Information about "Computer Methods in Mathematical Sciences I"

We meet twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday 9:00 - 10:30 in David Rittenhouse Lab, room A7.

Our textbook is `Elementary Numerical Analysis'' by Kendall Atkinson. It should be on sale in the campus bookstore. The following additional books are (or soon will be) on reserve in the math/physics/astro library on the third floor of DRL:
"Numerical Analysis" by Burden & Faires
"Numerical Analysis: Mathematics of Scientific Computing" by Kincaid & Cheney
"Elementary Numerical Analysis" by Atkinson

There will be two midterm exams and one final exam. The midterm exams will be on Thursday October 15 and Thursday November 19. The second midterm is right before Thanksgiving break. I will not give make-up exams or early exams, so be careful in making your travel plans.

On grading, homework will be worth 30%, each midterm will be worth 20%, and the final will be worth 30%.

There is a class e-mail list with everyone's address on it, including mine. I will use it to communicate tips on the homework, clarify aspects of the lectures that were brought up in office hours, etc. I hope you will use it communicate with each other (``Hey, does anyone have a clue how to do problem 8?''). The email address is "math320-001-98C@lists.upenn.edu" or you can click here.

Homework will be assigned daily and due weekly. I will accept _no_ late homework. Hand in whatever you have on the day it's due. Partial credit is better than none.

There is a course web-page, on which I will post the homework assignments and provide matlab programs for you to cannibalize: course web-page.

All of the programming work in this course will be done with matlab. This is a user-friendly interactive program which is used in some of the undergraduate engineering courses. It is also used by professors doing their research, by graduate students working on their PhD research, and by employees in industry (finance, insurance, and science).

Matlab will be installed in your local computer room so you can use it conveniently. It is already installed in the Towne computer room, where engineering students can use it. I will provide matlab programs for you to work with and modify, as well as a matlab primer. The primer is a short manual that you can work through and master the rudiments of matlab.

I will have office hours Monday afternoons (4-5), after class on Thursday mornings (10:30-11:30), or by appointment. My office is David Rittenhouse Lab 4C5. My phone is 898-8472 and email is mpugh@math.upenn.edu

Please come to me if you have any problems with the homework, the amount of homework, the course, or anything else. The sooner we deal with any problems you might be having, the better.