PHY 711 Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods

MWF 10 AM-10:50 AM OPL 103 https://www.wfu.edu/~natalie/f24phy711/

Instructor: Natalie Holzwarth Office:300 OPL e-mail:natalie@wfu.edu


General Information

This course is a one semester survey of Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods at the graduate level, using the textbook: Theoretical Mechanics of Particles and Continua by Alexander L. Fetter and John Dirk Walecka (McGraw-Hill, 1980) -- F&W -- (now published by Dover and available at the bookstore).


The course will consist of the following components:
  • In person meetings MWF 10-10:50 AM in Olin 103. Starting with the second meeting, the sessions will focus on discussion of the material, particularly answering your prepared and spontaneous questions.*
  • Asynchronous review of annotated lecture notes and corresponding textbook sections. Starting with Lecture 2, the annotated lecture notes will be available one day before the corresponding synchronous online discussion. For each class meeting, students will be expected to submit (by email) at least one question for class discussion at least 3 hours before class. The practice of formulating questions is one of the important tools of science. Note that there are no "silly" questions.
  • Homework sets. Typically there will be one homework problem associated with each class, due the following Monday.
  • There will be two take-home exams, one at mid-term and the other during finals week.
  • There will be one project on a chosen topic related to mechanics and/or mathematical methods.
    *The classroom is equiped with technology for zoom connections if needed. Student needing such accomodation should email instructor at least 10 minutes before class.

    It is likely that your grade for the course will depend upon the following factors:

    Class participation

    15%

    Problem sets*

    35%

    Project

    15%

    Exams

    35%

    *In general, there will a new assignment after each lecture, so that for optimal learning, it would be best to complete each assignment before the next scheduled lecture. According to the honor system, all work submitted for grading purposes should represent the student's own best efforts. In particular, any resources used for completing assignments must be acknowledged and explained. Students should scrutinize their results including those obtained from these resources.

    Dates of note:

    • Classes begin: Mon. Aug. 26, 2024
    • Take home mid term exam: Oct. 4-11, 2024 (tentative)
    • Mid term grades due: Mon. Oct. 14, 2024
    • Fall break: Oct. 17-20, 2024
    • Thanksgiving Holiday: Nov. 27 - Dec. 1, 2024
    • Last day of class: Fri. Dec. 6, 2024
    • Take home final exam: Dec. 9-14, 2024
    • Final grades due: Wed. Dec. 18, 2024


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    Last modfied: Thursday, 26-Sep-2024 12:57:25 EDT