Welcome to
Math 230: Differential Equations

St. Olaf College, Spring 2011
TOH 184, TTh 8:00am - 9:25a
Book: Differential Equations, 3rd edition, Blanchard, Devaney, Hall

Professor Zajj Daugherty
Office hours: RMS 401
    MWF 12p - 12:45p
    TTh 9:30a - 10:30a

For an overview of grading and policies, see below.  

Assignments:

Unless otherwise stated, a weekly summary is due every Tuesday. See below for an explanation of these assignments.

Due on: Problems:
Feb 171.1 #3, 5-9, 15, 17, 20; 1.2 #1,3,6,10,11,19,25,28,33-37.
Feb 241.3 # 2,9,11,15,16,17,19-22; 1.4 #4 (just with this problem, do with delta t = .5 and .25, then select "compare all"), 5,6,12,13,20; 1.5# 1-3, 5-8, 9, 15, 18
Mar 31.6 # 1-6, 13, 15, 18, 29, 30, 32, 37-40, 44; 1.7: 1, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 16, 18, 23
Mar 101.8 # 1, 3, 6, 9 (see #3), 13, 14, 19, 21, 22, 30, 1.9 #1,10,19,21,22,25,26
Mar 172.1 #1-4, 8, 9, 16, 20, 22 (hint: to solve for k, set up (Force of gravity) = (Force of spring)), 25-30, 2.2# 3, 10, 11, 13, 18, 21, 22(A, B, G) *(The program plots y versus x. You plot y versus t and x versus t. Read tool help), 2.2 #10, 2.3 # 3,7,9,12, 2.4 # 1,3*, 5, 7-9, 10, 14, 15.

For 2.3 #3: Also set up Euler's method in a spreadsheet (or however else you want to do it with a computer that doesn't come pre-set-up for you, like DETools) and experiment with how small delta t has to be before you see the same thing HPGSystemSolver gives you.

EXAM 1 TODAY!

April 73.1 # 7, 10, 24, 32, 34, 35; 3.2 # 2, 6, 11, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21
April 143.4 # 1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, 21, 22, 24. 3.3 # 2, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27
April 223.5 # 2, 6, 9, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23; 3.6 #7, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 23, 29, 31, 34, 36, 40, and This File
Solutions
April 28Take-home exam
Summary: Include a short summary of 3.7, including a reconstruction of the trace-determinant plane. Problems: 3.7 # 4, 5, 8, 9, 11-13, 14 (it's called "TDAnimation quiz." You might want to play with LineaPhasePortraits for a while first).
May 5 5.1 # 1, 3, 6, 11, 15, 17, 18, 19, 27, 28, 29
May 12 5.2 # 1, 3, 4, 9, 13, 15, 16, 17; 5.3 #1, 2, 3
With final 5.3 # 10-12, 14, 15, 18, 19; 5.4 # 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 21
 

The following is a calender of extra credit talks and events that I've heard about. Colloquiums are talks pitched at the level of someone who's had calc 2 and linear, so should be totally accessible. Research talks are a little higher level, so you might not understand everything, but will work your math muscles and give you the flavor of more advanced mathematics.

 

Grades:

Your grades will be based on two midterm exams and one cumulative final, occasional quizzes, and homework. We will use technology in this class, including but not limited to calculators. However, on any in-class test, calculators will not be allowed. Homework is with 25% of your grade, everything else is worth 75% all together (The final is work 1.5 times a midterm, and quizzes are worth 1/3 of a midterm).

Homework (25% of your grade) will consist mostly of book exercises and weekly summaries:

    Exercises: This means problems from the book, usually due Thursdays, all on material from the previous week. Specifically, these will be graded on completion (30/100), quality of exposition (20/100), and accuracy on a subset of the assignment (50/100). Please feel free to work with other people, though your writeups should reflect your own understanding.
    Weekly Summaries: This means means a write-up on the previous week's material, including 2-3 pertinent problems of your choice done from the Review section written with great care and illustrating the summarized material, usually due on Tuesdays. For style, imagine you're writing an example for a textbook which is designed to introduce a student to the main ideas. Be very clear and explicit with your work. Pay attention to using words to explain your work and to formatting your work so that it's easy to read. You are welcome to work with others, though summaries should be in your own words. This is also a great place to mention spots of confusion.
    Example
Extra Credit: Some occasional points may be negotiated throughout the semester for activities such as attending MSCS colloquiums, going to certain departmental events, or doing other such mathy-type extracurricular activities. As I hear about things over the semester, I will be sure to mention them. If you are interested in doing something I haven't mentioned, and you think it's of the right genre, come ask. The Big Idea here is that the more math you expose yourself to, the easier math gets.
To submit an extra credit assignment, write up
    what the event was (e.g. MSCS Colloquium by Maria Westdickenberg) when/where (date, time, etc) What was it about? What did you learn? Tell me something interesting.
The whole writeup should be about 1/2 a page. The title of the file should look like MM.DD-Name_of_event (e.g. 02.09-MSCS_Colloquium)
Email me the file with subject line MATH 230 EXTRA CREDIT (this is super important! It will get lost otherwise!)