showing the angle between vectors and the projection of one vector onto another




• Java applet showing an interpretation of what the dot product of two vectors is




• Java applet showing the cross product of two vectors




• Java applet for visualizing the scalar triple product of three dimensional vectors




• Interactive gallery of quadric surfaces showing cross-sections




• Introductory example for Lecture 15




• A two-dimensional vector curve




• Parametric curves in 2 and 3 dimensions showing tangent vectors




• A picture of a surface showing the tangent plane and normal vector at a specific point




• Tangent planes to various points on an elliptic paraboloid




• Baconnaise. Yes, baconnaise.




• Bacon-flavored lip balm




• The Bacon AK-47




• Visualizing the directional derivative




• Visualizing the limit of the double Riemann sum




• An animation showing a triple Riemann sum approximation of a volume




• Mockumentary on Monkey Knife Fights




• Mathematica Tutorial for Recitation on 4/14/09




• Web-based Activity on Planimeters for Recitation on 4/21/09




• Vector fields used in Fluid Mechanics




• Vector fields from an Electrical and Computer Engineering Perspective




• Vector fields used in the psychology of visual perception (may be of use/interest in robotics)




• The Great Robot Race - PBS Documentary on Field Robotics and autonomous navigational systems, prominently featuring a team from Carnegie Mellon




• More in-depth information on the robotic vision systems that the teams used in the DARPA grand challenge




• Picture of a sailfish




• Picture of a dimetrodon fossil




• Picture of a dimetrodon model, from a traveling exhibit called "The Lost World"




• What the dimetrodon sail was actually used for