The textbook for the course is A First Course in Chaotic Dynamical Systems, written by your favorite Math professor and published by Perseus Press (sometimes called Westview Press).
Exams
There will be two midterms in this course, the first on Wednesday,
October 11 and
the second on Wednesday,
November 15. These exams
will each count for 20% of the final grade. The final exam will count
for 35% of the course grade. The final is scheduled for Monday, December 18,
3-5PM.
The remaining 25% of the course grade
will be derived from computer lab reports
and, in the case of MA 671, a special report. Homework will be
assigned weekly but not picked up or graded. Solutions have been posted
on the web. There is also a solutions manual for all problems in the textbook
available
here.
I regard this course as a rigorous mathematics course where students are
required to understand all of the definitions, theorems,
proofs and so forth. You will often be asked to explain mathematical
concepts in essay questions on exams, to prove certain facts, and to
write concisely and accurately about the mathematical ideas in the
course.
MA 671
Graduate students registering for MA 671 are required to hand in
a special paper dealing with dynamical systems and chaos in their own
specific area of interest. For example, engineering students could
discuss the behavior of a chaotic system (like the double pendulum)
that arises in mechanics. SED students could produce a module on
dynamics that could be used in a secondary school mathematics class.
The exact topic will be decided in individual meetings to be scheduled
in October.
Grades
Grades for both MA471 and MA671 will be posted on the MA471
Blackboard or
MA671
Blackboard websites. Please check these listings occasionally to check that
all of your grades have been recorded correctly.
For homework assignments click
here.
For information about lab reports, click
here.
For some previous and sample exams, click
here.