Math 2280 Spring 2008

• May 5th - The final and everything else is now graded, and final grades have been posted on WebCT. A handout explaining how final grades were determined is available by following the link in this sentence. Final grades will not be officially posted until this Friday, May 9th. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns about your final grade. Also, please note that after this Friday I will throw out all homework that nobody has picked up and all old exams except the finals, which will be kept by the department. I will be in my office from noon until 4:00 PM on Wednesday, May 7th if anybody wants to come and discuss their final grade with me. If that time doesn't work, please email me and we can find another time.


• April 29th - The final exam was today. The class is now over. Good job! Thanks for a great semester.


• April 26th - The third exam, along with the solutions, are posted below. Also, assignment #12 is now graded, and the grades are posted online. The solutions for assignment #13 should be up tomorrow evening.


• April 21st - Today was our first day of review. The review notes for the third exam are posted below. Also posted below are the solutions for assignment 12, in case you need to see more series solutions problems worked out.


• April 18th - Today we finished section 9.3, which will be the final section we cover in the class. Homework assignment 14 is posted below. It will be for extra credit, and you can hand it in at any time up to and including at the final exam. Quiz 3 and the final exam can and will cover material up to and including the material from sections 9.2 and 9.3, so while the homework is optional and extra credit, knowing the material is not. Also, the solutions for homework 11 are posted below, and the grades for the assignment will be up shortly.


• April 15th - Today we finished working through a very nasty (probably too nasty, sorry) problem from the homework. We began section 9.2 today. I imagine we'll probably only get through section 9.3 of chapter 9, which will be as far as we go this semester. Also, the solutions to assignment 10 are posted below, and your grades for the assignment should be posted shortly. Finally, I've decided that the homework for section 9.2 and 9.3 will not be required, and will instead count as extra credit. The homework assignment will be posted tomorrow, and due on April 23rd, the day of the final quiz.


• April 11th - Today we finished chapter 8 with one final example, and moved on to the introduction of section 9.1. I introduced the concept of a Fourier series and we discussed some basic properties of cosines and sines and how we find Fourier coefficients.


• April 7th - Today we finished covering the method of Frobenius. Tomorrow we will discuss the Bessel function. Also, we will probably not be covering all of chapter 9, as we won't have the time and I'd rather cover things well than rush through it. Also, assignment 9 is now graded and the solutions are posted below.


• April 4th - Today we began to cover the method of Frobenius around exceptional points, but we didn't get through it, and will probably have to spend all of next class on it as well. Also, the projects are graded and the grades are online. I forgot to bring the graded projects to class, however, and so I'll bring them on Monday.


• April 2nd - Today we covered series solutions around regular singular points. This is section 8.3 from the textbook. Also, homework assignment 12 is now posted below. It's a shorter one, and only covers sections 8.2 and 8.3. It is due on Friday, April 11th.


• April 1st - Today we went over series solutions solutions to second order homogenous differential equations around ordinary points. This is section 8.2 from the textbook.


• March 31st - Today we began in earnest our discussion of power series methods for ODEs. We covered most of section 8.1 from the textbook. Also, I announced that there will not be another computer project, as I think the class is probably enough work as it is. The first computer project will either count as 5% of your grade or as just another assignment, whichever will give you the highest overall percentage for the class. Also, posted below under project 1 is my writeup for the project if you're interested in seeing a sample writeup. The projects should be graded soon. Seriously ;)


• March 28th - Today we had a "for fun" lecture on the Riemann Zeta function. We didn't cover any material from the textbook and nothing we discussed will be required for the exam or for any homework. However, it may appear as an extra credit question on an upcoming exam. Also, today I handed back assignment 8. Grades for the assignment are posted online, and the solution set is posted below.


• March 26th - Today we finished talking about Laplace transforms and delta functions, and we began talking about series solutions to differential equations. Also, assignment 8 has been graded and was handed back today, and the solutions are posted below. Also please note that assignment 11 has been posted, and the schedule has been updated to accomodate the switch from covering chapter 6 to covering chapter 8.


• March 24th - Welcome back! Today I handed back quiz 2 and assignment 7, and the grades for these should be online. I also went over section 7.5 from the textbook on Laplace transforms of piecewise continuous and periodic functions.


• March 13th - We had a review session at the beginning of class today. Towards the end of class I went through a problem and did it incorrectly. Very sorry about that. I've posted an explanation of the problem, and two examples of that type of problem, including the problem from class done correctly, below.


• March 12th - Today we covered section 7.4 of the the textbook. This will be the last lecture in which we cover new material for quite a while (12 days) so I hope you all enjoy the break. Please be aware that we're having a review session tomorrow and that our second exam is this Friday. Also, please check out the review notes posted below. The 10th homework assignmend is now posted below as well. It's a longer one, but you've got two and a half weeks to do it, so it shouldn't be that bad.


• March 11th - Today we covered section 7.3 of the textbook. Note that there will be a review this Thursday during the usual time and place for the class on every day except Thursday. This will take the place of my office hours for this week. Also, note that review notes have been made and are posted below. Also, remember that the exam will only cover the material since the last exam through chapter 5. So, nothing on chapter 7 (the Laplace transform stuff).


• March 5th - Today we almost finished off section 5.6 and by extension chapter 5. We'll finish our example next time, but then we're done with chapter 5. We may be starting chapter 6 on Friday, or chapter 7. That's something being debated right now, and upon which you may get to vote. Also, the solutions to homework 6 are now posted, and homework 6 should be graded, with grades posted, by the end of the day. Hopefully the first project will be graded tomorrow and grades will be posted then as well, so on Friday you should be getting back homework 6 and the project, and perhaps voting on what we'll cover next. Also, homework 9 is now posted below.


