McMaster University Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Math 3F03 Fall 2014 Course Information
http://ms.mcmaster.ca/Amanda.French
Instructor: Amanda French (office HH-417)
email: afrench@math.mcmaster.ca,
Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 1:30-2:20 pm in HH 305
Office Hours: Monday, Thursday 2:30-3:30 pm, or by appointment
Tutorials: A tutorial session will be held every Friday from 10:30-11:20 am in HH 305. Attendance is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged. These tutorials will function as problem sessions, test reviews, and general questions periods. They will be conducted by the teaching assistant for this course, Irena Papst.
Textbooks: Differential Equations, Dynamical Systems, and an Introduction to Chaos, by Morris W. Hirsch, Stephen Smale, and Robert L. Devaney, Third Edition.
Course Outline: Basic theory of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) including existence, uniqueness, and continuation of solutions. Systems of ODEs including linear systems, autonomous systems in the plane, phase portraits, stability, Lyapunov’s method, invariant sets, the Poincaré-Bendixson Theorem, applications.
Tests: There will be two midterm exams, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, October 9, and Wednesday, November 12 during class time. There will be a cumulative final whose date, time and location will be posted in the near future. No calculators or other aids will be permitted during exams.
Assignments: Problem sets will be posted on this website periodically. You are encouraged to work together to complete them, but each student must turn in his or her own write-up. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
Course Evaluation:
Final Exam: 40%
Midterm Exams: 20% each, for a total of 40%
Assignments: 20%
The instructor reserves the right to change any portion of this marking scheme.
Contacting your instructor: You are free to contact me, Dr French, with your concerns about the course, general questions, or requests for a meeting. However, I will not respond to emails asking questions that are addressed in this outline, nor will I send you your grade via email. Emails asking for a student’s grade will not be answered. Grades will be posted in a timely fashion on the website.
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Policy on missed assignments, tests, lectures or tutorials:
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When using the MSAF, the e-mail address to which you should report your absence for Math 3F03 is afrench@math.mcaster.ca. In addition, within two working days, you must also contact the instructor directly by e-mail at afrench@math.mcmaster.ca. If you miss a test or cannot hand in an assignment on time for a valid reason that has been reported via the MSAF, the final examination will then be given appropriate extra weighting. If you must miss a class, it is your responsiblity to find out what was covered. The best way to do this is to borrow a classmate’s notes, read them over, and then ask your instructor if there is something that you do not understand.
Academic Integrity
You are expected to exhibit honesty and use ethical behaviour in all aspects of the learning process. Academic credentials you earn are rooted in priniciples of honesty and academic integrity.
Academic dishonesty is to knowingly act or fail to act in a way that results or could result in unearned academic credit or advantage. This behaviour can result in serious consequences, e.g., the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads: “Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty”), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university.
It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes dishonesty. For information on the various kinds of a academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy located at http://www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity. The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty:
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Plagiarism, e.g., the submission of work that is not one’s own or for which other credit has been obtained.
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Improper collaboration in group work. In this course, you are encouraged to discuss the assigned problems with other students in your class. However, you must write the solutions in your own words without referring to any other students’ work. The copying or even paraphrasing of other students’ solutions will be considered academic dishonesty.
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Copying or using unauthorized aids during tests and examinations.