Theoretical Environmental Analysis
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this course on the mathematical modeling of natural environmental processes, past and present. It covers how theoretical models connect physical and biological systems, how those models are tested against observational data, and the mathematical methods used to build and evaluate them, including differential equations and statistical comparison techniques. Topics range from geologic-scale processes to present-day environmental dynamics, treating the Earth system as a set of interacting cooperative processes rather than isolated phenomena. Course materials include lecture notes, problem sets, and readings drawn from MIT's Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences curriculum. The course is aimed at students with some background in calculus and physical science who want to see how quantitative models are built and checked against real data. As with other MIT OpenCourseWare offerings, materials are free to access under a Creative Commons license, with no certificate offered.