Prof. Nyikos's Office: LeConte 406. Phone: 7-5134
Email: nyikos @ math.sc.edu
Normal Office Hours: MTTh 12:30 - 2:30 ; Wednesdays 9:30 - 11:30am; and Fridays 1:30 - 3:00; or by appointment (or any time I am in). Exceptions posted on door and announced in advance whenever possible.
Office hours in exam week
are at least as generous as the normal office hours
Tuesday, April 25: 11:30 - 3:00
Wednesday, April 26: 9:30: 12:30 and 1:30 - 3:30
The final exam in this course is on Thursday, April 27, 12:30pm. You can see the scehdule of all final exams at the Registrar's website.
The first quiz was on Thursday, January 19, on Sections 1.1 and 1.2.
The second quiz was on Thursday, January 26, on Section 1.5.
The third quiz was on Tuesday, February 7, on Section 1.4.
There was a pop quiz on Thursday, March 9, on second order linear
differential equations. It will only be counted if it improves your grade, and the dropped quiz grade will not be for the pop quiz (nor absence, if you were absent).
The fifth quiz was on Tuesday, March 21, on Sections 3.1 and 3.3.
The sixth quiz is on Tuesday, April 11, on separation of variables using the calculus technique of partial fraction (Section 2.1)
The seventh and last quiz was on Thursday, April 13, on
nonhomogeneous linear differentisal equations with complex roots for the characteristic equation.
The first test was on Tuesday, February 21. It covered the same material that the practice problems (see below) cover. The quizzes are also helpful in preparing for the test.
The second test was on March 31. It covered Sections 3.2, 3.3, and 3.5.
The textbook for this course is Differential Equations, Computing and Modeling, by C. Henry Edwards & David E. Penney, 5th edition, Pearson Education, Inc., 2015.
The course covers the following chapters and sections:
Chapter 1, with emphasis on Sections 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6
Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, and material from other sections of Chapter 2 as
time permits
Sections 3.1 through 3.5, and material from other sections of Chapter 3 as
time permits
Chapter 7
Sections 4.1 and 4.2
Only simple calculators (in other words, those that may be used in taking SAT tests) are needed for this course, and they will be needed only a small fraction of the time, outside of class. Neither the quizzes, nor the hour tests, nor the final exam will require their use, although they may save some time on a few problems. Programmable calculators are not permitted for quizzes, hour tests, or the final exam.
The course grade will be based on quizzes, homework, 3 one-hour tests, a final exam, and attendance. Details on this and on various policies can be found here.
Learning Outcomes: Students will master concepts and solve problems based upon the topics covered in the course, including general and particular solutions to ordinary differential equations of the following types: separable, exact, nonlinear homogeneous, first- and higher order linear equations (both homogeneous and inhomogeneous, especially those with constant coefficients), systems of two equations. They will use solution methods such as: integrating factors, substitution, variation of parameters, undetermined coefficients, Laplace transforms. They will employ approximation methods such as Euler or Runge-Kut ta, and use differential equations in application to population biology, cooling, mechanical vibrations and/or electrical circuits.
Practice problems, not to be handed in:
Section 1.1: 3 through 6, 14, 15, and the first two parts of
20, 24, and 26.
Section 1.2: 14, 24, 27, 28
Section 1.3: 3, 4,6,7
Section 1.4: 1, 3, 11, 19, 20, 38, finish 41 [34 was done in class]
Section 1.5: 1, 5, 19
Section 1.6: 7, 16, 20, 34, 36
Section 2.3: Finish 1, 4, 7, 10 and do 5.
Section 3.1: 11, 13, 15, 37, 38, 43, 45.
Section 3.2: 22, 23, finish 24
Section 3.3: 5 through 8, 15, 23, finish 28 and do 30, 31.
Section 3.4: find x(t) in 16, 17
Section 3.5: 3, 9, 47, 52
Section 7.1: 1, 7, 9, 23, 25, 29.
Section 7.2: 1, 3, 17, 19.
There is no due date for extra credit, but once a fully correct solution is handed back, the problem is no longer eligible for extra credit. If you can't quite get the solution but have some ideas, hand them in for partial credit. I will keep adding to your score as you improve your work on it.
To get full credit, it is not enough to get the correct answer. You need to get it in such a way that someone who has not seen the problem before can tell that you did, indeed, get the right answer.
1. Show how separation of variables can be used to get from (4) to (5) on page 94. [5 points]
2. Solve eauation (2) with initial conditions on page 204 using Laplace transforms. [10 points]