MTH 455 Mathematical Modelling Spring 2005 Reg# 440079

Times, places: TuTh 12:30-1:50pm, 250 Math Bldg. (Occasionally in 309 Hochstetter).

Instructor: John Ringland.

Office: 206 Mathematics Building.

Office hours: __________________________, and by appointment.

Phone: 645-6284 ext 147.

E-mail: Mine: ringland at math dot buffalo dot edu .

Yours: I will assume the address for you I get from MyUB is correct unless you tell me otherwise.

Website: orange.math.buffalo.edu/455/

You are expected to check the website at least several times per week.

For accurate rendering of this site you will need a W3C standards-compliant browser
such as Firefox (a free download from www.mozilla.org). IE is not recommended.

Texts: Coursepack from Great Lakes Printing and Graphics in UB Commons.

You will need a 3-ring binder to hold it.

There will be several additions to the Coursepack during the semester.

Syllabus: This course is an introduction to the creation and exploration of mathematical models of parts and aspects of the world around us. The models range from coarse yet powerful metaphors that expand our comprehension to very concrete analogies that provide accurate quantitative predictions.

The four main subject areas are: (i) population dynamics, (ii) diffusion and heat transfer, (iii) pattern formation and travelling waves, and (iv) forced vibration. A detailed schedule of topics in on the website.

Grades: Homework: 25%.

In-class Test#1, Tuesday, Feb. 15: 25%

In-class Test#2, Thursday, Mar. 24: 25%.

In-class Test#3, Thursday, Apr. 28: 25%.

Homework: Homework will be assigned at regular intervals. It will always be due at the beginning of a class period. No late homework will be accepted. Solutions will be posted on the website. In the computation of the final grade, the lowest homework score will be dropped.

Maple: We will use Maple to visualize results and to speed up and check computations. This software is installed in the classroom and in all the CIT public sites. You can buy a 1-year license for Maple (for Linux, Mac, or Windows) for a nominal charge at UBMicro, and I recommend you do this if you haven't already.

We will spend the class period on Thu, Jan 20th in Hochstetter 139 getting familiar with Maple.

Maple guide: A guide to the use of Maple in this course is available on the course website.

Bail-out dates: I hope these will not be relevant to you, but just in case:

Friday, Jan. 28 is the last day to drop the class with no record on your transcript,

Friday, Mar. 11 is the last day to resign from the course (with an R on your transcript).

Students with

disabilities: If you have a diagnosed disability (physical, learning or psychological) which will make it difficult for you to carry out the course work as outlined, or requires accommodations such as recruiting note-takers, readers, or extended time on exams and/or assignments, please advise me during the first two weeks of class so we may review possible arrangements for reasonable accomodations.

MTh 455 Spring 2005 Background information

I'll do a better job if I know a little about you. Would you please supply the following information.

(1) Name

(2) Alias, for posting of grades. (Not your real name, and not an abbreviation of it.)

(3) Preferred e-mail address

(4) Major, or area of interest

(5) Junior, senior, other (specify)

(6) List the Math courses you have already taken:

(7) Why have you chosen to take this particular elective course?

(8) About how many times have you used the computer software Maple (circle)

0 1 10 100 1000

(9) Plans for life after graduation (in a few words):