238,291 research outputs found
Quantity and number
Quantity is the first category that Aristotle lists after substance. It has extraordinary epistemological clarity: "2+2=4" is the model of a self-evident and universally known truth. Continuous quantities such as the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle are as clearly known as discrete ones. The theory that mathematics was "the science of quantity" was once the leading philosophy of mathematics. The article looks at puzzles in the classification and epistemology of quantity
Entropy Stable Finite Volume Approximations for Ideal Magnetohydrodynamics
This article serves as a summary outlining the mathematical entropy analysis
of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. We select the ideal MHD
equations as they are particularly useful for mathematically modeling a wide
variety of magnetized fluids. In order to be self-contained we first motivate
the physical properties of a magnetic fluid and how it should behave under the
laws of thermodynamics. Next, we introduce a mathematical model built from
hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs) that translate physical laws
into mathematical equations. After an overview of the continuous analysis, we
thoroughly describe the derivation of a numerical approximation of the ideal
MHD system that remains consistent to the continuous thermodynamic principles.
The derivation of the method and the theorems contained within serve as the
bulk of the review article. We demonstrate that the derived numerical
approximation retains the correct entropic properties of the continuous model
and show its applicability to a variety of standard numerical test cases for
MHD schemes. We close with our conclusions and a brief discussion on future
work in the area of entropy consistent numerical methods and the modeling of
plasmas
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