# how to find the application of ordinary differential equation

This question may be out of the scope of this website, if so let me know and i will delete it. so I am right now taking an ODE class, which i find to be mildly interesting, though it seems to be more abstract than calculus.. so i am wondering does any one have any advice on how to make it more interesting. for instance when i was in calculus I found it to be fun, because i could use the shell method for example to find the area of actual shapes... or find the velocity vector from the position function. the point is i could see clear applications. so I am wondering if any one has any advice on how I can make ODE more enjoyable by actually using it for practical things? I have seen the population model and the mixing problems, but I don't really understand where that would be applied. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

-
How about solving Newton's equations of motion ? This wiki page lists several interesting examples – Sasha Oct 26 '11 at 21:22
I'm sure your teacher would be happy to point you in the direction of any number of books full of applications of ODEs. – Gerry Myerson Oct 26 '11 at 22:01
Physics is all about solving differential equations. Newton's law $F=ma$ is a differential equation. They're everywhere! Here's one popular application: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_oscillator – Bill Cook Oct 27 '11 at 2:22
thank you guys for all of your comments. :) – AlexW.H.B. Oct 27 '11 at 14:10

+1. Wow... :-)  – Did Oct 27 '11 at 9:39