• February 29th - Today we finished section 5.4 and began with just a preview of section 5.5 with matrix exponentials. I didn't hand back assignment 5, sorry, but the solutions are now posted below and the grades should be available on WebCT this afternoon. Also, thanks to everybody who filled out a midterm evaluation.


• February 27th - Today we finished section 5.3 with an example and begin discussing section 5.4, which deals with what to do when the characteristic equation of our matrix has repeated roots. The fifth homework should be graded and the solution set posted tomorrow. I'll hand it back on Friday. The first projects should be graded by next Monday, and the second project will be assigned next week.


• February 20th - Today we began chapter 5 of the textbook with a review of linear algebra. Note we will not be doing section 4.3 of the textbook. Much of what I covered today is not in the textbook, but should all be material familiar from linear algabra. Nothing that new was introduced today. Also, I handed back the first exam in class today, and the solutions the the fourth homework set are posted below. The fourth homework set should be graded, and grades should be up, this afternoon. I will hand back the graded homework in class on Friday. Note - There was a slight arithmetic error in the solutions to the Euler's method problem. So, not even I got that one completely right ;).


• February 19th - Hope everybody had a nice break. We covered section 4.2 in class today. The first exam is now graded and your grades are available on WebCT. The exam will be handed back in class tomorrow. Also, the fourth homework solutions and grades should be posted tomorrow. The homework will be handed back in class on Friday. Don't forget that your first project, along with homework 6, is due this Friday.


• February 15th - Today we had our first exam. Homework 5 is now posted, and it's a short one that will be due on Friday, February 22nd along with the first project. Also, the quiz and solutions are posted below.


• February 13th - Today we started on chapter 4 with section 4.1 and introduced the concept of a system of ODEs. The next time we'll have a lecture will be on Tuesday, February 19th, so I'll make sure to review section 4.1 a little on that date. The review session is tomorrow, and the quiz is on Friday, so be sure to check out the review notes below and study hard!


• February 12th - Today we finished section 3.6 and 3.7. This concludes what we'll do from chapter 3, and tomorrow we'll begin on section 4.1 from chapter 4. The third homework was handed back in class. Also, importantly, the notes for the review session are posted towards the bottom of the website. Pleae check those our and read over them before the review session. They should make a good study aid for the quiz.


• February 11th - We finished covering section 3.5 today and went over section 3.6. Homework #3 was not handed back, but it is graded now, and your grades are available on WebCT. Homework #3 will be handed back tomorrow. Also, please note that there will be a review session for the first quiz on Thursday during my usual office hours in our usual classroom. Also, please remember that the first quiz is this Friday during class.


• February 8th - So, a few announcements. We finished going over section 3.5 today, although we'll do an example of the method of variation of parameters at the start of class next time. Also, the homework was a bit late going up, so I've decided not to make it due until Tuesday, February 19th. I would recommend getting it done before then, though, as the quiz on the 15th will have material from up to section 3.5. Now, there are a couple of changes that were announced over email that will make this next week a little less hectic for people. I'd rather give people time to study for the quiz, so I've decided to make the project not due on the 15th, but instead due on the 22nd. Also, the quiz will not cover all of chapter 3, but just the material up to section 3.5. Hopefully that will relieve a bit of the stress next week.


• February 4th - Today we went over section 3.3, the section dealing with linear homogenous equations with constant coefficients of any order, and did a couple of examples. Graded homework 2 was handed back in class today, and also the first computer project is now up. You won't actually need to use Maple to do this one, just Excel or some other suitable spreadsheet program.


• January 30th - We started section 3.1 today and discussed some general ideas about second order differential equations, especially linear second order differential equations. We went over the major theorems in the area, and discussed the concept of two functions being linearly independent. We'll finish up section 3.1 next time and start section 3.2. Also, the Maple assignment has, yet again, been pushed back until Monday of next week. Also, homework assignment 4 is given below.


• January 29th - Today we finished section 2.4 on Euler's method, and by extension finished chapter 2. We'll be starting on chapter 3 tomorrow in class. Also, I've added due dates to the homework assignments listed below.


• January 23rd - Today we finished section 2.1. There will be a Maple assignment on population models given out next Wednesday, January 30th. The third homework assignment is posted below.

January 22nd - Today we finished section 1.6 and with it chapter 1. The first Maple assignment will be assigned next Wednesday. Also, the third homework assignment will be posted tomorrow on this website. On Friday the second homework assignment is due, and I'll hand back the graded first homework assignment. Also, solutions to the first homework assignment will be posted on Friday.

• January 16th - Today we finished section 1.5 and started section 1.6. We only covered the substitution method, so there's still quite a bit of section 1.6 to go. The first homework set is due in class on Friday, January 18th and the second homework set is now posted below.


• January 15th - Today we finished section 1.4 and had a demonstration on Toricelli's law. We also started on section 1.5. Tomorrow we'll finish up section 1.5 and begin on section 1.6.


• January 14th - Today in class we covered section 1.4 on separable equations. We'll finish this section tomorrow, and we'll even have a quick demonstration using some information we will derive in class. The first homework is due on Friday, and the second homework assignment will be posted on Wednesday. Also, this Friday the first Maple assignment will be given out.


• January 8th - The website is now up. I suppose if you're reading this that's obvious. Today we covered the first section of the book. The first homework assignment will go out tomorrow. Also, I handed out a schedule for the rest of the semester. This schedule, plus the syllabus, are here on the website, where all future handouts will similarly be. The handouts will also be posted on WebCT.

Contact Information

Administrative

Homework

Projects

Exams

Other Classes

Old Classes

Talks