Roger Feasey Born in the Wairarapa, our speaker, Dr Philip Sharp of the University of Auckland Department of Mathematics, took Stage 1 Astronomy papers at Canterbury University, with a background idea about becoming an astronomer. His Ph.D. on the modelling of ocean waves, lead to academic positions in Toronto and Queens Universities in Canada in the field of numerical analysis, and ultimately, in 1993, a return to the University of Auckland.
Computer based numerical analysis techniques are vital to the modern world.
From deducing the stress distribution in a structural system, or the flow of gases through a jet engine or hypersonic gases over a re-entering Space Shuttle, numerical computer techniques which simulate the natural processes involved, are at the core of modern technological and scientific progress. Starting with a theoretical model for all the relevant forces which effect the objects of concern, and an assumed set of positions and velocities at one epoch in time, the numerical analyst then applies the most efficient mathematical techniques possible to predict the velocity and position of all objects with time, as they are accelerated by those forces. A simple analogy for this process is predicting the position of a car heading south from Auckland, when only the speedometer reading is known. The optimist might say 296km. Obviously, the chance of the latter being correct is minuscule, because real cars cannot travel at truly constant speeds on New Zealand roads for any length of time.