Math 224 -Differential Equations
Spring 2013

Instructor: Elizabeth Meckes

Office: Yost 208

Phone: 368-5015

Email: ese3 [at] cwru.edu

Office Hours: MW 12:45 -- 1:45, F 10:30 -- 11:30, or by appointment

Textbook: Differential Equations, 4e by Blanchard, Devaney, and Hall

Course description:
From the course catalog:
A first course in ordinary differential equations. First order equations and applications, linear equations with constant coefficients, linear systems, Laplace transforms, numerical methods of solution. Prereq: MATH 223.

We will cover most of the material in chapters 1–3 of the textbook, and selected topics from chapters 4–7. In addition to attending the lectures, you should be reading the text book since there won't be time to discuss all the material in class.


Definition of a credit hour (approved by the Faculty Senate):
For courses in lecture format, one credit-hour represents the subject content that can be delivered in one academic hour of contact time each week for the full duration of one academic semester, typically fourteen weeks along with a final examination period. For undergraduate courses, one credit-hour also includes associated work that can be completed by a typical student in 2-3 hours of effort outside the classroom. (Emphasis mine)
If you are spending more than three hours outside of class per lecture on a regular basis, please let me know.

Homework:
How much you work on the homework problems is probably the single biggest factor in determining how much you get out of the course. If you are having trouble with the problems, please come ask for help; you will learn much more (and probably get a rather better grade) if you figure out all of the homework problems, possibly with help in office hours, than if you do them alone when you can and skip the ones you can't.

In this course, there are several components to successfully completing the homework. Students are grouped into teams of roughly 4 (teams will be shuffled periodically throughout the term); each team is further subdivided into an "A" half and a "B" half. Daily assigments are posted below; note that the assigments for the "A" students and the "B" students are different, so make sure you know which you are. At the beginning of each class, I will choose one problem for half of the team to explain to the other half (so if it was an "A" problem, the "A" students will explain their solution to the "B" students). After you've all had a chance to discuss the problem, I will choose one team at random, and the half that got the explanation from their teammates will then present the solution to the class. After that, everyone turns in their written solutions, and lecture begins.

The point of all this is that to be successful, you need to work on the homework, write out solutions clearly enough that you can use them to explain the solution to classmates who didn't do that problem, and present solutions to a problem that you've just learned how to do from your classmates.

You may discuss the homework with other students, however, you must write up solutions on your own.


Exams:
There will be six midterm exams and one final exam. The tentative dates for the midterms are January 30, February 15, March 6 (note the change!), March 29 (note the change!), April 12, April 29. The final is scheduled for Friday, May 3 at 4pm.

Here is the formula sheet which will be at the end of the remaining exams. We haven't covered everything on here yet, so don't worry about the stuff that looks unfamiliar.

The following are the exams and solutions from last semester. I strongly suggest that you study until you feel prepared for the exam, then give yourself 50 minutes and try taking the exams as practice, then look at the solutions, compare with your own, and then study some more.
Exam 1    Solutions (Please note that this exam did not cover section 1.8, but our first exam will!)
Exam 2    Solutions
Exam 3    Solutions
Exam 4    Solutions (Please note that this exam included material from sections 3.4 and 3.8, while ours won't, but ours will include sections 4.1 -- 4.3.)
Exam 5    Solutions (Note that this exam included section 4.3, which ours won't, but ours will include sections 5.3, 6.1 and 6.2.)
Exam 6    Solutions
Final    Solutions


Grading:
Each midterm is worth 10% of the grade; the final is worth 20%. Written homework solutions are worth 15% of the grade and homework presentations are worth 5%.

A couple articles worth reading:

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits appeared in the Times in Fall 2010. It offers some advice about studying based on current pedagogical research.

Teaching and Human Memory, Part 2 from The Chronicle of Higher Education this past December. Its intended audience is professors, but I think it's worth it for students to take a look as well.


