Last updated Thu Jan 9 00:51 EST 2025
The schedule below is just my (Dr. Groisser's) best guess and hope, as of the start of the semester, of which sections of the textbook (Nagel, Saff, & Snider, Fundamentals of Differential Equations, 9th edition) will be covered and when. In assignments, most (not all) of the exercises will be from the textbook, but many of the readings will be from my notes on first-order ODEs and other handouts of mine.
Omitted book-sections are ones that Dr. Groisser is not currently planning to cover.
I've taught MAP2302 more than 35 times, every time a little differently from the last; I do not teach large-lecture, cookie-cutter courses. Exactly what I cover, and when, depends on many factors, including but not limited to the number of class meetings, students' preparation, students' questions, difficulties that students had the last time I taught the class, attempts to improve my presentation of particular topics, and any deficiencies with the textbook that I (newly) discover this semester. (There are a great many deficiencies I'm already aware of; these are what gave rise to my notes on first-order ODEs.) Therefore I cannot give an exact schedule of weekly topics (let alone precise assignments) before the semester starts. I assign homework after every class. After each lecture, I finalize the assignment that goes with that lecture, update the assignment on the homework page, and sometimes post an estimate of the assignment that will go with the next lecture.
However, there will be a very high degree of overlap between what I assigned in my Fall 2024 MAP2302 honors section and what I end up assigning this semester. Therefore you can get a rough estimate of what I'm likely to assign, but isn't yet on our homework page, by looking at my Fall 2024 homework page. (However, last semester we had only 37 MWFs, and I did not have time to get to Chapter 7. This semester we have 40 MWFs—still a full week less than in prior spring semesters—and getting to Chapter 7 is one of my goals.)
week
of
semesterdates book sections 1 M 1/13 – F 1/17 1.1; some material from 1.2; 2.1 (but not as in book); 2.3 begun (Section 2.2 will be covered later) (Chapter 1 concerns introductory material, including [inadequate] definitions that are made precise in my notes over several weeks of reading. Chapter 2 concerns [inadequately justified or exploited] methods for solving first-order differential equations, methods that are justified and better exploited over several weeks of reading in my notes.)
Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
2 W 1/22 – F 1/24
(M 1/20 is MLK Day)2.3 concluded; 1.2 continued Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
3 M 1/27 – F 1/31 2.2; 1.2 concluded; some non-book material Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
4 M 2/3 – F 2/7 some non-book material; 2.4 begun Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
5 M 2/10 – F 2/14 2.4 concluded; 4.1; 4.2 begun (Chapter 4 concerns second-order linear differential equations.)
Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
6 M 2/17 – F 2/21 4.2 concluded; 4.3 Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
7 M 2/24 – F 2/28 4.4 – 4.5, begun Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
8 M 3/3 – F 3/7 4.4 – 4.5, concluded; 4.6 begun Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
9 M 3/10 – F 3/14 4.6 concluded; 4.7 (Chapter 6 concerns higher-order linear differential equations.)
Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
10 M 3/24 – F 3/28 6.1 – 6.2 Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
11 M 3/31 – F 4/4 6.3; 7.1 – 7.2 (Chapter 7 concerns Laplace Transforms.)
Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
12 M 4/7 – F 4/11 7.3 – 7.4 Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
13 M 4/14 – F 4/18 7.5 – 7.6 Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page
14 M 4/21 – W 4/23
(W 4/23 is last day of classes)7.8 Assignments (daily): readings and exercises detailed on homework page