Professor:
Stephen B. Robinson
Office: Calloway, room 305
Phone: X4887
Email: robinson@mthcsc.wfu.edu
Homepage: http://www.mthcsc.wfu.edu/~robinson/
Office Hours:
One of the most pleasant parts of my job is working with students one-on-one outside of class. I know that it helps me to improve my teaching, and I believe that it helps the students as well. Please feel free to drop by for help during my office hours, which are
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 1:30-3:30
You may also meet me at other times, but in that case you should call ahead to see if I am available.
Help Sessions:
TBA
Text:
Elementary Differential Equations And Boundary Value Problems, seventh edition, by Boyce and DiPrima
We will cover chapters 1,2,3,5,7, and 9.
Keep in mind that learning from a textbook can be difficult and frustrating, but you must have the courage and the self-discipline to keep trying. It is important that you read and reread each section of the text thoughtfully and carefully.
For each section of the text that we study you should examine the problems at the end of the section and convince yourself that you can solve all of them, and that you can write clear and complete solutions. Sometimes you will be able to do this with some careful thought and a little bit of scratch work. Other times will require a continued effort over several study sessions with some guidance from me.
During each class I will suggest several problems that are relevant to our current discussions, and that are worth writing up in detail. At the end of each chapter I will hand out a chapter review sheet that includes a list of problems that you should turn in for grading. The problems that I choose will be selected primarily from the ones that were suggested in class. However, the list will also contain one or two extra problems that encourage you to reexamine, extend, and synthesize some important ideas from the chapter. You will generally have two days to prepare your solutions before handing them in. At the end of the semester I will rescale the homework totals so that a perfect score is worth 100 points. This makes your total homework score equivalent to one midterm exam.
Your homework grade can be based entirely upon an independent project. The end result of this project would be a paper and a presentation. There are many good topics to investigate, both theoretical and applied, and this is an excellent way to make the course more meaningful to you. I will provide more details in a separate handout.
Exams:
There will be two midterm exams, worth 100 points each, and a comprehensive final exam, worth 200 points. The in-class midterm exams are scheduled for 10/6 and 11/10. The final exam is scheduled for Friday, December 15, 9:00-12:00.
You should be prepared for exams that reflect the grading policy outlined below. A little over half of the exam problems will ask you to demonstrate a knowledge of standard facts and computations. The remaining questions will test your understanding more deeply by asking you to explain and apply important ideas.
Grades:
One secret to earning a C is consistent hard work and good study habits. I have tried to set up my homework policy and exams so that this is a clearly attainable goal, and a grade to be proud of. Earning a C indicates that you have succesfully learned the standard methods and ideas . To earn a B or an A you must reach beyond a standard computational understanding of the material. You must be able to explain the ideas behind the computations, and you must learn to apply those ideas to new situations. In particular, an A requires consistently excellent performance in all of the areas mentioned above. Although I reserve the right to make reasonable adjustments to the grading scale, the following should give you an idea of what to shoot for. (Notice that a total of 500 points are possible in this class.)
A: 450-500
B: 400-450
C: 325-400
D: 250-325
Warning: No amount of hard work and good intentions will guarantee you a grade. For example, if your preparation for this course is poor, then it may be that the best grade you can earn is a D or an F, no matter how bright you are or how diligently you work. In particular, if you are not comfortable with the ideas and methods of Calculus, then you are at an immediate disadvantage in this course. Talk to me now, if you have doubts about your preparation.