Math
308---Mathematics for Physical Sciences, Spring 2012
Instructors
- Xiang Tang, Cupples I, 112B, xtang@math.wustl.edu
Text
- Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences by Mary L. Boas,
third edition.
Office Hours
- Monday 2-4 p.m. or by appointment.
Course Webpage
- http://www.math.wustl.edu/~xtang/spring2012-mathphys.html
Prerequisite
Lectures
- You are strongly suggested to attend the lectures. No talk,
food and drinking is allowed in class. Please close your cell phone
or change it to ``silent". Information about materials covered
and homework assigned every week will be updated on the course website.
Homework
-
You will have graded homework turned in every
Wednesday at the beginning of Wednesday's lecture. Late
homework will not be accepted! The homework collected is to be
considered a bare minimum of homework that you should do. "A" students
will generally do nearly every problem in the exercise sections.
-
Put the following information at the top left
corner of each page of your homework: full name, student ID, and
the due dates. Your turned in homework will be graded on several
factors including accuracy and neatness. It is your responsibility to
make sure the grader can understand your work.
- Homework is graded according to the following distribution. Total
score of a homework is 10. 4 out 10 is graded according to the
amount of work being completed. And the left 6 out of 10 is graded
according to the accuracy. We will choose to grade 3 problems in each
assignment, and each problem counts 2 points.
Exams
- There will be two midterms and one final. The following is the
schedule
Exam 1
|
March 2nd
|
10-11
|
Exam 2
|
April 13th
|
10-11
|
Final
|
May 7th
|
10:30-12:30
|
- Exam Materials You should bring the following equipment to each
exam:
- Your Washington U photo ID card
- Several pencils (with erasers)
- An approved calculator
- 3x5 note card with any helpful notes you care to make.
Please
do not bring the following with you to your exam:
- Notes other than the 3x5 card
- Scratch paper (there is plenty of room to write on the test
booklet)
- Non-approved calculators
Grading scale
- Homework: 10%, Mid1: 30%, Mid2: 30%, Final: 30%. The grades
are assigned according the percentage you are in the class.
- You are expected to take the exams at their
scheduled times. If you are away because of a university sporting
event or field trip, then you may arrange for your coach or professor
to administer the exam. Excused absences may be granted in the case of
illness or bereavement. All excused absences must be granted before the
exam is taken. The final exam date cannot be changed for reasons of
traveling convenience.
- Letter grades will be given based on your overall score. The
cutoffs for the various letter grades will be no higher than the
following:
- In total, we will collect 11 homework. You are allowed to drop
the lowest homework score.
- The score of the final test can be used to replace the lowest
midterm exam score.
Calculator
- You are NOT allowed to
use a graphing calculator on the exams. You will be allowed to
use a scientific calculator, (for example, a TI30X, generally available
for $13 or less). Be sure the calculator you choose can handle
logarithmic, exponential, and trigonometric calculations. It
would be wise to use this calculator when you work your homework
problems so you will be comfortable with it when you take the exams.
Homework assignments
Week 1(due 1/25) Chapter 6, Sec. 3. 3,4,15,17; Sec. 4. 2,4.
Week 2 (due 2/1) Chapter 6, Sec. 6. 11,21; Sec. 7. 6,17 (only (i), (j));
Sec. 8. 2,4
Week 3 (due 2/8) Chapter 6, Sec. 8. 16, 17, 18; Sec. 9. 3,4,11
Week 4 (due 2/15) Chapter 6, Sec. 10 5,7,12; Sec. 11. 3,6,8.
Week 5 (Due 2/22) Page 336 20, Page 338 20, Page 344 11, 13, Page 345 24, Page 347 6.
Week 6 (Due 3/7) Page 354-355 1,3,4,11; Page 358 15; Page 360 1.
Sample Test for Midterm I, Sample Test Solution
Week 8 (Due 3/21) Page 371 17,23; Page 377 6; Page 384-385 4, 13, 24.
Week 9 Spring break
Week 10 (Due 3/28) Page 626-627 1,3,7,8,10,11.
Week 11 (Due 4/4) Page 632-633 4,5,8,9,11, Page 637 2.
Week 12 (Due 4/18) Page 637-638 4,5,6,7, Page 662 3,4.
Week 13 Sample Test for Midterm II, Sample Test Solution
Week 14 (Due 4/25) Page 567 1,2 Page 569 3,4, Page 651 1,2.
Office Hours for the Final: May 1st 10-11; May 3rd 9:30-11:30; May 4th 3-5.
Sample Final, Sample Final solution