The Process of Mathematical Modeling

Turning a real-world situation into usable mathematics — and the mathematics back into a real-world answer — follows the same three-stage process, regardless of the application:

1. Formulation — translate the real-world problem into mathematical terms, i.e., construct the mathematical model (typically a differential equation).
2. Solution — solve the resulting mathematical problem using the techniques already covered, most often the variables-separable method.
3. Interpretation — translate the mathematical result back into the language and context of the original problem, so the answer means something to whoever asked the original question. …