| Class Times | Tuesday and Thursday 7:00-8:15pm |
| Locations | Maybank 223, and sometimes in the Maybank 200 computer classroom |
| Instructor | Brenton leMesurier |
| Office | Room 103, 4 Greenway (enter from behind Randolph Hall) |
| Phone | 953-5917 |
| Electronic Mail | lemesurierb@cofc.edu |
| Course Web Site | http://math.cofc.edu/faculty/lemesurier/math645/ |
| Office Hours | Before classes and others TBA |
A collection of handouts, programs and such is being compiled at http://math.cofc.edu/faculty/lemesurier/math645/docs/
NEW! There is also a page describing
Assignments and other sugested exercises
(including Due Dates) NEW!
Computational Differential Equations by K Eriksson, D Estep, P Hansbro and C Johnson (Cambridge University Press)A recommended supplementary source, for background topics and the finite difference method, is the text use for Math 545,
Numerical Analysis by Richard Burden and J Douglas Faires (Brooks/Cole)A few other useful references are
Scientific Computing and Differential Equations: An Introduction to Numerical Methods by G Golub and J Ortega (Academic Press)I will also distribute handouts on a few topics not covered in the text, and provide various materials and links to other resources through the course web site.Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations: Finite Difference Methods by G D Smith (Clarendon Press)
Matrix Computations by G H Golub and C F Van Loan (Johns Hopkins University Press)
Solving such problems numerically often involves solving large systems of simultaneous linear equations and sometimes computing eigenvalues and eigenvectors of large matrices, and so we will consider iterative methods for these problems of numerical linear algebra. It often helps to consider both the partial diffential equation and the related linear algebra problems as minimization problems, and so if there is time we will look at some related numerical methods for optimization problems.
Computational work will be done principally with the Matlab package for interactive computation and graphics and programming. We will also consider the use of Fortran 90 and a variety of widely used, high quality, public domain computational libraries. Matlab is available on the Macintoshes in the Maybank 200 computer classroom, on some Macintoshes in the J C Long computer lab, and for remote acccess on a UNIX server, where Fortran and the related libraries and software will also be available.
There will be an emphasis on understanding and evaluating the methods used in such software and libraries, in order to choose the right tool for a particular task. This involves considering the accuracy, reliability, robustness and efficiency of various alternative methods for solving a given problem.
I expect considerable discussion and work in class on assigments, particularly with the programming parts, and to emphasise that, drafts of programming work will be due one week before the deadline for each assignment.
All work will be given a score on a scale of ``points lost'', from 0
for perfection down to 15, with letter grade interpretations as below.
The scores will then be averaged, rounded to an integer and converted to
final course grades as shown on the last row of the table.
| Point score | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 to 15 |
| Equivalent Letter Grade | A+ | A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | F |
| Conversion for Final Grade | A | B+ | B | C+ | C | F | ||||
Missing drafts will be penalized two points, and late work, if accepted, will also be penalised.
You are responsible for knowing what happens in each class, so if you miss one, get notes and find out about any assignments or other announcements; either from a classmate or from me. To help with this, there will be a brief diary on the course website.