Math 253

Differential Equations

How to get in touch with me

Office: Olin 314
Office Hours: see schedule
Phone: 933-7463
Email: tlofaro@gustavus.edu

Text

Differential Equations, Dynamical Systems and an Introduction to Chaos,  Hirsch, Smale, and Devaney,  Elsivier Academic Press.

Objective

This course will teach practical methods for solving, understanding, and modeling with ordinary differential equations.  We will discuss methods for solving first and second order equations as well as systems of linear equations.  We will use these methods to introduce qualitative methods for studying non-linear systems of differential equations.  Applications of these types of differential equations will provide motivation to the methods discussed.

Chapters Covered

We will be covering parts or all of chapters 1 through 8 and chapters 10,14, and 15.  These chapters will be supplemented with additional material as necessary.   Here is the tentative schedule for the semester

Grading

Homework

Homework assignments will be given daily at the beginning of each class period and will be posted on the Math 253 homework page.  Explain your work clearly and concisely in complete sentences when appropriate.  Each set is worth 10 points.  Homework will be collected every Friday in class. No late homework is accepted for any reason.  The lowest three homework scores will be dropped.  Staple each homework set separately.

Exams

Exam Schedule

Midterm I	03/19/10
Midterm II	05/04/10
Final Exam	TBD

Projects

You will be doing three computer projects in this class. The projects will be done in groups of 2 or 3. The final report must be typed and will be graded on both mathematical content and accuracy as well as on style and grammar. I will provide you with guidelines on the project later in the semester.  Here is the schedule for the projects.

 

Academic Honesty:

As a community of scholars, the faculty and students of Gustavus Adolphus College have formulated an academic honesty policy and honor code system, which is printed in the Academic Bulletin and in the Gustavus Guide. As a student at Gustavus Adolphus College I agree to uphold the honor code. This means that I will abide by the academic honesty policy, and abide by decisions of the joint student/faculty Honor Board.

Use of the Internet

We will be making extensive use of the World Wide Web in this course. The syllabus and homework assignments will be posted on the Internet. Links to all this material will be found at the Math 253 home page at

http://www.gac.edu/~tlofaro/mcs253.html

Maple Worksheets

• Introduction to differential equations in Maple 10.

• Solving the logistic equation in Maple 10

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