Instructor: David A. Meyer
Office hours (Winter quarter): AP&M 7256, TBA
Lecture: AP&M 2301, MWF 11:00am-11:50am
TA: TBA
Office hours (Winter Quarter): TBA
Section/lab: TBA
This course is a focused introduction to mathematical modelling. In 2010 I plan to discuss a variety of mathematical models involving scaling laws. The systems being modelled will be drawn from biology, physics, electrical engineering, computer science, economics, and political science. The relevant mathematical methods include: (systems of) ordinary differential equations, graphs/networks, probability, partial differential equations, eigenvalues/eigenvectors, permutations, and dimension theory.
The goals of this course are: (1) to explain what it means to construct a mathematical model of some real-world phenomenon, (2) to introduce some of the mathematical ideas that are used in many such models, (3) to apply these methods to analyze one or more real problems, and (4) to understand how new mathematical ideas are motivated by such modelling.
The prerequisites are the lower-division math sequence through differential equations (20D) or linear algebra (20F or 31A), or consent of the instructor. Please contact me if you are interested but unsure if your mathematics background will suffice.
The (recommended) textbook is E. A. Bender, An Introduction to Mathematical Modeling (Mineola, NY: Dover 2000).
I expect interest and enthusiasm from the students in this class. 30% of the grade is class participation, which includes occasional homework assignments, often for class discussion. 70% of the grade is based upon a mathematical modelling project for which each student writes a proposal (15%), writes a preliminary report (10%), gives a final presentation (20%), and writes a final report (25%).
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4 jan 10 DM lecture |
administrative details what is a mathematical model? read Bender, chap. 1 |