Okay, so today I decided to dive into this “Mary Wheeler” thing. I’d heard the name, but didn’t really know what it was all about. So, I started with a simple search, just to get the basic idea.
First, I googled “Mary Wheeler.” Turns out, she’s a big deal in the world of computational mathematics, especially with something called “numerical methods for partial differential equations.” Honestly, that sounds way more complicated than it probably is…at least, I hope so.
My Little Experiment
I figured the best way to learn was to try something, anything. I needed a starting point. So I was looking for some simple examples about her work,I found a few mentions of using her methods in modeling groundwater flow. Perfect! I don’t know anything about groundwater, but it seemed like a manageable place to begin.
- Step 1: Find some code. I searched around, but I didn’t find any easy, ready-to-use code examples specifically labeled “Mary Wheeler’s method.” Instead, I found some Python code for simulating basic groundwater flow using something called “finite differences.”
- Step 2: Run the code. I copied the code into a Jupyter Notebook. It needed a few libraries, like NumPy and Matplotlib, but I already had those installed, so I just hit “run.”
- Step 3: See what happens. Amazingly, it worked! I got a simple graph showing how the water level (or something like that) changed over time. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a start.
- Step 4: Try to understand it.This is where it got tricky. The code used a bunch of math that I didn’t fully get. There were these things called “boundary conditions” and “discretization” that I had to look up. It’s all about breaking down a continuous problem into smaller, manageable chunks. I’m still a little fuzzy on the details.
I spent a good chunk of the afternoon tweaking the code, changing some numbers, and seeing how it affected the output. I even tried adding a “well” to the simulation (which, in groundwater terms, is basically a hole where you pump water out). It mostly worked, although I’m sure a real hydrogeologist would laugh at my simplistic model.
What i finally got
So, did I become an expert on Mary Wheeler and her methods today? Nope, not even close. But I did get my feet wet (pun intended!). I took a vague concept, found some related code, ran it, and started to get a feel for how it all works. It’s like learning a new language – you start with simple phrases, make mistakes, and gradually build up your understanding.I think next time, I’ll try to find a more specific example of her work, maybe something with a clearer explanation of the underlying math. This is definitely a “to be continued” kind of project!
