Office: 4-112 Mathematics Building
Phone: (516)-632-8274
Dept. Phone: (516)-632-8290
FAX: (516)-632-7631
TuTh 11:30-12:50 Math Tower S-235S (computer lab in basement)
Office hours 10-11:20, Tuesday and Thursday.
This is a course in problem solving using MATLAB. This is commercial software produced by the company Mathworks, and is commonly used throughout academia and industry. We will start by going through most of Tobin Driscoll's short book "Learning MATLAB". for the first few weeks to learn the basic commands. We will then do various topics in cryptography, probability, graph theory, approximation theory (and whatwever we can fit into the course) using materials I put on the website. There is a lot of interesting material in Cleve Moler's books "Numerical Computing in MATLAB: revised reprint" and "experiments in MATLAB", as well a few articles and blog entries by Moler from the Mathworks site. Moler is the original creator of MATLAB. Moler's books can be purchased as hard-copies, but there are also a free online versions provided by MathWorks (the company the produces MATLAB); you will need to create a MathWorks Account.
The university has a WRTD writing requirement that can be fulfilled by submitting two of the projects from this class. If you intend to fulfill the requirement this way, you should register for the zero-credit course MAT 459, and let me know you want to use your MAT 331 projects for this requirement. I will post possible projects as the semester proceeds and we will discuss a few in class two.
MATLAB is installed on machines in the SINC sites and is available from any computer via the virtual SINC site Virtual SINC site. .
Scripts and functions should be saved in your MySBFiles directory; other dirctories on the SINC site machines are erased after 48 hours. These MySBFiles can be accessed directly from any machine with an internet connection at MySBFiles .
The university license also allows you to download a copy to your home computer (if you are currently a student or faculty member): Information on downloading a copy of MATLAB This page also has instructions on how to create a MATHWORKS account,which you will need to access MATLAB programs and textbooks, even if you don't download a personal copy of MATLAB.
Numerical Computing in MATLAB: revised reprint by Cleve Moler. Our main textbook. Chapters can be downloaded individually. There is also a collection of MATLAB code to download and that is used in the text.
SIAM site for buying hardcopy of "Numerical Computing in MATLAB: revised reprint by Cleve Moler.
Experiments with MATLAB by Cleve Moler. Another textbook on MATLAB, but assuming less math than "Numerical Computing with MATLAB". We will use some chapters from this, such as the one on the Mandelbrot set.
Cleve's Corner articles related to the text and MATLAB in general.
Getting started in MATLAB Introduction by the makers of MATLAB
Learning MATLAB by Toby Driscoll. A very good, very short and inexpensive introduction to MATLAB, by a real expert.
SIAM site for buying of "Learning MATLAB" by Tobin Driscoll.
The not too short introduction to LaTex
Grades will be based on:
(1) In-class quizzes. I provide practice quizzes to do at home.
(2) Homework. These will usually involving
writing a short report stating the problem, describing how
to solve it, giving the MATLAB code you used, and table or pictures
that illustrate your results.
(3) Projects: just like homework, but a little longer and
often involving some outside reading. I will make up
several of these and you will choose at least three to do.
(4) Final exam (similar to quizzes, but longer)
During the last week of class I will post tentative grades based on the homework, quizes (best 4 or 5) and two projects. A percent will be compute for each of the three categories and the average of these three numbers taken. The letter grade will be based on this average. You will receive at least this grade for the class. If you are happy with this grade, then you need not hand in a third project or take the final. If you would like to improve the tentative grade then you can hand in a third project and take the final. Then your grade will be based on the average of the percents for homework, quizes (best 4 of 5), projects and the final (each of the four categories counts equally).
Histogram of over totals as of Nov 20, 2017. This includes the 3 homeworks, the best 4 out of 5 quizes, and Project 1. Each category was converted into a percentage (out of 100) and then I took the avergage of these (all weighted equally).
Send the lecturer (C. Bishop) email at:
Link to history of mathematics There are a lot of iteresting articles here. If you know of other math related sites I should link to, let me know.
A link to MathSciNet (Online Mathematical Reviews). These gives access to reviews of about 3 million mathematical papers and links to some of the actual articles. You will need a NETID and password to access this.
A link to the Stony Brook virtual SINC site . You will need a NETID and password to access this.
A link to the installer for TexMaker. on the SINC site machines. You can also download for use on the virtual SINC site. This is special editor for TeX files that incorporates several steps into one. You will need a NETID and password to access this.
A link to BlackBoard . You will need a NETID and password to access this.
Projects are longer versions of the homework assigments, but I
will give several and you need to choose any three to hand in. If
you are enrolled in MAT 459, then two of these can be used to
satisfy the university WRDT requirement, as described above.
The first project is due October 31, the second November 30 and the
third 0n Decemeber 7 (last day of class).
You may submit eithe a hardcopy
or electronic version (but I would prefer a hardcopy to make sure
it is printed just as you intend).
Each listed project has two components for you to look at.
The first is a one page description
of what I want you to do. This will often include an itemized list of
computations I want you to make, based on the reading the second
part. The second will usually be a some
notes written by myself, or a short recent paper by some mathematician
describing a calculation or algorithm. Usually there will be more material
here than you need to do the project; I generally only want you to do
and describe experiments that test the claims of the paper, and you generally
don't have to understand the proofs in the paper to do this.
