Math 5110 Section 1, Fall 2008

Introduction to Mathematical Biology I

Syllabus
Homework
Other things

Homework

Assignment Date Assigned Date Due Download Extras
1 Aug 26 Sep 2 pdf,  tex solutions
2 Sep 2 Sep 9 pdf,  tex notes 01,  notes 02
solutions
3 Sep 9 Sep 16 pdf,  tex logisticmap.m
notes 03,  notes 04
solutions
4 Sep 16 Sep 23 pdf,  tex exponentialmap.m
nicholsonbailey.m
notes 05,  notes 06
solutions
5 Sep 23 Sep 30 pdf,  tex notes 07,  notes 08
6 Sep 30 Oct 7 pdf,  tex notes 09,  notes 10

Other things

Sample paper summary

Assuming you are on one of the unix computers in one of the math labs (or any unix computer on which LaTeX2e is installed), do the following:

  1. Download these files into the same directory:
    ps.tex
    ps.bib
  2. On the command line of a terminal, change into the directory where you saved these files and type 'latex2e ps'. This tells LaTeX2e to compile the code contained in ps.tex.
  3. To create the bibliography, type 'bibtex ps'. You should probably now run LaTeX2e again (repeat step 2), then run BibTeX again, and then run LaTeX2e again.
  4. Now type 'xdvi ps.dvi &'. The contents of ps.dvi are displayed.
  5. To convert this to pdf format, type 'dvipdf ps.dvi' then type ' acroread ps.pdf &'. A pdf version of the sample paper should appear in Acrobat Reader.
  6. Compare it with this file: ps.pdf.
That's all there is to it. Take some time to look at ps.tex and ps.bib to get a feel for what LaTeX and BibTeX code look like. Try changing the code some, rerun steps 2-4 above and see how this changes the output. This can be done in your favorite text editor.

LaTeX is notoriously difficult to learn, but you should be able to get by in this class by simply using ps.tex and ps.bib as a template for your paper summaries. If you want to learn more about LaTeX, a number of good tutorials can be found on the web. A particularly good one is found here.

Phase plane/direction field software & Java applets

DFIELD and PPLANE

Notes on difference equations

A couple of years ago I gave a two-part lecture to high school students on difference equations. The notes I used for these lectures can be found below.

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