[ODE] ODE's Jacobian matrices

[Aaron Dwyer]

Gary R. Van Sickle wrote:
> IIRC, this has something to do with sin(x) ~= x for
> small |x|.  When x isn't small, craziness ensues.

In that case, finding a jacobian with dC(q)/dt is an
approximation.  Gary, where'd you hear about this?  I
don't even know what class I'd take at a university. 
Dynamics courses (and books) are usually more "proper"
and analytical.  Does anyone know of references or
books on this technique for approximation of
jacobians?  I've seen some notes with a simple google
search on estimating jacobians when they're sparse
using finite differences or some yaddayadda that
didn't sound like it applied to dynamics.  None of my
vector calculus textbooks talk about approximating the
jacobian.

-Aaron