AMS 027 - Spring 2007

News

Welcome to Mathematical Methods for Engineers, AMS27!

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:

6-15: We had problems with the formulas in excel (that wonderful piece of  software), so some final scores were wrong. A new file will be posted in the next couple of hours. Note: problem solved, some student’s letter grades have been corrected.

6-14: Provisional final grades are posted below. The way the final score is calculated is explained in the link Course Syllabus and guidelines. A table with the scores and corresponding letter grades can be found in that document too.

Notes: The comment “final exam” next to a student’s grade means the final exam was the determining factor in arriving at that grade.

I invite the students with scores close to the next letter grade to come and check their finals, but unless there is a mistake in the grading, I’m afraid there are no exceptions to the rule that requires a 60% in the final to pass the class. These students really need to go over this material once more.

I congratulate all of you who committed 100% to the class, I hope you feel you have taken your mathematical skills to a new level!

6-14: The scores for the final exam are posted below. I want to wait until this evening to post the course’s provisional final grades so that I can think about it a little better and see if I can help some of the student’s scores. Be advised that a final exam scores less than 60% means either a D or an F depending on your performance in the rest of the class (unfortunately, no exceptions).

6-14: Provisional final grades will be posted sometime today (we will try to do it before lunchtime).

6-12: The students who need to meet Bruno on Thursday instead of Friday should email their names to him. If there are not too many of you, we might be able to arrange a quick meeting. By Wednesday evening there will be more information.

6-8: Important dates for the next few days:

     6-9, 5-6pm – Final review session with Bruno (either at his office or at Jack’s Lounge).

     6-11, 7:30pm – Final exam.

     6-13 or 6-14 evening – Publishing of final exam scores and provisional final score & grade.

     6-15 – from 10am to 5pm, personal meeting with Bruno to fix any questions regarding any score of AMS27 or AMS27L.

     6-15 – Provisional final grades become official.

6-6: Final exam will take place on Monday, June 11th, from 7:30-10:30pm in class.

6-4: Practice final is published below. Solutions will be available shortly.

5-23. Bruno’s going to travel over the week end, so the office hour on Friday is unfortunately cancelled.

5-23. Lab 4’s deadline is extended to next week, June 1st.


5-16. Lab 1 and 2 scores are available below.

5-15. Your midterm evaluations were extremely valuable to me (Bruno); thank you for taking it seriously and for giving us a good idea of how you’re experiencing this course. I will personally review the situation in the lab and the lab scores (we’ve been doing a mediocre job at that, I agree). On Thursday this issue will be addressed in class (as, of course, some other issues brought up in the evals). One thing that can’t wait until Thursday is the invitation to come over and discuss any grading issues you might have with midterm, homework, quizzes or labs!

5-15. Extra office hours on Wednesday from 10:00 to 11:00am with Bruno.

5-15. Midterm course evaluation today in class. If you miss it, you can print one out from the link below and submit it later.

5-10. Midterm scores will be posted today by the end of the day. I was satisfied with the results, but there are students who can improve a lot. Remember, this is a class in advanced mathematical methods; you can’t afford the luxury of missing lectures, sections, not reading the book or not completing the homework!

5-9. Sections: Chris has fallen ill today and can’t teach sections; we are not sure when he will get better. This means that the students in the remaining sections should still try to attend it. There will be no quizzes this week. Given this, you should really try to attend some office hours. Chris is going to try to hold an extended office hour this Friday (until 3pm). Keep checking the web site for more information or send us an email.

5-8. Big changes in this week’s homework list.

5-2. Due date for this week’s homework is changed to Saturday noon (12:00pm).

4-24. Lecture notes are active.

4-24. Question 2 in assignment 2 of the lab can be handed in by May 4th, 6pm.

4-4. Sections are active this week, and there is homework due this Friday the 6th.

 

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

·         Course Syllabus and guidelines.

·         Resources

o        Getting started with Matlab

o        Lecture notes.

o        Practice midterm. Some extra problems with applications of matrices.

o        Midterm course evaluation.

o        Practice final. Solutions. inactive

·         Lab assignments

o        Lab assignment 1. Questions 1 and 2 due by the end of your first lab session, whole assignment due by Friday, April 13th, by 6pm.

o        Lab assignment 2. Questions 1 and 2 due by the end of your first lab session, whole assignment due by Friday, April 27th, by 6pm. Practice problems 2.

o        Lab assignment 3. Questions 1 and 2 due by the end of your lab, whole assignment due by Friday, May, 11th, by 6pm. Practice problems 3.

o        Lab assignment 4. Questions 1 and 2 due by the end of your lab session, whole assignment due by Friday, May 25th, by 6pm. Practice problems 4.

o        Lab scores.

·         Homework list. Homework is due every Friday by 3:00pm.

o        homework and quiz scores (some homework scores are still being entered in the list, so this one is incomplete).

·         Midterm scores. Histogram of scores (ps). Histogram of scores (pdf).

·         Final exam scores.

·         Final provisional scores.

General Class Information

Class Newsgroup:

NEWSGROUP - Not active.

Lecture times:

Tuesdays and Thursday, 4-5:45pm, Kresge Clrm 327

Section times:

Section 01A is held at Social Sciences 2 room #165 on Wednesdays from 07:00PM-08:10PM.

Section 01B is held at Social Sciences 2 room #165 on Thursdays from 08:30AM-09:40AM.

Section 01C is held at Social Sciences 2 room #165 on Fridays from 09:30AM-10:40AM.

Section 01D is held at Crown Clrm 202 on Wednesdays from 12:30PM-01:40PM.

Associated Lab:

 

TA: Sumanth Kolar, email: kis@soe.ucsc.edu.

Lab01 meets Mondays from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Lab02 meets Tuesday from 01:30pm-03:30pm.

Lab03 meets Wednesdays from 12.00pm to 2:00pm.

 Lab04 meets Tuesdays from 11:00am-01:00am.

All labs meet at J Baskin Engr 109.

Instructor:

Name: Bruno Mendes (mendes@ams.ucsc,edu)

Phone: ___

Office: Baskin 141

Instructor Office Hours:

Fridays at Jack Baskin building, room #141, from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 to 7:00pm.

 

Teaching Assistant(s):

Name: Christopher Simon (csimon@soe.ucsc.edu)

Office: Baskin 160.

Office Hours:

Fridays at Baskin 160, from 11:00am to 12:00pm.