AMATH 301
SLN 10196, MWF 10:30-11:20, Condon Hall 135
(Prerequisites: MATH 126 or MATH 136: recommended: CSE 142)

Beginning Scientific Computing


Instructor:

 Brandon Bale
Condon Hall 826
bbale@amath.washington.edu
office hours: W, Th 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. at MSCC

TA:

 San Kim
Condon Hall 711A
san@amath.washington.edu
office hours: M, 5:00-6:30 p.m. F, 1:30-3 p.m. at MSCC

Homework Grades Message Board
Description and Objectives Textbook and Notes Syllabus Schedule and Homework

Description and Objectives

Introduction to use of computers to solve scientific and engineering problems. Application of mathematical judgment in selecting tools to solve problems and to communicate results. MATLAB is the primary tool used for numerical computation.

Although the subject matter of Beginning Scientific Computing can be made rather difficult, I will attempt to present the course material in as simple a manner as possible. More theoretical aspects, such as proofs, will not be presented. Applications will be emphasized.

Textbook and Notes (.pdf)

There is no text required for this course. Prof. J.N. Kutz's notes are available on-line (.pdf) and there are a variety of MATLAB help books available at the library.

Syllabus

The topics to be covered are
  • Introduction to MATLAB
    bisection.m
    • plotting.m
  • Solving Linear Systems
  • Eigenvalue Problems
  • Solving Nonlinear Equations

Schedule and Homework

Follow links in the table below to obtain a copy of the homework in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. You may also obtain here solutions to some of the homework and exam problems. An item shown below in plain text is not yet available. For additional information regarding viewing and printing the homework and solution sets, click here.

^M ^M
Homework and Exams Homework Due Date Homework Problem Sets
First day of class Monday, March 26
Homework#1 due Tuesday early morning, April 10 Homework #1 (.pdf)
Homework#2 due Tuesday early morning, April 24 Homework #2 (.pdf, temperature.dat)
Homework#3 due Monday, early morning, May 7 Homework #3 (.pdf, velocity.dat)
Midterm Monday, May 7 Midterm Review (.pdf)
Homework#4 due Tuesday, early morning, May 22 Homework #4 (.pdf)
Memorial Day Monday, May 28
Homework#5 due Friday, early morning, June 1 Homework #5 (.pdf)
Last day of class Friday, June 1
Final Monday, June 4 Final Review (.pdf)

HOMEWORK SUBMISSION

You can now submit homework at the following link: submit homework

Remember that the submission checks your answers and compares (anti-cheat) against the MATLAB codes of others in this class and those of last year.

Grading

You may view your homework and exam grades on-line.

Your course grade will be calculated by weighing the homework, the Midterm, and the Final in the proportions 50%, 20%, and 30%, respectively. Homework problem sets will be assigned bi-weekly. Homework constitutes 50% of your final grade. There will also be a one-hour-long midterm and comprehensive final for 20% and 30% or your grade respectively. LATE HOMEWORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Homework will be submitted and graded on-line. You have up to three attempts per homework to get everything correct. If everything is correct the first time a homework is submitted, you will receive a 100% for that homework. If something is not correct, then you must fix it and re-submit the homework. Your highest submitted homework grade will be your final grade for that particular homework.

Matlab Resources

In this course, we will make extensive use of Matlab, a technical computing environment for numerical computation and visualization produced by The MathWorks, Inc. A Matlab manual is available in the MSCC Lab. If you are working in the Windows environment, be sure to check out the Matlab notebook feature that integrates Matlab with Microsoft Word.

Here is a list of some Matlab resources available on the net: