Put the names of everybody in your group here!
One type of modeling is called "order-of-magnitude estimation" or "order-of-magnitude modeling." A physicist would call this a "Fermi Problem" after Enrico Fermi, a physicist who participated in the Manhattan Project and who was famously good at making estimates of this sort. More specifically, this sort of modeling makes us think about:
In this project, your group is going to calculate an answer one of the following questions:
As a group, pick one of these problems (each group must pick a different one!) and think about the various questions that you need to ask and answer in order to give an estimate for this problem. Figure out what equation(s) you need to write down in order to solve this problem, and the reasonable values that would go into the equation(s). Then, you're going to implement a simple computer program to calculate an answer, and do it for several possible combinations of the equations!
In the cell below, write down the parameters in your model. Also write down the range of possible values for each of the parameters!
Put your answer here!
In [ ]:
# write a program in this cell to calculate and print out an estimate to the question you've chosen to solve!
Now, run your model several times, and each time change the values of the parameters to a different value in the range you think is valid. In the cell below, write down all of your answers. What is the total range, and approximately what is the average value?
Put your answer here!
Run the code below by clicking on the cell with your mouse and then pressing "shift + enter". You must complete the form that pops up to get credit for today's class!
In [ ]:
from IPython.display import HTML
HTML("""
<iframe
src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJLG_xIRRpw0eaVj8dePZqgHrKPWjwRHKV6slUEo_x_TrDEw/viewform?embedded=true"
width="80%"
height="1200px"
frameborder="0"
marginheight="0"
marginwidth="0">
Loading...
</iframe>
""")
Log into the course Desire2Learn website (d2l.msu.edu) and go to the "In-class assignments" folder. There will be a dropbox labeled "Day 3". Upload this notebook there (but not pictures of drawings, etc.). You only have to upload one notebook per group - just make sure that everybody's name is at the top of the notebook!