Mathematics

MA 341-001 Home Page

Semester: Spring 2008
Meeting time: MWF 9:10 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Meeting place: HA 201

Name: Stephen Schecter
E-mail address: schecter@math.ncsu.edu
Office location: HA 349
Office hours: MWF 11:20 a.m. - 12:10 p.m., TH 9:10 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Office telephone number: 515-6533
Office fax number: 513-7336

Name: J. T. Hird
E-mail address: jthird@ncsu.edu
Office location: 2806 Hillsborough St., Room 201
Office hours: MWF 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Office telephone number: 515-7321

Students will
1. Learn to solve ordinary differential equations using various techniques: mostly analytical, some numerical and graphical.
2. Learn to model problems from the sciences as ordinary differential equations, and to relate solutions to the original problem.

MA 242, or MA 132 and MA 231, or equivalent.

Nagle, Saff, and Snider, Fundamentals of Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems, 4th edition (ISBN: 0-321-14571-2), Addison-Wesley, 2004, $130 (University Bookstore).

Students are expected to arrive on time and to stay until the class ends. Attendance at all meetings of the class is expected. We will take attendance beginning Monday, January 14. Attendance records are used to answer questions from University administrators and academic advisors; they are not used for grading.

I will assign homework regularly, to be discussed at the next class. It will not be graded, but you will find that doing it is essential. Please check the homework page for assignments.

I strongly suggest that you find some other students to work on homework with. Staring at a problem you don't understand is not a good use of your time!

I often send e-mail to the class. E-mail goes to the address you have given to the University. To see what this address is, go to the University OnLine Directory and look yourself up. If that is not the e-mail address you want, there is a link that lets you change it.

There will be three tests and a final exam.

Calculators may be used only to do arithmetic and evaluate the numerical value of expressions (for example, e^(.2) or sin(.7)). They may not be used for differentiation, integration, albegra, solving differential equations, graphing, etc.

The table of integrals on the inside front cover of the text may be used on tests. Once we get to Laplace transforms, the table on the inside back cover of the text may be used.

If you miss a test, I will need a letter documenting the reason. Makeup tests can only be given for reasons such as illness, family emergency, participation in a University-sponsored event, required court attendance or military duty, or religious observances as certified by the Department of Student Development.

If you know you will be absent on a test date, you must clear the absence with me in advance and schedule a makeup date. In the case of an unanticipated absence on a test date, you must give me documentation and schedule a makeup date as soon as possible. See the University policies.

For University guidelines on academic integrity, see the Code of Student Conduct.

We will use the Interactive DE Tool for in-class demonstrations. You may also want to explore Maple for differential equations. See the Technology and DE's page of this web site for an introduction to these resources.

I will calculate your grade two ways.


• Method 1
  • Each of the three in-class tests counts 22% of your grade.
  • The final counts 34% of your grade.
  
  
• Method 2
  • Your lowest in-class test counts 12% of your grade.
  • Each of the other two in-class tests counts 24% of your grade.
  • The final counts 40% of your grade.

I will use whichever method gives the higher grade.

You can check your grades on the Grade Book.

Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accomodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653. For more information on NC State's policy on working with students with disabilities, please see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation here.

For help available at NC State, look here.

The textbook publisher offers tutoring for a fee. Go to http://www.aw-bc.com/tutorcenter.

On-line class evaluations will be available for you to complete during the last two weeks of class (April 14 - April 27). You will receive an email message directing you to a website where you can log in using your Unity ID and complete the evaluation. All evaluations are confidential; instructors will never know how any one student responded to any question.

If 80% of the class completes an on-line evaluation of this course, the grade of every student in the class will be raised by 1%.


• Evaluation website: https://classeval.ncsu.edu.
• Student help desk: classeval@ncsu.edu.
• More information about ClassEval: http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/classeval/index.htm.

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