Welcome to the MA354 course webpage!

 

Syllabus (html)

Syllabus (.doc)

Course Calendar With Links

 

Week

Class

Date

Day

Schedule

Homework (Due This Day)

1

1

19-Jan

W

Syllabus

1.0 Modeling Intro

1.1 Modeling Change

Dynamical Systems in Excel

(in-class project not collected)

 

2

2

24-Jan

M

1.1 Modeling Change Continued

1.2 Approximating Change (with Pop Models)

 

 

3

26-Jan

W

Project 1: Pop Growth

Project 1 – Excel Scripts

Scripting Best Practices

HW 1.1: #1-4, 7, 8.

3

4

31-Jan

M

1.3 Analytic Solutions to Dynamical Systems

1.3 PowerPoint Slides

(not used this year)

Project #1

 

5

2-Feb

W

1.3 Fixed Points and Stability

 

4

6

7-Feb

M

Introduction to MathematicaÒ: Long Term Behavior

Project 2 Steady States

HW 1.3: #1bef, 2bcgh, 5

 

7

9-Feb

W

1.4 Building Systems of Difference Equations

1.4 Finding Equilbria

 

5

8

14-Feb

M

Project 3: Competitive Hunters

Project #2

 

9

16-Feb

W

11.0 Modeling with Differential Equations

Worksheet: Exponential Decay

HW 1.4 Assignment

6

10

21-Feb

M

11.2 Prescribing Drug Dosage (Project 4)

Project #3

 

11

23-Feb

W

11.4 1D Autonomous ODEs

 

7

12

28-Feb

M

12.1 2D Autonomous ODEs

Isocline Worksheet

Project #4

 

12

2-Mar

W

Mid-term Review

Presentation Instructions

 

8

13

7-Mar

M

12.5 Euler Methods

 

 

14

9-Mar

W

Mid-term

11.4 (1d,e, 3, 7, 11e)

9

 

14-Mar

M

Spring Break

 

 

 

16-Mar

W

Spring Break

 

 

 

 

 

Presentations

Project / Topic

 

10

15

21-Mar

M

 

 

Random Walk

1 particle

Diff Script

Octave

Diff Script

 

 

16

23-Mar

W

Type I – MV, CR

 

Random Walk

2 particles

Diff Script 2

 

 

11

17

28-Mar

M

Type I –KH, SL, CP

 

Monte Carlo Models

Estimating p

Script

 

 

 

18

30-Mar

W

Type I – AC, RL,

AD, SS

 

 

 

12

19

4-Apr

M

Type I – HR, LS, BJ

Spatial Point Modeling

Spacing Points

Script

 

 

20

6-Apr

W

Type I – DH, PJ, MM

Octave Tutorial

Download

Tutorial

 

13

21

11-Apr

M

 

Ferromagnetism

 

 

22

13-Apr

W

 

Ferromagnetism Continued:

Metropolis Algorithm

 

14

23

18-Apr

M

Type II – MV, SS, CR

Ferromagnetism Continued:

Boltzmann Distribution

 

 

24

20-Apr

W

Type II – KH, SL, CP

Coral Branching;

Literature Survey

 

15

25

25-Apr

M

Type II – AC, RL, AD

Coral Branching;

Group Projects

 

 

26

27-Apr

W

Type II – HR, LS, BJ

Coral Branching;

Diffusion

 

16

27

2-May

M

Type II – DH, PJ, MM

Coral Branching Worksheet

 

 

28

4-May

W

 

Chaos Theory

Lorenz Script

 

 

In-Class Projects

 

Two particles diffusing in a bounded region (a disk of radius 50). Mathematica script.

 

20000 Hops, HopLength=1.

3000 Hops, HopLength=5.