307 Syllabus
Instructor. Jeffrey R. Schmidt
You will recieve a free textbook and a supplimental text on numerical methods and elementary programming together with and
archive of program examples, utilities and software tools distributed on a CDROM on the first day of class. Updates will be obtainable by download from this website.
Recommended Text Materials
I suggest ordering these items through Amazon. These are outstanding references and the price is right. They will be useful to you in other physics and math courses.
- Theory of Functions, Parts I and II, K. Knopp, Dover, ISBN 0-486-69219-1, $8.95
- Complex Analysis with Applications, R. A. Silverman, Dover, ISBN 0-486-64762-5, $9.95
- Special Functions and Their Applications, N. N. Lebedev, Dover, ISBN 0-486-60624-4, $6.00
Your total textbook costs should be below $30.00 even if you buy the optional reference material. All required materials, projects and programs will be archived on this website and distributed on CDROM.
Content
I intend to cover a large subset of the following topics, and the final list of topics will be tailored to the expressed interest of the class.
Each topic below is listed along with other physics courses that the examples and homework will be taken from.
- Vector analysis and manifolds, (205, 301, 302)
- Abstract algebra, representations and linear algebra, (403, 441, 495, 499, particle physics)
- Vectors and differential forms, (205, 301, 302)
- Vector calculus on manifolds,(205, 301, 302)
- Superspace and supersymmetry (441, cosmology, particle physics, string theory)
- Functions and mappings, (all)
- Manifolds in physics; symplectic, Riemannian, tangent and cotangent bundles, (205, 301, 302, GR, field theory, string theory)
- Series and sequences, (302, 403)
- Methods of integration, (301, 302, 403, 441)
- Function theory; product representations, Mittag-Leffler theorem, (403, 441)
- Generating functions and combinatorics applications, (403, 441)
- Complex variables, contour integration, (302, 441)
- Special functions; Gamma, Beta, orthogonal polynomials, Bessel, hypergeometric, (302, 441)
- Fourier and Laplace transformation techniques, (301, 302, 441)
- Second order differential equations in physics. (301, 302, 441)
Grading
The course grade is based on weekly homework, a midterm and/or final exam. The midterm and/or final are each 12.5%-25% of the course grade, homework is 75%. The exams will be in-class. Homework is typically five problems per week. Grading is on a curve, a preliminary curve is (based on course point totals out of 1000)
900-1000 = A, 790-899 = B, 650-789 = C, 500-649 = D.
Homework solutions will be posted on this website. Students will be given some computer programming training, and the homework will contain options to solve some problems computationally.
I reserve the right to modify this syllabus as I see fit in order to accomodate the needs and best interests of the students in the course, and to adapt to changing circumstances.
Last modified: Fri Sep 1 19:15:14 CDT 2006