Math Methods (PHYS 304)
Instructor: Thushara Perera
Office: C007C in CNS
Office Hrs: Tue 10-noon, Wed 4-5, Thu 9-11. But feel free to drop by or schedule an appointment by email at any time
email: tperera
Phone: 556-3888
Course Meeting Times
Class: 10 to 10:50 on MWF and 4-5 on Monday, in CNS E106
Required Items
Text: Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences by Mary Boas
Course Description and Objectives
This is the course where you will learn most of the mathematical tools/techniques, other than simple calculus, that you will use in upper-level courses such as 300- and 400-level physics courses. So, the main purpose of the course is to get you familiar with the application of those techniques. i.e. you will learn how to apply a number of commonly-used mathematical techniques. Another goal is to get you familiar with Mathematica, which is the software tool that we commonly use for symbolic math (look it up) in upper-level courses.
A secondary goal is to give you some understanding of why/how the mathematical methods work. But, unlike in many of your other courses, this objective is really secondary. In other words, we will use mathematics as a tool rather than
focusing on its beauty, subtlety, and generality. If you stay in the quantitative sciences, you will have plenty of opportunities to take classes, read books, and appreciate on your own the latter aspects. A third goal is to give you some
background on common applications of the techniques we learn, as time permits. Again, you will have plenty of time to see applications of various mathematical methods in the upper-level courses you take.
Breakdown of Grades
- Homework: 30%
- Mathematica homework: 20%
- 3 Midterms: 10% each
- Final Exam: 20%
Course Plan and Policies
You will want to read this section rather carefully because some of the class procedures and policies are somewhat non-standard.
- You will spend a significant amount of time working on this course outside of class. The majority of that time should be spent on completing the assigned reading prior to every class. If you do not keep up with the reading,
your grade will suffer significantly due to the following.
- You will do many of the regular "homework" problems in class and hand it to me when you leave class. The first one or two problems we do in class will be based entirely on your reading assignment. Thus you can think of
this part of the "homework" as a quiz. Even the second and third "homework" problems we do in class, will largely be based on the reading. Therefore, keeping up with the reading assignments will be essential. The main motivation
behind a "flipped class" plan such as this, is to make sure that your instructor is present when you are actually making connections and learning the material by doing problems, rather than the instructor spending most of the class time lecturing.
Thus, I will talk to you and help you, as appropriate, when you are doing "homework" problems in class.
- I do not plan to lecture much after the first few weeks of classes. Therefore, I will post online video lectures (after the first few weeks) that you can view before coming to class (in addition to doing the reading assignments). By that
time you will be familiar with my lecture style
- When I present a list of "homework" problems at the beginning of a class, there will be an asterisk next to some of them. This means that you can work on these problems outside of class, if you did not get to them or did not complete
them during class. You are expected to hand in those problems at the beginning of class on the following Monday. If you get through all the assigned problems and hand them to me, you can leave class early.
- The above pertains to regular homework (30% of final grade). You will always work on your Mathematica homeworks outside of class. I will give due dates with the assignments.
- You will take a timed test on basic algebra and trigonometry on the first or second day of class. This test has math that you should already be familiar. The passing score for this test is 70%. If you don't pass it the first time,
you can take it in my office at a later date again, and again, and again, if necessary (slightly different questions each time, of course). This test does not affect your course grade. However, you must pass this test in order to pass the class.
General Advice
Expect to put a lot of time into this course. That is to be expected because this course is both developmental and foundational for the path you have chosen in the sciences.
Online Resources
Look up this page often because the schedule (below) is likely to change substantially depending on how things are going.
Tentative Reading Schedule
The reading schedule has details on which sections to read only through Chapter 3. Thereafter, only the chapter number is given. By this point, you will have a good sense of how far to read within a chapter for a given day, even when section
numbers are not given.