An analytical, numerical and experimental study of the double pendulum

Abstract

Abstract This investigation takes advantage of the complicated behavior of the double pendulum to highlight some well known techniques that can be used to better understand the dynamics and solutions emerging from this rich problem. Analytical and numerical methods are successfully applied and contrasted to illustrate their usefulness and limitations. This blended analytical-numerical approach to tackling this problem can be an effective resource to physics teachers. The paper should be accessible to upper-year undergraduate physics and mathematics students. Supplemental materials accompanying this work include a MATLAB program to solve the equations of motion and an experimental video; they are included to assist both students and teachers.