Some useful web applets:

Assignments:

LectureSectionA ProblemsB ProblemsDue date
Monday 1/14  1.1 4, 13, 15, 18, 21(a), 235, 12, 17, 21(b), 221/16
Wednesday 1/16  1.2 21, 26, 39, 4313, 28, 42, 411/18
Friday 1/18  1.3
1.4
4 (use any technology), 8, 12, 13, 16
2, 6, 11
6 (use any technology), 10, 11, 14, 16
3, 6, 11
1/23
Wednesday 1/23  1.5 2, 7, 12, 14, 183, 8, 12, 16, 181/25
Friday 1/25  1.6 2, 3, 14, 15, 325, 8, 17, 20, 301/28
Monday 1/28  1.8 17, 18, 19, 3317, 18, 19, 332/1
Wednesday 1/30  Exam 1
Friday 2/1  1.8 2, 3, 8, 24, 304, 5, 12, 22, 312/4
Monday 2/4  2.1 1, 4, 8(a,b), 11, 202, 6, 7(a), 12, 192/6
Wednesday 2/6  2.2 8, 9, 11, 14, 217, 10, 11, 16, 212/8
Friday 2/8  2.3
2.4
2.3: 2, 6
2.4: 5, 7, 10
2.3: 4, 5
2.4: 6, 7, 9
2/11
Monday 2/11  2.5 4(a,b), 76(a,b), 82/13
Wednesday 2/13  2.6 1 (you don't need to do the sketches), 3, 9, 111 (you don't need to do the sketches), 3, 9, 111/18
Friday 2/15  Exam 2
Monday 2/18  2.7 3, 5, 8 3, 4, 7 2/20
Wednesday 2/20  3.1 2, 16 (don't worry about writing it in matrix form), 33 4, 17, 33 2/22
Friday 2/22  3.1 7, 20, 23, 24, 26, 316, 21, 22, 25, 28, 32 2/25
Monday 2/25  3.2 2, 14, 15, 16, 19 4, 12, 17, 18 (you don't have to compare to 16), 19 2/27
Wednesday 2/27  3.3 4, 6, 12, 20, 242, 7, 10, 19, 26 3/1
Friday 3/1  3.4 1, 10 (don't worry about comparing to 4), 17, 18 2, 12 (don't worry about comparing to 6), 17, 183/4
Monday 3/4  3.4 6, 13, 15, 22 8, 14, 15, 223/8
Wednesday 3/6  Exam 3
Friday 3/8  3.5 1, 2, 5, 6, 173, 4, 7, 8, 19 3/18
Monday 3/18  3.6 2, 10, 20, 28, 39, 404, 12, 18, 26, 39, 40 3/20
Wednesday 3/20  3.7 1, 3, 4, 8, 131, 2, 5, 10, 11 3/22
Friday 3/22  4.1 2, 6, 12, 16, 244, 8, 10, 18, 22by noon on 3/26
Monday 3/25  4.2 2, 8, 12, 174, 6, 14, 173/27
Wednesday 3/27  4.3 2, 8, 10, 14, 214, 6, 12, 16, 21 4/1
Friday 3/29  Exam 4
Monday 4/1  5.1 2, 8, 12, 274, 6, 14, 27 4/3
Wednesday 4/3  5.2 1, 4, 6, 153, 4, 12, 15 4/5
Friday 4/5  5.3 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 144, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14 4/8
Monday 4/8  6.1 2, 3, 10, 15, 18, 251, 4, 12, 16, 20, 25 4/10
Wednesday 4/10  6.2 2, 4, 5, 8, 93, 6, 7, 10, 11 4/15
Friday 4/12  Exam 5
Monday 4/15  6.3 4, 7, 27, 28, 303, 6, 29, 32, 33 4/17
Wednesday 4/17  6.4 2, 3, 74, 5, 74/19
Friday 4/19  6.4 9, 109, 104/22
Monday 4/22  7.1 1(a,b,c,d), 2(a,b,c,d), 6, 7.
In #1(d) and #2(d), use n=20, 40, 60, 80, 100.
1(a,b,c,d), 4(a,b,c,d), 6, 7.
In #1(d) and #4(d), use n=20, 40, 60, 80, 100.
4/24
Wednesday 4/24  7.2 1, 2, 9, 10 1, 2, 9, 104/26
Friday 4/26  7.4 study :)study :)