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Computation & Analysis

Bringing Zombies to Life… Is That an Oxymoron?

I was lucky enough in college to be able to double-major in physics and film/media. One of the coolest connections that formed from these completely opposite subjects was the use of Mathematica. What started out as just a computational tool for all the work in my physics classes turned into an experimental playground for the digital animation I was creating in my film classes. Mathematica is an ideal program to model the true science of motion. And as you'll come to see, it looks complicated, but is actually quite simple! Let's start with understanding some basic human anatomy (or zombie anatomy, since this post is technically about zombies):
Allison Taylor, Public Relations & Marketing Writer, Public Relations
Education & Academic

Arm Yourselves with Wolfram Knowledge

By now, most of you students are likely getting into the thick of the academic year, preparing for the first wave of exams and projects and presentations to come your way... But don't freak out just yet! Here's a list of Wolfram's most recent apps and programs that might help make your life a little easier. After all, it never hurts to have a few powerful resources on your side.
Wolfram Blog Team
Computation & Analysis

A Response to “Falling with Helium”

Recently the author of xkcd, Randall Munroe, was asked the question of how long it would be necessary for someone to fall in order to jump out of an airplane, fill a large balloon with helium while falling, and land safely. Randall unfortunately ran into some difficulties with completing his calculation, including getting his IP address banned by Wolfram|Alpha. (No worries: we received his request and have already fixed that.)
Jason Martinez, Research Programmer, Wolfram|Alpha Scientific Content
Education & Academic

Reliability Mathematics in Mathematica

What is the cost of extending a warranty for a car? I'd be interested to know, since my car broke down just past the 100,000 mile marker on a road trip through America. With Mathematica 9 comes complete functionality for reliability analysis that can help us analyze systems like cars. I thought it might be worthwhile to take Mathematica for a spin and look at how some technical systems can be modeled and analyzed.
Johan Rhodin, Kernel Developer, Mathematica Algorithm R&D
Education & Academic

Is High Debt Bad for Economic Growth?

Recent events have brought to light that a famous research paper by noted economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff published in the 2010 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper series contained serious programming, methodological, and statistical errors. Their paper claimed to show that there is a sharp decline in GDP whenever an economy reaches the 90% debt level. Policy makers at the European Commission and in Washington paid heed to these results and formulated real policies such as "debt stabilization" in Europe and the sequester in the USA that have led to sustained high unemployment and weakened economies. But subsequent analyses have shown that no such 90% cliff exists.
Michael Kelly, Senior Wolfram Technology Consultant, Wolfram Technology Group
Education & Academic

Exploring Maxwell’s Equations with Mathematica 9

I love Maxwell's equations. As a freshman in college, while pondering whether to major in physics, computer science, or music, it was the beauty of these equations and the physical predictions that can be elegantly extracted from them that made me decide in favor of physics. On a more universal level, the hints in Maxwell's equations led Einstein to write Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper ("On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies"), more commonly known as Einstein's first paper on the theory of relativity. The quantum version of the equations, quantum electrodynamics (QED), remains our most successful physical theory, with predictions verified to 12 decimal places. There are many reasons to love Maxwell's equations. And with Mathematica 9's new vector analysis functionality, exploring them has never been easier.
Itai Seggev, Senior Kernel Developer, Algorithms R&D
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