Overview
Instructor | Dr. Armin Straub
MSPB 313 straub@southalabama.edu (251) 460-7262 (please use e-mail whenever possible) |
Office hours | MWF 10:00-11:00am, 12:15-1:15pm, or by appointment |
Lecture | MWF, 1:25-2:15pm, in MSPB 235 |
Midterm exams | The tentative dates for our two midterm exams are:
Wednesday, October 2 Wednesday, November 13 |
Final exam | Wednesday, December 11 — 1:00-3:00pm |
Online grades |
Homework Scores
Exams: USAonline (Canvas) |
Syllabus | syllabus.pdf |
Lecture sketches and homework
To help you study for this class, I am posting lecture sketches. These are not a substitute for your personal lecture notes or coming to class (for instance, lots of details and motivation are not included in the sketches). I hope that they are useful to you for revisiting the material and for preparing for exams.
Date | Sketch | Homework |
---|---|---|
08/21 | lecture01.pdf | Homework Set 1: Problems 1-6 (due 9/4) |
08/23 | lecture02.pdf | Homework Set 1: Problems 7-9 (due 9/4) |
08/26 | lecture03.pdf | Homework Set 1: Problem 10 (due 9/4) |
08/28 | lecture04.pdf | Homework Set 2: Problems 1-5 (due 9/11) |
08/30 | lecture05.pdf | Homework Set 2: Problems 6-7 (due 9/11) |
09/04 | lecture06.pdf | Homework Set 2: Problems 8-10 (due 9/11) |
09/06 | lecture07.pdf | Homework Set 3: Problems 1-2 (due 9/18) |
09/09 | lecture08.pdf | Homework Set 3: Problems 3-4 (due 9/18) |
09/11 | lecture09.pdf | Homework Set 3: Problems 5-6 (due 9/18) |
09/13 | lecture10.pdf | Homework Set 4: Problem 1 (due 9/25) |
09/16 | lecture11.pdf | Homework Set 4: Problems 2-4 (due 9/25) |
09/18 | lecture12.pdf | Homework Set 4: Problems 5-6 (due 9/25) |
09/20 | lecture13.pdf | Homework Set 5: Problems 1-3 (due 10/2) |
09/23 | lecture14.pdf | Homework Set 5: Problem 4 (due 10/2) |
09/25 | lecture15.pdf | Homework Set 5: Problem 5 (due 10/2) |
09/27 | lecture16.pdf | exam practice problems (as well as solutions) are posted below |
09/30 | review | get ready for the midterm exam on 10/2 (Wednesday) |
10/04 | lecture17.pdf | Homework Set 6: Problems 1-2 (due 10/11) |
lectures-all.pdf (all lecture sketches in one big file) | ||
Overview of all homework problems |
About the homework
- Homework problems are posted for each unit. Homework is submitted online, and you have an unlimited number of attempts. Only the best score is used for your grade.
Most problems have a random component (which allows you to continue practicing throughout the semester without putting your scores at risk).
- Aim to complete the problems well before the posted due date.
A 15% penalty applies if homework is submitted late.
- Collect a bonus point for each mathematical typo you find in the lecture notes (that is not yet fixed online), or by reporting mistakes in the homework system. Each bonus point is worth 1% towards a midterm exam.
The homework system is written by myself in the hope that you find it beneficial. Please help make it as useful as possible by letting me know about any issues!
Exams and practice material
The following material will help you prepare for the exams.
- Midterm Exam 1:
midterm01-practice.pdf, midterm01-practice-solution.pdf
midterm01.pdf, midterm01-solution.pdf
Sage
For more involved calculations, we will explore the open-source free computer algebra system Sage.
If you just want to run a handful quick computations (without saving your work), you can use the text box below.
A convenient way to use Sage more seriously is https://cocalc.com. This free cloud service does not require you to install anything, and you can access your files and computations from any computer as long as you have internet. To do computations, once you are logged in and inside a project, you will need to create a "Sage notebook" as a new file.
Here are some things to try:
- Sage can solve certain differential equations. For instance, to solve Example 17 in Lecture 3:
y = function('y')(x) desolve(diff(y,x,2) - diff(y,x) - 2*y == 0, y)
- Sage can solve (symbolically!) simple initial value problems. For instance, to solve Example 18 in Lecture 3:
y = function('y')(x) desolve(diff(y,x,2) - diff(y,x) - 2*y == 0, y, ics=[0,4,5])
Unfortunately, this code currently only works for differential equations of first and second order. To likewise solve a third-order differential equation, we can use the functiondesolve_laplace
instead:y = function('y')(x) desolve_laplace(diff(y,x,3) == 3*diff(y,x,2) - 4*y, y, ics=[0,1,-2,3])
The output shows that the function $ y(x) = \frac13(3x - 2) e^{2x} + \frac53 e^{-x} $ is the unique solution to the initial value problem $ y''' = 3 y'' -4 y $ with $ y(0) = 1 $, $ y' (0) = -2 $ and $ y'' (0) = 3 $. - Sage is happy to compute eigenvalues and eigenvectors. For instance, to solve Example 54 in Lecture 8:
A = matrix([[8,-10],[5,-7]]) A.eigenvectors_right()
- Sage can even compute general powers of a matrix. For instance, to solve Example 62 in Lecture 10:
n = var('n') M = matrix([[0,1],[2,1]]) M^n
- Similarly, Sage can compute matrix exponentials. For instance, to solve Example 70 in Lecture 11:
M = matrix([[8,-10],[5,-7]]) exp(M*x)
(Note thatx
is predefined as a symbolic variable in Sage; that's why we don't needx = var('x')
as in the case ofn
above.) - We can plot phase portraits as follows:
x,y = var('x y'); streamline_plot((x*(y-1),y*(x-1)), (x,-3,3), (y,-3,3))