Having a hard time understanding differential equations?

Posted on 2016-03-16 18:46:00 in Math by ZORRO

This guy working at the grocery store was trying to tell me that it would impossible for me to find the height VS time function of a falling body, he used my car keys as an example, using only the Calculus I understand now, which is just the differential & integral. I thought diff eq fell into one of these categories? Anyways, he starts going off about the acceleration of gravity, you know the force that your high school phys told you was constant but actually lied to you cuz either he/she didn't understand it or there'd be no way in hell some 17 yr old chump who's getting high before class every day could get it. Anyways! 

How come I can't find the height vs time function? Big whoop, gravity isn't constant. Wouldn't that just be the second derivative? So how is this not the calculus I already get? 


And, can we use a different example? It's a hell of a lot easier when the functions & their derivatives are constant. Then I can get a better intuitive grasp. For instance x^2 where f prime is 2x. Not some hard polynomial that's difficult for me to process. 


I don't think I'll ever look at grocery store clerks teh' same btw. 

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