MA 501, FA08, Advanced Mathematics for Engineers and Scientists I
MWF 9:10-10:00, HA 330, but some classes will be in computer lab, to be announced in advance

Professor: S. R. Lubkin
515-1904, lubkin@eos.ncsu.edu, http://www4.ncsu.edu/~lubkin
Office hours: Monday and Friday 3-4, Cox 513B

Official listing: Survey of mathematical methods for engineers and scientists. Ordinary differential equations and Green's functions; partial differential equations and separation of variables; special functions, Fourier series. Applications to engineering and science. Not for credit by mathematics majors.

Goals: Upon successfully completing this course, you will be skilled in using the core methods in the mathematical analysis of the fundamental linear PDE's that engineers use. You will be familiar with the properties of the heat/diffusion equation, the wave equation, and the potential equation. You will be able to find series solutions to these PDE, by hand and by computer.

MA 501 versus 401: These two courses are almost identical. I teach both of them. However I expect more from my students at the 500 level, so we cover more topics in the same amount of time. In particular, we cover integral transforms in 501 but not in 401. I do allow undergrads in MA 501 but they rarely succeed. Undergrads are strongly urged to take 401 instead.

Required Text: Partial Differential Equations with Fourier Series and Boundary Value Problems, 2nd edition, by Nakhle Asmar. Also, some people like using Schaum's Outline of Advanced Mathematics for Engineers and Scientists and/or Schaum's Outline of Fourier Analysis with Applications to Boundary Value Problems (less than $20 each) for extra practice problems and fully worked examples. There will be supplementary material posted on the class website, http://www4.ncsu.edu/~lubkin/ma501syllabus.html

Grades final exam 35%, 1 midterm @ 25%, 15% HW and quizzes, 25% team projects.
I cannot promise that your HW and quizzes will be graded with great precision, but I can promise that your HW/quiz grade will be representative of your work. Maple calculations will be required on most of the assignments.

Schedule

Policies

• If you have a disability or conflict that I need to know about, let me know as soon as possible (not the week of the first exam). Note that I am not sympathetic about vacation plans.
• You are welcome to work on HW with other students, but with some restrictions. Since the point of HW is learning, you should work with others only to the extent that it facilitates your learning and your partner's learning. Giving each other ideas, explaining, and finding each other's errors do help learning. Copying answers does not improve anyone's learning; letting your partner do the work does not help your learning. 
• You are welcome to use Maple or any other computer package to help on the HW. Please say when you are using technological help. For instance, "Integrating this term by parts (Maple) yields...."
• You may not work with others on the exams. Most quizzes will be a solo effort. Group quizzes will be specifically identified as such. In accordance with the NCSU policy on academic integrity, found in the Code of Student Conduct, it is assumed that in turning in any assignment to the instructor, the student has thereby implicitly taken the honor pledge: "I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this test or assignment."
  

Courtesy

• Some of you may need to eat or drink during class. I don't mind this, but your fellow students might, so please keep noises, crumbs, and odors under control. Food and drink are generally not allowed in computer labs.
  
• What I do mind is the newspaper. Do not attempt to read it in class. Don't get me started about texting.
  

Homework aesthetics

• Please staple homeworks. Don't fold in half. There is a stapler in HA 245.
  
• Every graph must be labeled. Always label all axes. Arrowheads have a very specific meaning indicating the direction of motion or of a vector or time. Arrows do not belong on axes or curves unless they are intended to indicate time or motion or vectors. 
• If you are asked to make an argument, or "show that..." then you need to use enough words to make that argument. Mathematical symbols without context make no sense. Look at your textbook: it is mostly words with symbols used within the sentences. That is how your homework should be written.
  
• If you do calculations in Maple (for instance) and hand in the Maple session, the printout should be edited for clarity and conciseness just as you would edit your handwritten notes (only giving me your best work). It is easy to make graphs in Maple, but you should only show those graphs which illustrate your point. Delete graphs which do not contribute to your discussion.

Tips

• You are expected not just to own the book, but to read it.
• A great amount of learning happens when you correct your own HW and find your own errors and misconceptions. That is why you will have solutions. Your engagement with the homework should not stop when you hand it in.
• Check the website frequently.
• Also you are expected to check email daily. I often send reminders or explanations or assignments by email. You are responsible for making sure the email NCSU has for you is the one you check.
  
• If your Maple outputs are getting too big, you can print them 2-up. First, print to a pdf file. Then open the pdf file and specify that its format should be 2 to a page. Then print the pdf 2-up. Smaller than 2 to a page, I can't read.
• I tend to respond pretty promptly to email. I am hard to find by just stopping at my office.
  

Cool stuff (links)

Mathworld and Wikipedia are great sites for getting an overview of an area of math, or finding those obscure formulas that you vaguely remember (what was a lemniscate, anyway? and that sinh thingy she was talking about, which I can't even pronounce?) Note: my experience has been that sometimes the formulas don't display correctly in some browsers. The solution is to look at the page again in a different browser.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

Applets that show various phenomena that we model in this class (heat, waves, etc.)
http://www.falstad.com/mathphysics.html

Waves
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/demos.html

Handbook of Mathematical Functions, Milton Abramowitz and Irene Stegun, courtesy of the US National Bureau of Standards
has all the facts you need on special functions and not-so-special functions. This is what your grandparents had on their desk if they were engineers or physicists. Now it's online, and free.