Course web page: The general web page for Math
252 includes links to a suggested syllabus and to several sets of
supplementary notes.
Homework assignments and solutions:
Click here for assignments.
Supplementary notes. The notes in the first column
below will be posted only as we need them in the course. The keys are used
for reference in the posted syllabus.
The exam will be held on Friday, May 9, from 12:00 to
3:00 P.M., in SEC 203. Note change of
room. The exam will be cumulative, although some
emphasis will be placed on topics from the end of the course, which were
not covered on either of the two earlier exams.
Coverage: The exam will cover:
All material from the first two exams. Details of that coverage are
still available below on this web page.
All material covered since the second exam. More specifically: this
includes material from Sections 5.1 through 5.4, 3.6, and 4.1 though 4.4.
We did not cover the idea of "Hamiltonian systems"" from 5.3, although we
did of course discuss conserved quantities, also covered there.
Last assignment: Assignment 11 (not to be collected) has been
posted, and solutions have been posted on Sakai.
Review: There will be a review/problem session on Tuesday, May
6, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, in Hill Center 124. Here is a set of review problems, now including some
short answers. These problems concentrate on material we have covered
since the last exam. To review earlier material, use the review problems
distributed for the first two exams, the exams themselves, and homework
problems.
Office hour: I will hold an office hour on Tuesday
May 6, from 9:30 to 10:30 AM, in Hill 520, for the benefit of students
who cannot attend the review session.
3/12/2014: Here is the set of
pictures of linear phase planes that I showed in class on March 11.
Shown are a typical saddle point, sink, and source, as well as plots of
some solution curves x(t) and y(t) in each case.
2/20/2014: Here is the pdf
version of the phase-plane plots that I showed in class on February
18 and 20. This is essentially the same set of figures that are in the
Maple file posted on 2/17.
2/13/2014:Because we have now lost two classes to snow I have
revised the syllabus and changed the
exam dates. The exm dates are now:
Exam 1: Thursday, February 27.
Exam 2: Thursday, April 10.
2/13/2014:
Assignment 4 has been revised. Please get a copy of the new version from
the assignments web page.
2/05/2014: Here are the slides of
slope fields that I discussed (but was unable to show) in class on
February 4.
1/21/2014: Our tentative syllabus (see the link above) has become
much more tentative after the cancellation of our class on February 21,
and has been revised. At the moment I have simply shifted the dates of
the lectures, but that leaves us with an extra lecture at the end of the
semester. The syllabus will be adjusted later to compress and/or cut some
material.
1/22/2014: I posted a revised version of Assignment 1 this
afternoon; it contains only problems from Section 1.1. If you downloaded
a version earlier with problems from Section 1.2 also, be sure to get the
new version.
Exam 2
The second exam will be on Thursday, April 10. The exam is
closed book and closed notes, and no calculators are permitted. You will
be given a small formula sheet; see the review problems (below).
Coverage: The exam will cover our work in the course through
Thursday, April 3; material which was on the first
exam will not be covered explicitly but of course some of it might be
relevant for questions on later material. The material covered since the
first exam includes:
Material on general properties of systems of linear ODEs, covered in
class and summarized in the posted notes on
linear systems of ODEs . I will not include any specific questions
on linear algebra but some of the material in the posted review notes on linear algebra might be
relevant.
Material from Sections 3.1–3.5, 3.7, and part of 3.8 of the
text.
Problem Session: We will hold a problem session on
Tuesday, April 8, 7:00-8:30 PM, in Hill Center 124. This is not a
review presented by me but a chance for you to ask questions about any
material in the course. In particular, I suggest that you work on the
review problems before the review session.
Review Problems: Here is a set of
review problems to help you review for the exam, and to give you
something to ask questions about at the problem session. Here are some short answers to help you check your work.
The first exam will be on Thursday, February 27. The exam is
closed book and closed notes, and no calculators are permitted. I do not
plan to give out any formula sheet.
Coverage: We will cover all our work in the course through
Thursday, February 20; this means all the work on Chapters 1 and 2 of the
text. Specifically, in Chapter 1 we have covered everything except
Section 1.4 on Euler's method, and the "guessing" method for linear
equations discussed in Section 1.8. In Chapter 2 we have covered
essentially all of Sections 1 through 4 except the exact solutions of the
mass-spring problems. Finally, the exam will cover the posted notes on
linearization of ODEs.
Problem Session: We will hold a problem session on
Tuesday, February 25, 7:30--9:00 PM, in Hill Center 124. This is
not a review presented by me but a chance for you to ask questions about
any material in the course. In particular, I suggest that you work on
the review problems before the review session.
Review Problems: here is a set of review
problems to help you review for the exam, and to give you something
to ask questions about at the problem session. Short answers are
included for most of the problems, to help you check your work.