Lectures: Wednesday 13:00-13:50, Friday 9:00-10:50, Disque 704
Office: Disque 816
Phone: (215) 895-2709
Fax: (215) 895-5934
e-mail: vallieres@physics.drexel.edu
This is the second in a series of hands-on ``computational labs''
designed to complement the traditional ``lecture/lab/recitation''
Physics instructional sequence. It is intended to be taken after PHYS
211 (Physics III) and PHYS 323 (Topics in Mathematical Physics), or
their equivalents, and after MCS 210 (Ordinary Differential
Equations). Students will be introduced to basic scientific
programming techniques and problem-solving strategies using examples
and case studies drawn from the material presented in Topics in
Math. Phys. and/or ODEs. Case studies will involve the solution of
systems of differential equations and investigation of the properties
of chaotic systems. The generation of random numbers and their
use in Physics models will be demonstrated.
There is no set text for this course. Much of the computational material will be drawn from the text Numerical Recipes in C, by W. Press, S. Teukolsky, W. Vetterling, and B. Flannery (1992, Cambridge University Press). Some material will also be distributed via the World-Wide Web. Hardcopy of selected reading may also be provided.
Grading will be based on assignments.
There will be no mid-term and no formal final examination.