Introduction to Scientific computing
PH 265
3 credits, meets MWF at 3pm.
MTH 112
This is an unusual course in that it spans the subjects of computer science, mathematics, and physics. You may expect to learn some programming, some physics, and some mathematics. Some of you will have considerable programming experience, and others will be programming for the first time. We will start with the use of programming language python, and its powerful visualization tool vpython. We will use it to manipulate vectors. The rest of the course involves the numerical calculation of motion and the visualization of that motion. The basic physical principles needed for this are Newton's laws of motion. We will include friction and see how conservation of energy can be used to improve the numerical results.
Homework will be due each week in class on Friday. There will be one midterm exam. Grades will be computed based on 60% classwork/homework, 15% midterm exam and 25% final exam. This is a lab course and therefore class attendance is required and is included in the classwork portion of your grade. Please notify the instructor in advance if you are unable to attend due to personal or health reasons.
Homework will consist of required problems and challenge problems. The latter may be turned in for extra credit. It is possible to get an A in the course without doing any extra credit, provided you do well on the exams.
There are two ways of turning homework in:
You may have an instructor check your homework either during class or during office hours. In this case, you may be asked to explain your approach. If your work is not satisfactory, you will be told what is wrong, and will be free to fix it and have it checked later.
If you wish, you may instead email your homework to me to submit it electronically. If you choose to do this, you must submit only one problem per email, and should provide in the body of the email a written explanation of your solution, along with answers to any questions asked in the problem. As an attachment, you must provide the python program that is your programmatic solution to the problem. Your answer will be final, and you cannot use any feedback you receive to submit an improved solution.
As you can tell, the bar is higher for email submissions. Please only submit solutions by email that you are either confident are correct, or have no time to improve. Late homework is not accepted.
There will be no required text for the course. Class notes will be available online.
"Accommodations are collaborative efforts between students, faculty and Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD). Students with accommodations approved through SSD are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course prior to or during the first week of the term to discuss accommodations. Students who believe they are eligible for accommodations but who have not yet obtained approval through SSD should contact SSD immediately at 737-4098."
For this course it is allowed to work together on homework, but each student should submit his or her own written solution or program. We will follow the university guide lines, see OSU Student Conduct & Community Standards.