Math 128A: Numerical Analysis

Fall 2003, Section 1, Professor Chorin

Professor Chorin's office hours are Wednesday 11-12, and Friday, 11-1

GSI: Luiza Miranian

The main reason for this page is to provide course info and resources to students in Math 128A discussion section. Please note that my office hours this semester are M 3-5 pm; Tu 3-4 pm in 1057 Evans.

Very Informal Class Syllabus

Number systems and errors, representation of numbers
Solution of nonlinear equations: bisection, secant method, Newton's method, fixed point iteration
Interpolation: interpolating polynomial, Lagrange form, nested form
Numerical integration: triangular, trapezoidal, Simpson, etc. rules
Numerical differentiation
Initial Value problems
If time allows, two of the following three topics:
Linear systems; Optimization; Monte Carlo.

The textbook for the class is "Numerical Analysis: Mathematics of Scientific Computing" by Cheney-Kincaid.

Homework assignments and comments

This is the site, where HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS AND COMMENTS are posted.
Since sometime people send me e-mails with similar questions, I will post your questions there (without giving out your name, unless you want me to) along with the answers.

Useful Links

Below are some very useful matlab tutorials. Please, check them out:
Tutorial 1
Tutorial 2
Tutorial 3
Tutorial 4
And much more ...
Also, MathWorks MATLAB page. You can find some MATLAB documentation at this site, provided by the publisher of the software.

How to Access MATLAB

Many of the homework and programming assignments will require the use of MATLAB. Here is how you can access the program.

Use the computer lab in the basement of Evans Hall.
LOGIN INFORMATION FOR THE COMPUTER LABS IN EVANS BASEMENT
LOGIN: !cmfmath@BERKELEY.EDU
PASSWORD: c@1flextail
The classroom/lab in the back of the Evans Hall Microcomputer Facility (in the basement of Evans) has a collection of computers on which MATLAB is installed. You must login to these machines to use them. Once you login, just find the MATLAB icon on the desktop or in the Start menu, and go! Note that this lab is used as a classroom, so you need to be considerate of those TAs and students who are having their discussion sections in the room. Always ask a TA if it is okay for you to work quietly on a machine during their class; he or she will probably say yes, but might say no if, for example, there aren't enough machines to go around.
- Advantages: Access to the full MATLAB graphical user interface and to a laser printer.
- Disadvanteages: A little inconvenient; lab is not open 24/7.
Telnet to Socrates (Requires Socrates account.) Using any Internet-connected machine with telnet installed, connect to Socrates remotely via telnet (or, even better, via SSH); the address is socrates.berkeley.edu. Login with the username and password provided to you in class, and then type "matlab" at the command prompt.
- Advantages: Convenient (at least, if you have convenient access to telnet/SSH).
- Disadvantages: Through this method, you only get access to the MATLAB command line: no graphics/plots/etc. are available.
Use Exceed to connect to Socrates (Requires a Socrates account.) Exceed is a program that allows you to run X Windows (a UNIX graphical user interface) on your Windows-based PC. Thus, if you connect to Socrates via Exceed and type "matlab" at the command prompt in a terminal window, a command line window for MATLAB will be started, and any graphics you generate will be displayed in newly spawned windows. You can download Exceed for free from Berkeley's Workstation Support Services. Follow the documentation on that page to learn how to connect with Exceed once you have it installed.
- Advantages Access MATLAB graphics from the comfort of your dorm room (or apartment or home or whatever).
- Disadvantages Requires a fast connection to work. You will have to be connected to the Internet at DSL-or-faster speeds in order for this to be workable, and even then it can be slow.
Purchase your own copy. MATLAB is available for both Windows- and Linux-based PCs and for the Macintosh (although the Macintosh version is older than the current PC version). You can get a relatively inexpensive Student version either from the campus computer store or directly from MathWorks.
- Advantages Very convenient.
- Disadvantages Must own a computer; not free.