An Engineering Approach to Mathematical Modelling

Abstract

Communication in Physical Sciences, 2020, 6(2): 910-914

Authors: Sunday Emmanson Udoh and Ubong Isaac Nelson

Received 10 November 2020/Accepted 27 December 2020

This paper presents mathematical modeling as an engineering tool for fixing solutions to certain engineering problems and shows that there exists a relationship between variables. Data analysis of experimental results to obtain a valid relationship between variables to establish a dependable conclusion is admitted as a major challenge that may hinder the solutions to some scientific problems. In this review, the term,  model is regarded as an imitation of something on a smaller scale, for example,  a physical model. There is a mathematical model that stands as a mathematical representation of a set of relationships between variables or parameters. The act of constructing or fashioning a model of something or finding a relationship between variables is called modeling. In practice, a relationship can be found between two or more variables. For instance, intake versus chloride concentration, Water Related Diseases (WRD) against Total Coliform Bacteria (TCB), weight versus height of students, or temperature against specific heat of a body. When simultaneous measurements are taken on two or more variables, the next approach is to plot the data on a scatter diagram to obtain a rough estimate of the relationship (if any) between them. In principle, mathematical modeling can take different forms but this paper emphasized statistical methods of least squares (Regression and Correlation method). The specific objective of this research work is to express this relationship between variables in mathematical form by obtaining an equation connecting them in form of a model, getting the model verified, and giving a detailed procedure on model calibration for such a model to be used for future prediction.