Feeling the relentless pull of inertia? Does the amount of work you should be doing grow exponentially while your motivation decays towards zero? You're not lazy; you're a dynamic system! And dynamic systems can be modeled using differential equations – the mathematical language of change. In this lesson, we'll apply this powerful tool to understand how things evolve over time, from the decay of radioactive isotopes to the terrifying growth of your unread email inbox or the inevitable spiral of your procrastination. Prepare to write equations that describe your descent into inaction and perhaps, just perhaps, glimpse the factors that influence the rate of your impending doom.
Understand how to mathematically describe how fast something is changing at any given moment.
Learn to translate real-world (or your internal) dynamics into mathematical equations.
Discover how to find the functions that describe the trajectory of your dynamic system over time.
Understand how starting points and external factors influence the outcome of your dynamic model.
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