Velocity and Position of any given Car

by Nicholas Raymond

Submitted : Spring 2012

We will compute the velocity and position with respect to time of a car given its mass horsepower RPM curve, transmission gear ratios, final gear ratio along with mechanical and aerodynamic drag. This will be computed using Newton’s Second Law. The resulting differential equations are non-linear and its solutions will be found through Taylor series approximation. A computer program, Maple 15 15, will be used to perform the iterative calculations required. A worse case error estimate for velocity and displacement are also given.

Finally we will test the performance results given by our approach versus actual road test performances provided by Edmundsinsideline.com.

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