If one day's assignment seems lighter than average, it's a good idea to read ahead and start doing the next assignment, which may be longer than average.
Unless otherwise indicated, problems are from our textbook (Nagel, Saff, and Snider, 3nd edition). It is intentional that some of the problems assigned do not have answers in the back of the book or solutions in a manual. An important part of learning mathematics is learning how to figure out by yourself whether your answers are correct.
Read the corresponding section of the book before working the problems.
| Date due | Section # / problem #'s |
|---|---|
| F 8/25/00 | Read the syllabus and the "Attendance: frequently asked questions" handouts. |
| F 8/25/00 | 1.1/ 1-16. Also, do non-book problem #1. |
| M 8/28/00 | 1.2/ 1-5, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18, 19. Also, read the handout "What is a solution?", obtainable from the Web. |
| W 8/30/00 | 1.2/ 23, 27, 29, 30 Also, do non-book problem #2. |
| W 8/30/00 | 1.3/ 3, 6 |
| F 9/1/00 | Read sections 2.1 and 2.2. In order to lighten the assignment due Wed. 9/6/00, do as many of the problems from that assignment as you're able to just based on the reading, even though we won't cover the material in class until Fri. 9/1/00. In your reading, make sure you understand the discussion on pp. 49(bottom)-50. |
| W 9/6/00 | 2.2/ 1-3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16-18, 22, 23. |
| F 9/8/00 | 2.2/ 27abc, 29, 30-34 |
| M 9/11/00 | 2.3/ 1-6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 17-20, 23, 24, 27a |
| W 9/13/00 | 2.3/ 28, 30-35. In #33, note that what you might think is only a minor difference between the DE's in parts (a) and (b)--a sign --change on one term--drastically changes the nature of the solutions. When solving differential equations, a tiny algebra slip can make your solutions utter garbage. |
| W 9/13/00 | Read section 2.4 through the top of p. 67 and do problems 1-8. This is a pretty light assignment, so you might want to read the rest of the section and start doing the assignment that's due Friday. |
| F 9/15/00 | 2.4/1-8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20-22 (note that #22 is the same DE as #16, so you don't have to solve a new DE, you just have to incorporate the initial condition into your old solution), 27a, 28a,32. Also, read the handout "A terrible method for solving exact equations", obtainable from the Web. |
| M 9/18/00 | 2.6/ 9-13, 16. (For now, we are skipping section 2.5. If time permits, we'll come back to it later in the semester.) |
| W 9/20/00 | MIDTERM EXAM |
| F 9/22/00 | Read the material on Bernoulli equations (pp. 80-81) and do problems 2.6/ 21,24,28 |
| M 9/25/00 | Read "Equations of the form dy/dx=G(ax+by)" (pp. 79-80) |
| M 9/25/00 | 2.6/ 1-8, 29, 32 |
| M 9/25/00 | Read section 4.1 and section 4.2 through Example 1 on p. 163. (We are skipping Chapter 3.) |
| W 9/27/00 | Finish reading section 4.2. |
| W 9/27/00 | 4.2/1-8. If there is a quiz on Wednesday, the problems that are fair game are the ones with due dates 9/22 (section 2.6), 9/25 (section 2.6), and 9/27 (section 4.2). |
| F 9/29/00 | 4.2/ 9-13, 15, 16, 19, 20. Note: the notation in 9 and 10 is
convenient, and is commonly used, but some of it is imprecise. For
example, 9a should say L[cos](x), not L[cos
x]. Writing 9b and 9c more precisely is clumsier, since
unlike "cos", the functions that are input into L don't have a
short name. One way to state 9b more precisely is to write the entire
phrase "L[f](x), where f(x) =
x-1". The authors should have gotten around this
problem by making the intructions say "Compute
L[f](x)
for each of the following functions f: (a) f(x) = cos x; (b) f(x) = x-1; (c) f(x) = xr, where r is a constant." |
| M 10/2/00 | 4.2/ 23-26,27, 32, 34a, 35, 36. (Note: For notational precision, 25 and 26 should say L[y](x)=..., not L[y]=... ) Also do non-book problem #3. |
| W 10/4/99 | Read the the definition of the Wronskian (Definition 1, p. 170) and the paragraph following Definition 1. Also read pp. 171-172 through Example 2. Do problems 4.3/ 1-6. Potential quiz material consists of these problems and the ones that were due 9/29 and 10/2. |
| F 10/6/00 | 4.3/ 7-10, 13, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25, 26 |
| M 10/9/00 | Read section 4.5 through Example 4. (We will cover section 4.4 later in the semester.) |
| W 10/11/00 | 4.5/ 1-7, 13-16. For some of these you will have to use the fact about "repeated roots" in the box on p. 185. We will go over this in class on Wednesday, but don't wait to do those problems. For now, you are not responsible for Cauchy-Euler equations (pp. 187-189). |
| F 10/13/00 | 4.5/53 |
