Dave Schmidt's Differential Equations Page

Welcome to Differential Equations!  The purpose of this page is to make certain resources available
and keep you up to date with everything going on in the course.

NOTE:  Carlos will have office hours on Tuesday, December 9 from 4-5:30 PM in Amos Eaton 429.
                His students can pick up exam #3 at that time.

** FINAL EXAM INFORMATION **

Our final exam is on Thursday, December 11 from 6:30 - 9:30 PM in Sage 3303

No calculators are permitted in the exam.

All of the formulas that were supplied during the first three exams will be included on the final exam.

The final exam will consist of two parts:
                Part 1 will contain 3 problems, all of which you must do, worth 15 points (45 points)
                Part 2 will contain 4 problems, worth 20 points each. You must do 3 of the 4 (60 points)
                        You must indicate on the exam which one of the Part 2 problems you do not want graded.
           Thus, the final is worth 105 points just like the other exams.

There will be a review class for the  final on Wednesday, December 10 from 3 - 5 PM in Sage 3303.
Here are some  practice problems to work on.

Prof. Schmidt will also have office hours on Thursday, December 11 from 11 AM - 12:30 PM

The exam will cover the following topics:

    Classification of Diff Eqs (Linearity, Order, etc.) (Section 1.3)
    Solving 1st Order Linear ODEs: Method of Integrating Factor (Section 2.1)
    Existence and Uniqueness of Solutions to 1st Order Linear ODEs (Section 2.4)
    Separation of Variables (Section 2.2)
    Differences Between Linear and Non-Linear 1st Order ODEs (Section 2.4)
    Modeling Problems With Linear 1st Order ODEs (Section 2.3)
    Autonomous Equations and Population Models (Section 2.5)
    Constant-Coefficient 2nd Order Homogeneous ODEs: Method of Characteristic Roots (Section 3.1)
    Theory of 2nd Order Linear ODEs, Wronskian Determinant (Section 3.2)
    Linear Independence and Abel's Theorem (Section 3.3)
    Complex Characteristic Roots and Euler's Formula (Section 3.4)
    Repeated Characteristic Roots (Section 3.5)
    Reduction of Order (Section 3.5)
    Abel's Formula and Finding a 2nd Independent Solution (3.5)

     Non-Homogeneous Equations and Method of Undetermined Coefficients (3.6)
     Spring-Mass Systems (3.8)
     Two-Point Boundary Value Problems (10.1)
     The Heat Conduction Problem (10.5)
     Fourier Series, Euler-Fourier Formulas (10.2)
     The Fourier Theorem (10.3)
      Odd and Even Functions, Sine and Cosine Series (10.4)
      Solving the Heat Conduction Problem (10.5)

      Systems of 1st order ODEs (7.1)
      Basic Matrix Algebra (Computing Inverse Matrices NOT included) (7.2)
      Solving systems of the form Ax = 0 using gaussian elimination (7.3)
      Linear Independence of Vectors (7.3)
      Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of a square matrix A and how to find them (7.3)
      The Wronskian and Fundamental Sets of Solutions (7.4)
      Solving Constant Coefficient Systems of ODEs (7.5)
      Classification of the Origin by type and stability (7.5, 9.1)
      Sketching Phase Portraits (7.5,9.1)
      Complex Eigenvalues (7.6)
      The trace-determinant plane (9.1 exercise and notes)
 

Course Information

Course Policies
 

Office Hours Information (valid through Friday, December 5):

Dave Schmidt's Office Hours (in Amos Eaton 408):  Wednesday 3 - 5 PM, Thursday 11AM - 12PM

Recitation Instructor Office Hours:  Carlos Lopez
                                                                   Rajesh Nimbalkar

Homework Resources:

 Homework Assignments
 

Exam Resources:

Tentative Exam Dates

Exam Solutions
 
 

MAPLE Resources:

MAPLE Command Help Pages

Class Overheads