Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Fall, 2015
Text:
Edwards and Penney, Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems: Computing and
Modeling, 4th or 5th editions.
Instructors:
Professors. Alvin Bayliss and Michael J. Miksis
Prerequisites:
EA1, EA2, EA3, Math 224
Course Outline:
Engineering Analysis 4 (EA4) is the final course in the Engineering Analysis sequence. It covers
the basics of ordinary differential equations, including first and second order equations and first
order systems. The course will build on previous EA material such as linear algebra (including
eigenvalues and eigenvectors) and Matlab.
EA4 covers differential equations from an applications perspective, considering topics from mechanics, thermodynamics, chemical engineering and other areas. As part of this applications
perspective, the course involves regular lab assignments in which Matlab will be used to solve
computationally-oriented projects. For weeks when a lab is assigned, EA4 students will have priority in the Engineering First Computer Lab (Tech MG47) and TAs will be available to provide
assistance with these projects.
Grading:
There will be three in-class exams. The exams will be worth 50% of your grade. The exams will
be cumulative so that earlier material may (and most likely will) be asked on later exams. Also,
the exams may involve questions on Matlab and the labs. The last exam will be during Reading
Week. There will be no final exam.
Homework will be worth 15% of your grade. Each homework will be graded out of 10 points.
You will get 2 points for completeness and there will be an in-class quiz based on the homework
which will be worth 8 points.
Labs will be worth 35% of your grade.
Schedule:
We will generally have lectures MTWF. There may be several weeks when some or all sections
will have class on Thursday. This will be announced beforehand in class. Lab TA hours will be
on Thursday (10AM-4PM) and Friday (2PM-4PM) for those weeks in which a lab is assigned.
Tentative exam schedule:
Exam 1: October 15
Exam 2: November 12
Exam 3: December 1 & December 3
These dates are tentative and subject to change. Any change will be announced at least one week
in advance. We plan to give the exams to all students in the evenings from 7PM-8PM and will
give you more information on the scheduling of the exam as the course progresses.
Topical Outline: We will cover the first six chapters in the text. The outline below gives the
topics and approximate duration of each section. Please note that the timing for each section is
approximate. There will also be review sessions prior to each exam. There are some additional
topics which will go beyond material in the text. These topics will be covered in class and in
posted material.
Week 1: First order equations (1.3-1.5)