| F 10/13/00 | Read Section 4.6 from Example 1 through the end of Example 4 (we will cover the part before Example 1 after the exam), and do problems 4.6/ 1, 3, 5, 6, 9-12, 28, 31ab, 36-38 |
| F 10/13/00 | Read Section 4.7 through the end of Example 1, and do problems 4.7/11,12,16,17. Note that in 11, 12, and 17 you are only asked to find a solution to each problem, not the general solution. |
| M 10/16/00 | MIDTERM EXAM. Relevant book sections for the exam are 2.6 (not including Homogeneous Equations, which were part of the first-midterm material), 4.1-4.3, 4.5 (not including Cauchy-Euler equations), 4.6 (the box on "Complex Conjugate Roots", p. 193, and Examples 1-4), and 4.7 (through Example 1). |
| W 10/18/00 | Read the remainder of Section 4.7, and do problems 4.7/1-10 |
| F 10/20/00 | 4.8/ 1-4,11,13,27,28,30 |
| M 10/23/00 | Read Example 6 and do problems 4.8/ 6-10, 12, 14, 15, 17-23, 29, 33-38 (do these with as few undetermined coefficients as possible), 39-44 |
| W 10/25/00 | Read section 4.9 |
| M 10/30/00 | 4.6/ 30 |
| M 10/30/00 | Read section 4.4 |
| W 11/1/00 | 4.9/ 1-6,10,13,14,18,22 |
| F 11/3/00 | Read section 4.11 |
| M 11/6/00 | Read section 4.12 |
| W 11/8/00 | 4.4/ 3, 5, 6, 10ac |
| W 11/8/00 | 4.11/ 1, 6, 9, 13 |
| Special Notice | The third midterm is postponed until Friday, Nov. 17. |
| M 11/13/00 | 4.12/ 3, 9 |
| M 11/13/00 | Read sections 6.1 and 6.2; do problems below. |
| M 11/13/00 | 6.1/ 7-10,13,14,15,16,18 |
| M 11/13/00 | 6.2/ 1, 4, 13, 15-18, 20. Hint: in #'s 4 and 20, r+1 is a factor of the characteristic polynomial. Use long division to find the quotient (char. poly.)/(r+1), a quadratic polynomial which you can then factor (using the quadratic formula, if necessary). |
| W 11/15/00 | Read section 6.3 and do problems 6.3/ 5-10. |
| F 11/17/00 | MIDTERM EXAM. Relevant book sections for the exam are 4.4, 4.7-4.9, 4.11-4.12, and 6.1-6.3. In 6.3, you are expected to be able to solve higher-order DE's using the method of undetermined coefficients, but you are not yet responsible for understanding the annihilator method. |
| M 11/20/00 | Read sections 7.1 and 7.2. |
| W 11/22/00 | 7.2/ 1-7.
Note:
The homework assignments due next week will be heavier than usual.
To reduce the crunch, I would suggest that if you have the time
after you're done with problems due Wed. 11/22, you get started on
next week's assignments.
Important: The math department computers will be down from Thurs., Nov. 23, 10 p.m. to Sun., Nov. 26, 9 p.m., so you should make a hard copy of Monday's assignment (at least) before you leave for Thanksgiving. |
| M 11/27/00 | 7.2/ 13-17, 21-23, 27-29 |
| M 11/27/00 | Read section 7.3 and do problems 7.3/ 1-10, 25, 31 |
| W 11/29/00 | 7.3/32-34 |
| W 11/29/00 | Read web handout "Partial fractions and Laplace Transform problems" (pdf file) |
| W 11/29/00 | 7.4/ 1, 4, 7, 10, 21, 24, 27, 30 |
| Note:Although the lectures are currently lagging the homework assignments, you should do the reading and attempt to do the problems by the assigned due date anyway, or you will have too many problems to do in less time later on. The lectures should catch up to the homework soon. | |
| Note: For any quizzes or exams that involve Laplace Transforms, I will give you a table that is similar to the one on the inside back cover of the book. You do not need to memorize any specific Laplace transforms, but you do have to know how to use the table. | |
| F 12/1/00 | 7.5/ 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 19-21, 23, 25, 26 |
| M 12/4/00 | Read section 7.6 |
| W 12/6/00 | 7.6/ 1-15, 19, 20, 29-32, 36, 37, 40 |
| W 12/13/00 | FINAL EXAM begins at 7:30 a.m. in our usual classroom. Click for my exam week office hours. |
| W 12/13/00 | After the exam, please do not email me with questions about your grade for the class, your performance on the exam, etc. I will not email any information relating to the final exam or grades. Course grades should be available from ISIS starting sometime on the Monday after exam week. I will post some exam statistics, and perhaps some other statistics, on your grade scale page. (I won't be posting anything outside my office door.) Do not contact me before Fri. Dec. 15. If you're in town that Friday, and want to find out how you did on the final exam, check this page (the one you're reading now). If I've finished grading your class by then, and have time to meet with students that day, then I'll post that information here. Otherwise, to find out your exam score or any other non-posted information, you'll need to wait until January. I will be unavailable from Dec. 16 to Jan. 7. Early next semester, please either phone me, use email to set up an appointment with me, or stop by during my office hours (which will be available from a link on my home page . |