Mathematics 2160: Introduction to Scientific Computing (with C)

The objective of this class is to learn to use the computer as a tool for thinking about and solving mathematics problems. We will use the C programming language. The programming notions will be discussed as they are needed in mathematical applications.
The following mathematical topics will be covered:

summation of infinite series;
elementary number theory (checking primality, factorization, Euclid's algorithm);
finding zeros of functions (bisection method, Newton's method); numerical integration (Riemann sums, trapezoid method, Simpson's method);
matrices and linear algebra (solving linear systems - Gauss elimination, finding inverses, calculation of determinants, Cramer's rule);
various geometric problems (as illustrations of using structures and functions in C).

There will be five assignments during the semester in regular intervals. They will be posted on this web page. You will have two weeks to do your solutions and e-mail them to me. Your grade will be based on your work in solving these five assignments.
E-mail the solutions of your assignments to milicic@math.utah.edu. The solutions should be plain text files containing source code of your programs and your explanation. Any format supported by the lab machines is acceptable. If you use your home computer be sure that the messages are not in some proprietary encoding which is unreadable on unix systems in the lab. I'll refuse to accept such solutions. If in doubt check with me in the lab.
Note to students who want to use their personal computers: If you are using linux operating system, it comes with a C compiler (GNU gcc), so you are ready to go.
If you are using some flavor of Windows, I know of two C compiler packages which are freely available on the internet: djgpp (a port of GNU gcc to windows) and lcc. I didn't install or use any of these since I do not use Windows, hence you are on your own.

Useful texts:

B.W. Kernighan, D.M. Ritchie, The C Programming Language, Prentice Hall, Second Edition, 1988.
S. Oualline, Practical C Programming, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.,Third Edition, 1997.

Syllabus and assignments:

| Schedule | E-mail help |

Last edit by dm, April 18, 2008.