Consider a Cylindrical Cow
Consider a Cylindrical Cow
By: John Harte
This book uses real problems in environmental science rather than relying on the more traditional "cookbook" problems found in textbooks.
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Title information
Following in the tradition of Consider a Spherical Cow, the Cylindrical Cow will help students achieve a whole new level of environmental modeling and problem solving. Featuring a new core set of 25 fully worked-out problems, this book uses real problems in environmental science rather than relying on the more traditional “cookbook” problems found in textbooks. It is organized according to five thematic sections on probability, optimization, scaling, differential equations, and stability & feedback. Each section begins with a general treatment of the relevant mathematical concepts, and concludes with a range of homework exercises to help students sharpen their modeling skills. Like its predecessor, this book will empower students with the mathematical skills needed to cut through the complexity of real-world problems.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter I PROBABILITY
Introduction
Background
Problems
1. Pick Your Poison
2. Infanticide in China?
3. Caesar’s Last Breath
4. A blot from the Blue?
5. On the Street Where You Live
Chapter II OPTIMIZATION
Introduction
Background
Problems
1. Advice for Farmers
2. Efficient Censusing
3. Blowing in the Wind
4. Haste Makes Waste
5. Biting the Hand that Feeds Us
Chapter III SCALING AND DIMENSIONAL CONSISTENCY
Introduction
Background
Problems
1. How Tall Can a Mountain Be?
2. Sleeping Bears
3. Little Green Men?
4. What a Drag
5. Saving the Species: The role of Reserve Shape
Chapter IV CORE MODELS OF CHANGE IN TIME AND SPACE
Introduction
Background
Problems
1. Pollutant Stock-and-Flow: Reconstructing CO2 Emissions
2. Population: Limits to Growth
3. Climate: Influence of Solar Variability
4. Community Ecology: Origins of Cycles
5. Biogeochemistry: Nitrogen Fertilization and the Carbon Sink
Chapter V STABILITY AND FEEDBACK
Introduction
Background
Problems
1. Stability of the Core Models
2. Some Say in Ice
3. Biting the Hand that Feeds Us (II)
4. Sagebrush World
5. Will the Seas Go Flat?
Appendix: Useful Mathematical Expressions and Approximations
Further Reading
Index
John Harte
John Harte is a Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley. He did his undergraduate studies at Harvard and his PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Wisconsin. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pew Scholars award, the Leo Szilard prize from the American Physical Society, and a George Polk award in investigative journalism. He is an elected Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, the American Physical Society, the Ecological society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has also served on six National Academy of Sciences Committees and has authored over 250 scientific journal publications and eight books. John's research focuses on ecology, climate, complexity science, and environmental policy.