Recent content by Allan McPherson

Hello everybody. I'm a former music teacher who has returned to university to study engineering physics. I anticipate that to start with I'll be asking more questions than I can answer, but I hope that gradually I'll switch roles, answering as many as or more than I ask.

Right. Looking at that again, I'm not sure how I thought that could be right. Thank you for your help.

Thank you. That clarifies the approximation for part (a). I'm not sure how that helps with part (b), though. For part (b) I have $$\frac{\omega}{\omega_0} = \frac{2n\pi}{\sqrt{1+4n^2\pi^2}} = \sqrt{\frac{4n^2\pi^2}{1+4n^2\pi^2}} = \sqrt{1 - \frac{1}{4n^2\pi^2}}$$

Homework Statement An oscillator when undamped has a time period T0, while its time period when damped. Suppose after n oscillations the amplitude of the damped oscillator drops to 1/e of its original value (value at t = 0). (a) Assuming that n is a large number, show that...

I'm trying to use Maxima to examine the error in a Fourier series as the number of terms increases. I've figured out how to produce a Fourier series and plot partial sums, but this has me stumped. If anyone experienced with the Maxima CAS has some insight into this, I would greatly appreciate...