An Age Old Newton Ballistics Problem Solved

[FrankenMauser]

Who didn't commend the youngster and who gave him a backhanded compliment? You seem to be taking comments concerning the applicability of his accomplishment to the study of ballistics as negative comments. I don't believe they are meant that way in the least.

In fact, your comment is the only one approaching a negative comment in this thread.

I didn't see the "backhanded compliments" either. I think everyone here has commended the teenager for his accomplishment, or, separately, discussed how the solution will (or will not) apply to ballistics calculations.

Anyhow... I really wish I had a small piece of his above-average brain.
Trying to finish school after so many years is very difficult. The grey matter just doesn't work as well any more.

 

[arcticap]

Americans should be ashamed that we are way down the list when compared to other countries in science education !! It's a great detriment to our countries future !
For the youngster -congratulations !!
For the rest of you - now you'll have the numbers but you'll still have to learn to shoot !

There's no need for all Americans to feel ashamed. But if you feel a need to be ashamed then that's good enough for me. Feel ashamed all you want!

 

[johnbt]

"instead of commending a youngster we hide our ignorance behind a wall of backhanded compliments."

Our ignorance? Speak for yourself.


"Problem is, by the time you get this all figured out, you're target is going to die of old age. "

Or the wind will shift.

 

[Musketeer]

For the scale of almost any ballistic problem in an atmosphere of variable factors the solution is of little significance compared to the established algorithms and coefficients. Now whe you start talking about the emerging naval rail gun technology with its enormous range potentials and electronics pulverizing acceleration his solution may really benefit a dumb progectile.

I take my hat off to the kid. Differential Equations was far from my favorite course in Aerospace Engineering, even with an A in it.

 

[brickeyee]

Now whe you start talking about the emerging naval rail gun technology

And constantly changing BC and drag.

"c is the constant of drag"

Newton had no idea about the variability of his "constant."

Fluid dynamics was a long way away, and supersonic flow even further.

Like many exact solutions to complicated things it has been simplified to the point of inapplicability to the actual world.

A while ago an electrical engineer proved the minimum m number of tuning points required on a waveguide for a particular filter.

Of course if you have the minimum number it is nearly imposable to actually tune the filter.

I spent years trying to separate overlapping voice signal reliably and cleanly.

There are hundreds of papers that purported to have 'solved' the problem.

Every one had huge assumptions that amounted to the signals not actually overlapping more than a small portion of their bandwidth.

Not useful for trying to separate two speakers from each other with only a single 'source' t work from.


Even the modern pods with 'voice cancellation' rely on the use of multiple sources (in this case distributed microphones).

Try that with two people talking on the same radio bandwidth at the same time.

We used to joke that we needed to tell them to just slow down and speak more clearly.