Mathematics 267: Elementary Differential Equations and Laplace Transforms

Instructor: Dr. Christian Roettger, 446 Carver Hall 294-8147, roettger@iastate.edu

Classes: MTRF 12-1 in 0184 Carver

Consulting Hours: 446 Carver, Mon 2-4, Tue 2-4, Thu 11-12 and by appointment (phone/email).

Please do not leave voice messages - they will not reach me.

Textbook - NEW!

Edwards/Penney Elementary Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems, Prentice Hall, 4th edition.

Math 267 covered most of chapters 1-5 (not 1.7, 2.7,2.8, 5.6,5.7) and gave a rough overview of chapters 6 and 7.

Exam/HW scores + grades with last four digits of ISU ID number are here.

Happy holidays and a good break to everybody!

Here is a brief Course Syllabus

Here is information about the final exam.

Here and here is more information about the Cardiff giant. I picked it because its 'birthplace' is actually a quarry in Fort Dodge, Iowa! The year it was found was 1869, not 1868.

Here are model solutions for Test 1 and for Test 2.

Homework

Here are homework assignments.

This is more information on the Matlab Project 5.4, and a tiny Matlab m-file on solving a differential equation y'=f(t,y) numerically. To use it, you also have to download the definition of the function f. Here is a tiny example file on solving a system of differential equations y'=f(t,y) numerically, namely the exact equation for the pendulum. To use it, you also have to download the definition of the function f.

Homework exercises will be discussed in class. You are also welcome to see me during office hours with questions about homework. Make sure you could do the really easy exercises at the beginning of each bunch before moving on to the harder ones! If not, ask me. It is also a good idea to work in small groups, provided you contribute a significant part. Exam questions will be based on homework questions.

Grading policy

Following discussion in class, 25 percent of the overall grade will come from homework. 40 percent will come from in-class tests and 35 percent from the final.

For Midterm Grades, the homework and first test have been weighted 40:60, since test are the best predictors of other tests on one hand and since we have done only 1 test so far. The formula for your weighted percentage was
Weighted percentage = (HW score)/150*40 + (Test score)/80*60.

This webpage is http://www.public.iastate.edu/~roettger/267/homepage.html.

Document last modified on 12/18/02 - comments to roettger@iastate.edu