Mathematics 38, Spring 2012

Announcements

If you are requesting an accommodation as a result of a documented disability, you must register with the Disability Services Office at the beginning of the semester. To do so, please call the Student Service Desk at 617-627-2000 to arrange an appointment with Sandra Baer, Program Director of Disability Services. Your instructor does not need to be apprised of such needs.
Students needing any special arrangements for exams due to scheduling conflicts or because of accommodations arranged by the Program Director of Disability Services should contact well in advance.

Syllabus

The syllabus.

Archived syllabi for Fall 2011 Spring 2011 Fall 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2009, Spring 2009, Fall 2008, Spring 2008, Fall 2007, Spring 2007.

The Fall 2006 syllabus was ordered differently, so the exams do not quite correspond.

Sections:

Qing (B block)
Höft (C block)
Höft (E block)
Christensen (F block)
Gutiérrez (H block)

Examination dates and grading policies are here
At the beginning of the semester, please check these dates against any other examinations you have scheduled.
If there are any time conflicts, please notify immediately.

Homework: Homework is due at the beginning of the next class.
You are encouraged to collaborate, but you must hand in solutions written in your own hand.
You receive one point if your homework contains

a bona fide attempt at every exercise (copying the statement does not suffice) and
the correct solution to at least 60% of the exercises (answers only are not enough).

Do not claim credit for any parts of solutions copied from the blackboard during class!
Your homework credit is \(\displaystyle H=u_{26}(n)\cdot\frac{n-20}4\), where \(n\) is the number of homework points and \(u\) is as on p. 449 of the text.

Textbook

Textbook: Reprint of M. M. Guterman, Z. H. Nitecki, Differential Equations -- A First Course, 3rd ed., Saunders (1992).
Saunders ISBN 0-03-072878-9, reprint ISBN 81-89617-20-6
The Tufts bookstore web site can create the impression that there is a 6th edition. There is not.

Where to buy the text inexpensively? Some fellow students have suggested Amazon or Half.com, and AddAll seems to be a another good start (no endorsement implied, and note that you won't get the same return policy as from the Tufts bookstore!). There are many other options, so do look around.
The ISBN need not match exactly, but make sure that the authors, title and edition match. There are earlier editions, and the same authors have another book with a similar but different title.

The first few assigments from the text - for those whose book did not arrive on time. Answers from the back of the book are here.

A supplement to the text that introduces complex numbers and how to do partial fractions, undetermined coefficients and Laplace transforms using complex numbers systematically.

Office hours, tutoring

The purpose of going to office hours and to obtain tutoring is to deepen your understanding of the subject matter of a course. If you are doing well in this class, tutoring can help be an outstanding student in it. In high school this is an expensive add-on, and here it is a free service. The ARC has outstanding tutors available.

Utilize the office hours offered by the instructor of your section. We are happy to see you, we'll get to know you better, and during office hours you may get a perspective on the subject that you did not see in class.

During reading period there are special office hours

The ARC drop-in hours are to be determined; last semester they were as follows:

Sundays	7:00 - 9:00pm	Tilton Hall Study Lounge
Tuesdays	3:00 - 5:00pm	Campus Center 209
	4:30 - 6:30pm	Hill Hall 2-31 / 2-32
Wednesdays	5:30 - 8:00 pm	Campus Center 209
Thursdays	3:00 - 5:00pm	Houston Hall 218
	4:00 - 7:00pm	Campus Center 209

Find a tutor by checking the schedule or as follows:

Log onto student web center using your Student ID Number and password.
From the Navigation Menu, choose Tutor Finder.
Choose View Available Tutoring Subjects.
Click the Subject, followed by the course number to find the tutors available in that subject area.
You will see all of the available hours for tutors in that subject.
Click "Reserve" to reserve a one-on-one session with a tutor. Or click "Notify" to let a tutor know you plan on attending their drop-in hours.
Fill out the information in the form.
The Online Tutor Finder will immediately email the tutor and you with a confirmation of the tutoring appointment (subject, date, time, name, location)
If you need to cancel, you can do so online up to 6 hours before the appointment.

Study aids and supplements to the text

A supplement to the text that introduces complex numbers and how to do partial fractions, undetermined coefficients and Laplace transforms using complex numbers systematically.

Table of Laplace transform formulas.
This will be provided for the second exam and the final exam. Feel free to use it for homework as well.

Free online lectures

Examples of making it easier to find eigenvalues. These use the properties of determinants summarized in Note 2. on page 192f of the book — review these!

Help with

partial fractions (also peruse old exams for examples of partial-fractions decompositions via "tinkering")
polynomial division
integrals
matrix algebra
derivatives.
eigenvalues
linear algebra

Summary of spring dynamics

The Vandermonde determinant (useful for Exercise 2.4.13a, but Exercise 2.5.26 provides a more interesting idea)

Simplifying characteristic polynomials by row or column operations

Summary of the row reduction operations

Answers to even-numbered review problems in Chapter 3

Worked solutions for Exercise 1 on page 321, Exercise 2 on page 321, Exercise 8 on page 322.

Answers to even-numbered exercises on page 321f.

Phase portraits of linear systems.

Notes on phase portraits of nonlinear systems.

Assistance for phase portraits of nonlinear systems from Rutgers (very sensitive to spaces and the like in the input field!!!!).

Suggestions for exam preparation:

Exams from previous semesters are provided below and can be a useful guide, but because in different semesters the exam dates occur in different places in the syllabus, you may have to pick and choose from different exams for any one previous semester. (Note especially, that in previous semesters the scope of exams covering Chapter 4 was much more limited than is the case now.)
The homeworks assigned in the current semester provide the best indication of the scope of exam preparation we expect. In addition, some of the review exercises provided at the end of each chapter in the book can be useful.

Old exams

An online collection of exams is at the Student Services website.
It's a secure site - log in as you would for SIS Online and choose the online exams option once you're logged in.

Exam 1, Spring 1998 — Solutions

Exam 2, Fall 2000 There is a misprint on problem 3: \(t^2D^2\) should be \(tD^2\). — Solutions

Exam 2, Spring 2001 — Solutions

Exam 1, Fall 2006, including solutions

Exam 2, Fall 2006, including solutions

Exam 3, Fall 2006, including solutions

Final examination, Fall 2006 — Solutions

Exam 1, Spring 2007 — Solutions

Exam 2, Spring 2007 — Solutions

Exam 3, Spring 2007 — Solutions

Final Exam, Spring 2007 — Solutions

Exam 1, Fall 2007 — Solutions