Tentative Syllabus




Date

Reading

Topics

9th January

1,2

Introduction, Newton's Law

11th January

3,5

Spring-mass system

13th January

6,7,8

Spring-mass system, cont'd

16th January


Martin Luther King Day, holiday

18th January

8,10

Spring-mass system, cont'd

20th January

12,13

Friction

23rd January

14

Pendulum

25th January

17,18

Nonlinear system, linearization

27th January

19

Nonlinear spring-mass

30th January

20,21

Nonlinear spring-mass, cont'd

1st February

22

Phase plane analysis

3rd February

30-32

Intro to population models

6th February

33,34

One-species model

8th February

37,38

Logistics equation

10th February

39,40

Logistics equation, cont'd

13th February

41

Difference equation

15th February

4.1*

Optimization by differentiation

17th February

4.1*

Optimization, cont'd

20th February


Presidents' Day, holiday

22nd February

4.2*

Graphical methods

24th February

4.2*

Graphical methods, cont'd

27th February

56,57

Intro to traffic flow

1st March

58,59

Flow and density

3rd March

60,61

Conservation law

6th March

62-65

PDE models

8th March

66,67

Linear PDE model

10th March

67

Linear PDE model, cont'd

13th March

68,69

Traffic waves

15th March

70

Uniform traffic flow

17th March

71

Nonuniform traffic flow

21st March


Final Exam

*Section from Bender, An Introduction to mathematical modeling, Dover, 1978