This page is still being edited and there may be some minor changes. In particular the room for the course has just changed.
Professor: Richard Borcherds
Office hours: 927 Evans Hall 9:00-10:00 Tu W Th F
The class meets in 289 CORY, MTuWTh 10:00-12:00. The first lecture is on Monday 06/25, the last is on Thursday 08/16, and there is no lecture on Wednesday July 4. The lectures TuTh 11-12 are discussion sections, also in 289 CORY. The Course Control Number is 61385. This is the course home page (address /~reb/128). If you cannot get into this section, there is another section taught by Scott Armstrong.
Programming for numerical calculations, round-off error, approximation and interpolation, numerical quadrature, and solution of ordinary differential equations. Practice on the computer.
Math 128A will cover the following topics.
Numerical analysis and scientific computation, by Jeffrey J. Leader. Publisher: Addison-Wesley 2005 ISBN 0-201-73499-0
The publisher's price is $126.67, the ASUC store sells second hand copies for about $95, and you should be able to find second hand copies for about $50 from Abebooks or Amazon.
If you already have your own computer then you can use that if you can figure out how to install octave or matlab on it. Otherwise there are some computers in the computer lab in 106 Latimer Hall beginning on 6/26. The user identifier is !chmfmath , and you can get the password either in lectures or in office hours.
Homework will account for about 40% of the grade.
Midterm 1 will account for about 20% of the grade.
Midterm 2 will account for about 20% of the grade.
The final will account for about 20% of the grade.
Almost all the questions in the midterms or finals will be randomly selected questions from the book similar to homework questions, possibly with the constants in the questions changed. So if you understand how to do all the homework questions you will be able to do all the questions on the exams.
Each question on the midterms and final will be worth 3 points. The grading scheme is: 3 points for a completely correct and clear answer in simplified form, 2 points for an essentially correct answer with some minor errors, 1 point for a reasonable start on the question, 0 points for no significant progress. It is your responsibility to make your answers clear: if you get the question right but the grader does not notice, then this is your fault for not making your answer clear enough, and you will lose points for it. Students will never get extra partial credit by asking for it, as this is unfair to students who do not ask. Marks for exams or quizzes will only be changed if there is a clear error on the part of the grader, such as adding up marks incorrectly or forgetting to mark a question.
If you miss the first midterm the mark for the second midterm will be doubled. If you miss the second then the mark for the final will be doubled. If you miss both midterms or the final then you are in trouble. There will be no makeup midterms or finals.
The final homework grade will be computed from the grades for the 5 best homeworks, so it does not matter much if you forget one or two. About half the marks for homework will be based on the number of questions that you made a serious attempt on, and about half will be based on more detailed marking of a few questions.
You may use a pocket calculator in the exams. There is no need for an expensive graphing calculator: a $10 calculator with sin/cos/tan buttons on it will be enough. You may also bring one (ordinary sized!) sheet of paper with writing on both sides to the exams. Apart from this one sheet, the exams are "closed book".
Homework is due by the end of the Monday lecture the week after it is assigned. Late homework will not be accepted. There are brief solutions to most homework exercises in the back of the textbook. Note that some of the homework exercises occur after the "MATLAB" sections in the book. Collaboration on homework is fine, but if you hand in similar homework to your collaborator you should clearly state so and say who you are working with, in order to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings.
For each lecture, you should read the section of the textbook, work through the examples in the "MATLAB" section of the text, and do the homework exercises listed below.
| Lecture | Date | Reading | Exercises (Due in class the next Monday) |
| 1-2 | M June 25 | 1.1, 1.2 | 1.1: 1, 2, 7, 9, 11ab. 1.2: 1, 2, 4, 9, 10 |
| 3 | Tu June 26 | 1.3 | 1.3: 1ab, 3, 4ab, 6abc, 8 |
| 4-5 | W June 27 | 1.4, 1.5 | 1.4: 2, 3, 4, 7, 8. 1.5:1, 2, 5, 6, 10ab |
| 6 | Th June 28 | 1.6 | 1.6: 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 |
| 7-8 | M July 2 | 1.7, 1.8 | 1.7: 3, 4, 6, 8ab, 9ab 1.8: 2ab, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
| 9 | Tu July 3 | 1.9 | 1.9: 1, 2, 3a, 5, 6 |
| W July 4 | Holiday | ||
| 10 | Th July 5 | 2.1 | 2.1: 1abc, 3ab, 4abcd, 6abcd, 10. |
| 11-12 | M July 9 | 2.2, 2.3 | 2.2: 1, 6, 8, 11, 12. 2.3: 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 |
| 13 | Tu July 10 | 2.4 | 2.4: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 |
| 14-15 | W July 11 | 2.5, 2.6 | 2.5: 1, 3, 4, 6, 8. 2.6: 1, 4, 7, 8, 9. |
| Th July 12 | Midterm | Covers 1.1 to 2.4 | |
| 16-17 | M July 16 | 2.7, 2.8 | 2.7: 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 2.8: 1, 2, 6, 7, 9 |
| 18 | Tu July 17 | 2.9 | 2.9: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, |
| 19-20 | W July 18 | 3.1, 3.2 | 3.1: 1, 2, 7, 8, 9. 3.2: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7. |
| 21 | Th July 19 | 3.3 | 3.3: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. |
| 22-23 | M July 23 | 3.4, 3.5 | 3.4: 1, 3, 5, 9, 10 3.5: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, |
| 24 | Tu July 24 | 3.6 | 3.6: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9. |
| 25-26 | W July 25 | 4.1, 4.2 | 4.1: 1, 2, 5, 6, 11. 4.2: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7. |
| 27 | Th July 26 | 4.3 | 4.3: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| 28-29 | M July 30 | 4.4, 5.1 | 4.4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5.1: 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, |
| 30 | Tu July 31 | 5.2 | 5.2: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8. |
| 31-32 | W Aug 1 | 5.3, 5.4 | 5.3: 1, 4, 5, 7, 9. 5.4: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 |
| Th Aug 2 | Midterm | Covers 2.5 to 5.2 | |
| 33-34 | M Aug 6 | 5.5, 5.6 | 5.5: 2, 3, 5, 6, 10. 5.6: 2, 3, 5, 6a, 9. |
| 35 | Tu Aug 7 | 5.7 | 5.7: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6. |
| 36-37 | W Aug 8 | 6.1, 6.2 | 6.1: 1, 3, 4, 8, 9. 6.2: 1, 2, 3, 6, 11. |
| 38 | Th Aug 9 | 6.3 | 6.3: 1, 3, 6, 8, 12. |
| 39-40 | M Aug 13 | 6.4, 6.5 | 6.4: 1, 2, 5, 7, 9. 6.5: 1, 2, 3, 8, 10 |
| 41 | Tu Aug 14 | 6.6 | 6.6: 1, 2, 4, 7, 9. |
| 42-43 | W Aug 15 | 6.7 | 6.7: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6. |
| Th Aug 16 | Final | Covers 5.3 to 6.7. |