Math 512

Contemporary Applications of Mathematics

Contact information.

Instructor: Prof. L. F. Rossi
Meetings: Monday, Wednesday 1430-1520 in MEM 208. Friday 1430-1520 in MEM 209.
Office Hours: MW 1300-1400, Th 1400-1500. (Note: My Thursday office hours have changed due to a scheduling conflict.)
Email: rossi@math.udel.edu

Voice:

Snail mail:

Department of Mathematical Sciences
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19711
USA

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Final exam scores, course totals and letter grades.

For those who have provided me with a code name, I am posting your information here.

Code name	Final exam score	Course total score	Grade
BigTruck	85	90.26	A
1880	57	84.88	B+
abc123	77	91.15	A
0425	62	84.83	B+

Dates to remember.

Date	Event
Wed 10 Oct	HW 3 due
Fri 12 Oct	Groupwork day (HW 4)
Wed 17 Oct	HW 4 due
Mon 15 Oct	Copies of draft Project #2 due
Fri 19 Oct	Critique of Project #2
Wed 24 Oct	Speaker: Dr. Joe Lingevitch
Mon 12 Nov	Speaker: Dr. Ferdi Hendriks: Air bearings and hard drives.
Mon 29 Oct	Project #2 due.
Wed 14 Nov	Project #3 draft section. Coding theory problem distributed.
Fri 16 Nov	HW 5 due. Coding theory workshop day.
Mon 19 Nov	Special lecture on coding theory.
Wed 21 Nov	Class canceled.
Wed 28 Nov	HW 6 due.
Fri 30 Nov (long class day).	Project #3 presentations.

Course description.

You can download a course syllabus in Postscript, PDF (requires a free reader from Adobe) or HTML.

This course focuses on modeling and the application of mathematical methods to open problems. The course will be problem- and data-driven, and students will be expected to attack open problems from a variety of areas including engineering, physics, biology and economics. If you are interested in solving open problems that are accessible to undergraduates, take a peek at last year's Mathematical Contest in Modeling problems.

It will also focus on critical analysis of the quality of a model, and effective verbal and written exposition of solutions. A small number of guest speakers from government and industry laboratories will visit the class during the semester.

Prerequisite: A 300 level course in differential equations.

Extras: Though this course only has one prerequisite, we will draw on material from many diverse areas. If you have had a course on linear algebra or finite math, you may enjoy the class all the more. If you know a programming language, even Matlab, you may find it useful for solving certain problems. Like many things in life, you bring to bear whatever you have to make the most of a given situation.

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Course materials.

Critique worksheet (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #1 (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #1 solution guide (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #2 (HTML, Postscript or PDF). Click to download dataset A, dataset B or dataset C.
Problem set #2 solution guide (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #3 (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #3 solution guide (HTML, Postscript or PDF). You can download the Maple worksheet used to generate the phase portrait here.
Problem set #4 (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #4 solution guide (HTML, Postscript or PDF). You can download the Maple worksheet used to generate the plots here.
Problem set #5 (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #5 solution guide (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #6 (HTML, Postscript or PDF).
Problem set #6 solution guide (HTML, Postscript or PDF).

Reserve materials.

The following materials are available on 2 hour reserve at Morris Library reserve room.

Mathematics for Dynamic Modeling by Edward Beltrami. This book is full of applications though it focuses exclusively on analysis of partial differential equations.
Industrial Mathematics: Case Studies in the Diffusion of Heat and Matter by Glenn R. Fulford and Philip Broadbridge. As the title implies, the book focuses on diffusion problems in a variety of settings. The book has a good preliminary section including a piece on scaling and similitude. The case studies themselves are a diverse collection of industrial modeling problems.
Consider a Spherical Cow by John Harte. Focusing exclusively on environmental problems, this book takes a no-nonsense approach to quantitative reasoning and problem solving.

This list will grow. Unfortunately, DelCat and the library reserve system has been experienced some problems earlier this month, and so we must be patient.

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