AMS 027 - Spring 2006

News

Welcome to Mathematical Methods for Engineers, AMS27!

Hi, my name is Bruno Mendes and I will be teaching this course in the coming Spring quarter.

The course's main goal is to teach students the main concepts in solving ordinary differential equations. The course covers topics in Linear Algebra (linear systems, matrices, vector spaces, eigenvectors and eigenvalues), first and higher order linear differential equations, linear systems of differential equations, Laplace transform methods, matrix exponential methods and (if we have time) some topics in nonlinear systems and phenomena (mostly concepts in phase plane and qualitative analysis of differential equations).

My teaching strategy focus heavily on helping the students understand the meaning of the mathematical tools, not just how to blindly apply recipes and I also put a lot of effort in showing how the mathematical concepts work in practice, in real life situations. The students are encouraged to commit to the class 100% by going to all sections and completing weekly homeworks. Typically, a student that works hard on a weekly basis does very well in the class. Failing rates are typically low in my classes (ie. most of the students that go all the way to the final exam will do well).

The required text for this class: Edwards, C. Henry and Penney, David E., Differential Equations & Linear Algebra, Second Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall.

Optional texts

Manual for beginners in Matlab software package: Pratap, Rudra, Getting started with MATLAB, Oxford University Press, 2006. (We will provide you with extra supporting material for this course; maybe it's a good idea to hold off buying this book until you see how things go in the first couple of weeks in class).

Excellent book for Linear Algebra: Lay, David, Linear Algebra and its applications, Addison Wesley, 3rd edition, 2003.

Previous book used for this course: Erwin Kreyszig, Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Wiley, 1999.

 

NEWS:

7/1 - Final scores (and final grades) have been decided. I apologize for taking so long and for the changes, but I wasn't happy with some of the low scores and I reviewed the final exam's grading more than once. 

6/27 - Good news (for some of you). A mistake in the spreadsheet underestimated your final score. New score sheet will be available soon.

6/26 - Provisional final grades available below. These are the directives used:

  1. Final exam scores below 60% automatically imply an F (check grade rules in class info document below).

  2. Final scores below 60% automatically imply an F (in some cases a D).

  3. Final scores between 60% and 65%: C

  4. Final scores between 65% and 75%: B-

  5. Final scores between 75% and 80%: B

  6. Final scores between 80% and 85%: B+

  7. Final scores between 85% and 90%: A-

  8. Final scores between 90% and 95%: A

  9. Final scores between 95% and 100%: A+

  10. If a student's homework and quiz scores 'pull down' a final average I lower their weight in the final score (so if you see a colleague's score to be 64% and a letter grade of B, check his/her final exam to find the reason for it).

  11. Let me know if you see any mistakes.

6/26 - These students need to contact me urgently  (last 4 digits of student's nr):  6243, 7419, 9463, 1570, 0646, 0839, 8481, 0999, 4702.
6/7 - Homework list has been changed. Depending on what is taught tomorrow the problems fro section 7.5 might still be reduced.
6/2 - Practice final exam is available below.
6/1 - Changes to homework list. Check it below.
6/1 - Calendar for end of quarter:

June 2nd: publication online of a practice final exam and its solutions.

June 8th, Thursday: Bruno’s last office hour from 4pm-5pm.

June 14th, Wednesday: final exam from 8am to 11am in this same room. Rough solution set will be posted in the glass case at the entrance to Jack’s lounge.

June 14th to June 16th: meeting Yuzheng in order to get credit for missing homework. 

June 26th to 27th: publication on course’s web site of final exam’s scores and provisional final scores and letter grades (if you absolutely need your final grade before this date, let me know as soon as possible).

June 26th to 30th: period to contact Bruno for any corrections to the final grade (personal meetings are required for anything other than small mistakes in the final score list).

5/25 - New box for homework drop-off; right below the glass case at the main entrance to Jack's Lounge.
5/24 - Change in homework list due Friday.
5/18 - Change in homework list due tomorrow May 19th. Check the new list below.
5/18 - Due to commitments abroad Bruno's last office hour of the quarter will take place either on the 8th or the 9th of June.
5/10 - Midterm solution session: if you're interested Bruno can set up a special session dedicated to the solution of the midterm. Let's talk about it in class tomorrow.
5/10 -  Please take same time to fill out the midterm course evaluation. Check below.
5/10 - Students who attend Wednesday labs have a new deadline to hand-in their assignments. Check below.
5/9 - Midterm scores are available. Check link below. I'm very well impressed with your performance, but there some improvements that can be made. Friday morning you can come have a look at the midterm and discuss the solutions with Bruno.
5/3 - List of advanced problems for the midterm. Please don't distribute.
5/2 - Changes in this week's homework list (section 1.6 has been transferred to next week). Next week's list has been changed too to include section 5.3. Check the new homework list below.
5/2 - In order to give you extra support for the midterm and the homework due on Friday Bruno'll be in his office Wednesday starting 5pm, Thursday all day apart from the period from 2-4pm, and Friday morning starting at 10am.
5/2 - Midterm will take place this Thursday at 6pm in class. You are only allowed to bring a pencil and an eraser to the exam and it will cover everything that was covered in class up to last Thursday (section 1.4 of the book). You can use the second side of the exam's pages as scratch paper. Review session Wednesday, May 3rd, 6-7pm at Jack's Lounge.
5/1 - Final exam date has been set, check the class information pdf file below or go to http://reg.ucsc.edu/soc/2062/sched.htm#Spring2006.
4/29 - Practice midterm available below. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post all the solutions. In any case, Bruno can answer any questions about it during the review session on Wednesday, May 3rd, from 6 to 7pm at Jack's Lounge.
4/28 - There's an additional book on reserve at the Science Library. If you are willing to get organized and share the books on reserve please send an email to the instructor. We will try to organize the students who are willing to optimize the use of those books.
4/18 - Homework list for Friday has been changed.

Index of class resources

Handouts — homework problem sets, homework solutions, other helpful handouts
General Class Information — class and section times, instructor and TA information

Handouts

General Class Information

Class Newsgroup:
NEWSGROUP - Not active.
Lecture times:
Tuesdays and Thursday, 6-7:45pm, Social Sciences 2 071
Section times:
Section 01A is held at Social Sciences 1 room #145 on Wednesdays from 8:00am to 9:10am.
Section 01B is held at Social Sciences 1 room #145 on Wednesdays from 5:00pm to 6:10pm.
Section 01C is held at Social Sciences 1 room #145 on Thursdays from 10:00am to 11:10am.
Section 01D is held at Social Sciences 2 room #159 on Thursdays from 08:30am to 9:40am.
Associated Lab:
 
TA: Nikhil Bobb, email: nikhil@cs.ucsc.edu.
 
Lab01 meets Mondays from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.
Lab02 meets Tuesday from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.
Lab03 meets Wednesdays from 12.00pm to 2:00pm.
 
Instructor:
Name: Bruno Mendes (mendes@ams.ucsc,edu)
Phone: ___
Office: Baskin 141
Instructor Office Hours:
Fridays, 12:00-1:00pm
Teaching Assistant(s):
Name: Yuzheng Zhang (EMAIL)
Office:146
Office Hours:
Wednesday, 12:30-1:30am