Math 204A - Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations

Instructor: Jon Wilkening

Lectures: TuTh 12:30-2:00pm, Room 5 Evans

Course Control Number: 55027

Office: 1091 Evans

Office Hours: Monday 11AM-1PM

Prerequisites: Undergraduate Analysis and Linear Algebra

Required Text:
Coddington and Levinson, Theory of Ordinary Differential Equations

Recommended Reading:
Hurewicz, Lectures on Ordinary Differential Equations
Courant and Hilbert, Methods of Mathematical Physics, vol 1

Syllabus: In the first part of the course, we will study fundamental questions of existence, uniqueness and dependence of solutions of ODE's on initial conditions and parameters. We will then study linear systems (e.g. with constant or periodic coefficients), boundary value problems, adjoint equations, expansion and completeness theorems, Sturm-Liouville theory, perturbation theory, and the Poincare-Bendixson Theorem. We fill finish the course with ODE methods in PDE and the Cauchy-Kowalewski theorem.

Course Webpage: /~wilken/204A.F06

Grading: 75% Homework, 25% Final Exam

Homework: 10 assignments

Comments: Homework problems will be graded right/wrong, but you may re-submit the problems you get wrong within two weeks of getting them back to convert them to "right". (If you turn in a homework late, you forfeit this possibility).