Название: Physics with Excel and Python: Using the Same Data Structure Volume I: Basics, Exercises and Tasks
Автор: Dieter Mergel
Издательство: Springer
Год: 2022
Страниц: 493
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true), epub
Размер: 57.6 MB

This book is intended to serve as a basic introduction to scientific computing by treating problems from various areas of physics - mechanics, optics, acoustics, and statistical reasoning in the context of the evaluation of measurements. After working through these examples, students are able to independently work on physical problems that they encounter during their studies. For every exercise, the author introduces the physical problem together with a data structure that serves as an interface to programming in Excel and Python. When a solution is achieved in one application, it can easily be translated into the other one and presumably any other platform for scientific computing. This is possible because the basic techniques of vector and matrix calculation and array broadcasting are also achieved with spreadsheet techniques, and logical queries and for-loops operate on spreadsheets from simple Visual Basic macros.

So, starting to learn scientific calculation with Excel, e.g., at High School, is a targeted road to scientific computing. The primary target groups of this book are students with a major or minor subject in physics, who have interest in computational techniques and at the same time want to deepen their knowledge of physics. Math, physics and computer science teachers and Teacher Education students will also find a companion in this book to help them integrate computer techniques into their lessons. Even professional physicists who want to venture into Scientific Computing may appreciate this book.

The key to all of the exercises is data structures, developed in introductory sections that explain the physical problems. They serve as an interface to both Excel and Python, and potentially also to other applications for scientific computation. To enable this approach, the Excel solutions in this edition use vectorized code and matrix formulas to mimic broadcasting, an essential Python technique for creating new arrays.

We feel that this approach is suitable as a low-threshold introduction to scientific computing as early as high school all the way up to undergraduate physics classes at the university and may also be a good start for students who later choose to specialize in computational physics. Our approach is intended to make the student fit for a computer-oriented world, be it for spreadsheet calculations in business, scientific computing in research, or mathematics and physics teaching in high school. We take into account that not all students have the same attitude towards programming; some have to be encouraged to venture into a new world, whereas others have to be cautioned not to rush into blind programming.