How to Pump a Swing

摘要

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsStephen WirkusStephen Wirkus (swirkus@cam.cornell.edu) ran on the track and cross-country teams for the University of Missouri at Kansas City, while earning B.S. degrees in mathematics and physics. He is now working toward his Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Cornell University, focusing on oscillators with time delay. With Richard Rand he also explores applications of nonlinear differential equations. An avid runner, Stephen likes the outdoors and most sporting activities.Richard RandRichard Rand (rhr2@cornell.edu) is a professor in the department of theoretical and applied mechanics at Cornell University. He studied at the Bronx High School of Science, Cooper Union, and Columbia University. He enjoys applying mathematics to diverse physical and biological problems, ranging from satellites and lasers to leaves and lampreys. His hobbies include flying a Cessna 172 and playing chess.Andy RuinaAndy Ruina (alr3@cornell.edu) earned three more-or-less mechanical engineering degrees from Brown, the last in 1981. He used to study deformations in the context of rock fracture, rock friction, and earthquakes; now his interest is rigid bodies in the context of collisions, biomechanics, and robotics. He is writing a dynamics textbook, likes bicycles, and is currently in Finland following his wife Saskya, who is following wasps that are following butterflies.