For ballisticians - What is this about?

[benenglish]

Does anybody know what this article is talking about?

This quote is as technical as it gets:

A German 16-year-old has become the first person to solve a mathematical problem posed by Sir Isaac Newton more than 300 years ago.

Shouryya Ray worked out how to calculate exactly the path of a projectile under gravity and subject to air resistance...​

http://www.news.com.au/technology/g...on/story-e6frfro0-1226368490157#ixzz1w3LI5N1w

 

[Gene Beggs]

Does anybody know what this article is talking about?

This quote is as technical as it gets:

A German 16-year-old has become the first person to solve a mathematical problem posed by Sir Isaac Newton more than 300 years ago.

Shouryya Ray worked out how to calculate exactly the path of a projectile under gravity and subject to air resistance...​

http://www.news.com.au/technology/g...on/story-e6frfro0-1226368490157#ixzz1w3LI5N1w

In recent times, scholars and scientists from India, China, Japan and other countries are proving to be the most brilliant minds the world has ever known. In my opinion, such superhuman abilities are nothing more or less than the work of God. I stand in awe of HIS work!

If we could only get this young man Shouryya Ray interested in benchrest. Maybe he could figure out what the rest of us have been overlooking all these years.

I'm still not convinced that benchrest bullets have the slightest regard for the laws of physics as we know them.

 

[Engrbill]

Does anybody know what this article is talking about?

This quote is as technical as it gets:

A German 16-year-old has become the first person to solve a mathematical problem posed by Sir Isaac Newton more than 300 years ago.

Shouryya Ray worked out how to calculate exactly the path of a projectile under gravity and subject to air resistance...​

http://www.news.com.au/technology/g...on/story-e6frfro0-1226368490157#ixzz1w3LI5N1w

Ask Uncle Timmy. He knows all about these things.

 

[benenglish]

If anyone's interested...

The actual calculus is shown here: http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/u7551/teen_solves_newtons_300yearold_riddle_an/c4sxd91

And here: http://physics.stackexchange.com/qu...the-problems-which-this-news-article-claims-h

There's a closing statement that tries to put it in perspective here: http://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/u87r5/closure_to_shouryya_rays_claimed_solution_to_a/

Clearly, the kid is smart and came at the problem in a new way. Unfortunately, his local press had a field day with it and blew it all out of proportion. After reading and digesting the content of the links above, straining my brain with calculus that I haven't played with in decades (matrices and determinants really kicked my butt back in the day), I found the following comment contained in the stackexchange link. It seems to be the best, real-world summary of the significance of this event:

I haven't heard anything concrete about how this could be put to practical use... It's already possible to calculate ballistic trajectories with drag to very high precision using numerical methods, and the presence of this constant doesn't directly lead to a new method of calculating trajectories as far as I can tell.
​

So while I was asking a serious question in the beginning, it seems that the dismissive replies to my initial posting were essentially appropriate. Many thanks (and I am quite sincere in that) to Engrbill and Mr. Beggs.