MAT5920 08F
assignments (in class and HW) and daily class log
Class meets MWF. Days enumerated from first day of class. 42 class meeting
days.
- M. bob does intro.
"baby steps" in
going beyond routine math courses;
HW: Read the Preface and Plan of This Book sections of our text
and the on-line course syllabus materials, and the rest of this web page.
- W: We learn how to use Front Page and set up a home page and course
related folder "/5920" with an index file and a test maple worksheet.
We look at the MAPLE worksheet interface. We start with the first Chapter 1
worksheet. Continue.
Get acquainted with the Standard worksheet
interface.
- F: We learned a bit about the Standard Maple interface together in
class.
WEEK 2[-1]:
M: Labor Day.
No class.
- W: As we get started, you may want to work in parallel with a partner on
the chapter 1 worksheet and assignment files:
Do: tourw1a.mw
from Chapter 1.
Try assignment problems toura1a.mw.
Do tourw1b.mw. Try assignment
problems toura1b.mw.
Save the "worked" assignment worksheets on-line in your mat5920 folder and
email me the links.
- F: Work on choice of problems from end of chapter.
2:30 Interesting
Connelly Cinema Talk by Jesuit astronomer George Coyne, friend of dr
bob:
"The Dance of the Fertile Universe: Did God Do it?"
more stuff, including
bob in a tux!
WEEK 3[-1]:
- M: Let's consider moving into chapter 2.
- W: Chapter 2.
- F: Chapter 2.
WEEK 4[-1]:
- M: Chapter 2.
- W: Chapter 2. Note problem hints
for end of chapter problems.
- F: Chapter 2. end of chapter. example of going further:
primepairs.mw
WEEK 5[-]:
- M: Let's try to wrap up chapter 2 and move on to chapter 3?
- W: 2.5.6 example added to problem hints;
- F: Chapter 3 linear algebra background:
solving linear systems and row reduction;
and going a bit further;
what it says about a set of column vectors; < this is the most useful
WEEK 6[-1]:
- M: When you eventually get to the 3.5 problems (same for chapters 4, 5,
6), be sure you check out
the hints in the back of the book after you give it your best shot (although
they refer to linalg and not LinearAlgebra), to make sure you
understood the intention of the problem, and consider
my own hints in addition. The
first 4 or 5 problems are relatively routine, although problem 5 has 3
separate cases to consider. Problem 4 is outdated since evalf now
acts on Matrices and Arrays.
The plus minus problem in the text was misleading in terms of its best
solution, see: plusminus.mw
- W:
- F:
WEEK 7[-1]:
- M:
- W: I posted a worksheet about column
and null spaces
- F:
WEEK 8-[1]:
- M: Everyone should be finishing chapter3 by today or so.
Let's try to move into chapter 4. See the
hints page.
- W:
- F:
WEEK 9[-1]:
- M:
- W:
- F:
WEEK 10[-1]:
- M: Let's try to wrap up chapter 4 and move on to chapter 5! This is
pretty interesting if you like calculus.
- W:
- F:
WEEK 11[-1]:
- M:
- W: chapter 5
- F:
WEEK 12[-1]:
- M:
- W: at some point move into chapter 6
- F:
WEEK 13:
- M: okay, we are out of time. If you have not yet done so, at least go
through the main worksheet of chapter 6.
Then you have to move on to work on something that you enjoy and which Maple
can play a useful role in exploring.
If you don't get started on something this week, there won't be time with
the end of semester crunch to accomplish anything.
M:
W:
F:
WEEK 14:
- M:
- T[F]:
- W:
Text Assignments [Discovering Mathematics with Maple]:
Each student will create a folder 5920 of their Villanova web space and use FrontPage
to publish their worksheets in that folder for feedback from bob. Send an email
(subject =[mat5900]) with the
hypertext links to the file addresses when published so I can easily download
the worksheets by clicking on those links (use the full address
http://www.homepage.villanova.edu/first.last/5920/filename.mws in the
body of the email with your message).
Filenames can only contain letters, numbers, dashes, underscores. NO
number signs # since this signals a bookmark string in a web address. Think of a
consistent naming scheme for all the chapters.
Copy the assignment section worksheets a and b and paste into your new worksheet
[filename: chapter1.mws, etc] as a section. Re-label the section by adding the filename
from which it comes. Then enter the section and execute it and add extra input and comment
lines in dark green (to distinguish your remarks from the original
worksheet) to respond to the instructions. Write complete English sentences in your
comments. Try to make this a report which speaks for itself through those comments. You
are encouraged to work together with a partner. Put your name(s) at the top of the file in
comment mode. Keep a current date at the top as well. Give me feedback about how long
these take. If you get stuck, come visit me.
For the end of chapter problems, try to attack them without the hints in the back
first. Then if you get stuck, compare what you are doing with the hints, but explain all
code that you use line by line. First repeat the problem statement at the top of the
worksheet to make it self-contained. Give it a name of your choice. Try to do a bit more
than just respond to exactly the instructions of the problem. See if you can stretch the
problem to go further or help explain.
Keep a backup of your files! Or if you work with a partner, make sure you both have a current
copy so the each one is a backup of the other.
Higher Mathematics
There are lots of interesting topics in Mathematics that require that you go
beyond the content you have learned so far as a math major, either by going more
into depth with things you have already learned, building on that knowledge, or
by delving into something pretty new to you (of course still building on your
existing knowledge base!). Here is a
cute example.
Many interesting applications of linear algebra can be found in the
Anton-Rorres textbook.
Past Assignment Logs:
1-dec-2008 [back to course homepage]
No class.