Time and Location

M W F Period 3 in Little Hall Room 207

Office Hours: M,T during 6th period F during 4th period in LIT 439 (or by appointment).

Textbook

Main Textbook: Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems, 8th Ed by Dennis G. Zill and Warren S. Wright.

This textbook is available directly from Cengage at http://www.cengagebrain.com/course/site.html?id=1-1OI8FUU.  They claim that this is a discount over the typical retail price, but please do your own research before taking their or my word for it!  An access code for Webassign (included with a new copy of the textbook) is required for the online homework, but the homework is not mandatory.  See the grading section for further details.

Alternate Textbook: Fundamentals of Differential Equations and Boundary Problems, Sixth Ed. by R. Kent Nagle, Edward B. Saff, and David Snider.

This book will not help you get access to the online homework, but it contains all of the relevant material and a wealth of practice problems.  This was the required text for this class in semesters past.  You might be able to find a cheap used copy since it is is being phased out.

Description and Goals

Many problems, particularly those arising in science and engineering, are naturally stated in the language of differential equations. In this course, students will study solution techniques for ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and apply them to problems from the sciences.  Broadly speaking, we will develop ad hoc solutions for special types of first order ODEs and general solution techniques for higher order linear ODEs including the method of Laplace Transforms and power series methods.  This roughly corresponds to chapters 1,2,4,6, and 7 from the textbook with some omissions.

Homework

New homework exercises will be posted on Webassign.  Instructions to enroll will be posted on the e-learning site. The system is free to use for a few weeks, but after this period you will be required to purchase an access code.  There is no other way to access online homework but the homework is not mandatory.  See the grading section for more details.

Quizzes

Homework will typically be due every week before Monday’s class.  You should expect to be given a short quiz consisting of one or two problems which are similar to homework problems at the beginning of Monday’s class (be on time!).

Exams

We will have four in-class exams corresponding roughly to the material in chapter 2, 4, 6, and 7 respectively.  There will also be a comprehensive final exam whose score can replace the lowest in-class exam score.

Sample Exams: Exam 1(solutions)

Actual Exams: Exam 1 (Solutions)

Grading

Each in-class exam contributes 18% of the course grade for a total of 72%.  As previously mentioned, the final exam may replace one exam score.  Homework and quizzes each contribute 14% to the course grade.  Each week’s homework score may be replaced by the week’s quiz score.  So while doing homework is not required, choosing not to do it will make quizzes count for a significantly higher proportion of the final grade.  The lowest two or three homework and quiz grades will be dropped.

Final grades are assigned on a ten point scaled (100-90 for A, 89-80 for B, etc.) with the top and bottom two points reserved for plus and minus grades.

Tentative Weekly Schedule

Emphasis should be placed on tentative.  We may move more quickly or slowly depending on the class’s understanding, and we may omit or add sections based on class interest.