Introduction

At the begining of the semester, students will be encouraged to suggest topics to be covered in the class. On top of that, I hope to largely cover Chapter 7 through Chapter 12 in Burden and Faires, plus probably two special topics on root-finding and non-conventional ODE solvers. If you have any suggestion or a question about something that is not covered here, or if you wish to talk with me, the easiest way is to come during office hours. Otherwise, please make an appointment by sending electronic mail.
This information document covers the following subjects: how to contact the instructor, prerequisites, textbooks, course work and grading, late penalties.

Staff

GSI

• Alan Tarr
  send Alan email at alant@math.berkeley.edu.
  Discussion section 101 (M 11:00-12:00Noon), B3A Evans.
  Office Hours: W: 11-12, 1075 Evans; F: 11-12, B3A.
  

Prerequisites

The prerequisite is Math 128A or equivalent. If you have doubts about them, please come talk with the instructor.

Textbooks

Our textbook is
• R. L. Burden and J. D. Faires, Numerical Analysis, 8-th edition, Brooks-Cole, 2005.

Matlab will be heavily used in the class. Basic programming skills will be essential in both some homework assignments and all programming assignments and the final project. This semester, Ryan Hynd is teaching a one-unit credit course in matlab, Math 98 during the first 5 weeks of the semester. You are encouraged to take this one-unit course if you are not quite familiar with matlab programming. Note that this course is offered on a first-come first-served basis. So sign up as quickly as you can. You can also download a matlab primer to help yourself learn matlab.

Course Work and Grading

There are a total of 100 points you can earn toward your final grade in the course. There will be one midterm exam, which is worth 20 points. There is a final group project, which is worth 35 points. There will be up to 14 homeworks, 5 quizzes, and 4 programming assignments. We will count the best 10 homeworks, all 5 quizzes and all 4 programming assignments towards your final grade, with each homework worth 1 point, each quiz 3 points, and each programming assignment 5 points. Homeworks and programming assignments are due on Mondays during discussion. They are due on Wednesday of the same week in case of a Monday holiday. Here are the quiz and exam dates:

• Feb. 1 (quiz)
• Feb. 22 (quiz)
• March 8 (Midterm)
• Mar. 29 (quiz)
• Apr. 12 (quiz)
• Apr. 26 (quiz)

Your final letter grade will be determined based on the class performance curve , which is based on the number of points you earned in the course. In general the large majority of the class will get A and B level grades. To get a good grade, make sure you do your homework and programming assignments on time, and prepare well for your quizzes; your exam and project scores can only go so far (they add up to 55 points out of 100.)


Grades of Incomplete will be granted only for dire medical or personal emergencies that cause you to miss the final, and only if your work up to that point has been satisfactory.


Lateness

We will give no credit for written homework turned in after the due date and there will be no make up quizzes and exams. The only exception to this policy is medical or personal emergencies.