List of projects (more will be added later):
Project 1 , -----
Gauss-Jacobi quadrature and Legendre polynomials ,
notes by C.Bishop
Project 2 , -----
Points of increase for random walks , by Yuval Peres,
Microsoft Research
Project 3 , -----
Uniformly discrete forests with
poor visibility , by Noga Alon, Tel Aviv University
Project 4 , -----
Is Gauss quadrature better than
Clenshaw-Curtis? , by Lloyd N. Trefethen, Oxford University and NYU
Project 5 , -----
Weiesrstrass approximation theorem
, Chapter 5 in "Approximation theory and Approximation practice"
by Lloyd N. Trefethen
Project 6 , -----
Unexpected biases in the distribution of consecutive primes
, 2016 by R.J.K Oliver and K. Soundararajan
See also:
Article in Nature ,
Article in Quantum
Project 7 ,
-----
Volumes of n-balls -- Wikipedia
,
Project 8 , -----
Using letter counts to distinguish different languages
Project 9 , -----
Breaking a re-used one time pad
,
Project 10 , -----
Solving a random permutation substitution
Project 11 , -----
Fractal dimension and the Weierstrass function,
YouTube video explaining idea of fractalsa and dimension
Project 12 ,
-----
Gibbs phenomenon -- Wikipedia
,
The write-up is supposed to be a short report that
explains what the problem is and how you solved it,
including any samples of code or output (such as tables
or plots). Think of it like an essay for an English or
History class except that it is written about a math problem,
instead of about Jane Austin or the French revolution. There
should be an introduction that describes the problem, a
main body that gives the details of your solution and a
conclusion the briefly summarizes your results.
Some good things to do include:
Put titles on your plots
Insert comments into code saying what role
named arrays play and what loops are doing
supress intermediate calculations and
display a single table of results at end
when comparing two or more arrays, present
them as columns of a single table/array
when plotting an approximation to a function,
also plot the function so we can see how close they are. Also
consider plotting (separately) the difference of the two.
Tuesday, August 29 Introduction, Driscoll Chapters 1 and 2
Cleve's Corner - The origin of MATLAB ,
Homework 0 (PDF)
Homework 0 (TEX)
Homework 0 with Solution (PDF)
Homework 0 with Solution (TEX)
Topics covered: course administration, the class webpage,
how to access the virtual SINC site,
how to open MATLAB, open documentation,
basic arithmetic, digits, vpa
writing a MATLAB script,
for loops,
entering vectors and matrices
Thursday, August 31 Driscoll Chapters 3 and 4
Topics covered:
save, load
basic functions: sin, cos, log, exp, rand, round, floor, ceil
arrays: size,length, the colon operator, zeros, ones
plot
Tuesday, September 5 Labor day, NO CLASS
Thursday, September 7 More commands
cumsum
referencing elements, end, find, logical indexing
strings, char, num2str, str2num, strfind
syms, solve, vpasolve, root
anonymous functions
plot versus ezplot
scatter
Scripts from Sept 7 class
NCM - Chapter 1,
Read Section 1.7 on floating point numbers and precision
Tuesday, September 12 Quiz, last 30 minutes of class
Cleve's Corner - Computing pi ,
I thought you might like to read this, but I will
not be testing you on this material.
Due to a problem with cetain MATLAB commands like "solve",
"vpa" and "root" on the virtual SINC site, I will remove these
commands from Quiz 1. I have posted a new practice Quiz 1 that
reflects these changes.
NEW
Practice Quiz 1 (PDF)
NEW
Practice Quiz 1 (TEX)
Old Practice Quiz 1 (PDF)
Old Practice Quiz 1 (TEX)
Practice Quiz Solutions (PDF)
Quiz 1 scores
scripts versus functions
if, else, elseif,
switch
for loops, while loops,
Scripts from Sept 12 class
Thursday, September 14
profiling, tic, toc, preallocation
Numerical integration:
endpoint rule, midpoint rule, trapezoid rule,
Simpson's rule
Using logarithmic plots to measure convergence
Scripts from Sept 14 class
Tuesday, September 19 Homework 1 due
Homework 1 (PDF) - comparing methods of computing e=2.71... ,
Homework 1 (TEX) ,
Polynomial interpolation, equally spaced points versus
Chebyshev points, Gauss-Jacobi quadrature
Scripts from Sept 19 class
Wikipedia - Polynomial interpolation
Wikipedia - Chebyshev nodes
Wikipedia - Gauss quadrature ,
Wikipedia - Legendre polynomials ,
Thursday, September 21 Primes and factoring
Commands: factor, primes, isprime, if/else,
Scripts from Sept 21 class
Tuesday, September 26 Quiz 2 (last 30 minutes of class)
Practice Quiz 2 (PDF)
Practice Quiz 2 (TEX)
Practice Quiz Solutions (PDF)
Topics: Chebyshev polynomials and points,
Wikipedia - Chebyshev polynomials ,
Thursday, September 28 Guest Lecture: Prof L.N. Trefethen
The webpage of
Professor L.N. Trefethen, FRS . Professor Trefethen is head of
the numerical analysis group at Oxford, Global Distinguished Professor
at NYU and former president of SIAM. His webpage contains numerous links
to papers, essays, lectures and videos related to computational
mathematics and MATLAB.
Wikipedia - Chebfun ,
'Six myths of polynomial interpolation and quadrature'
by Lloyd N. Trefethen ,
Instructions for downloading Chebfun onto a SINC site machine
and setting the correct path in MATLAB
Homepage for CHEBFUN, download it here
Chebfun guide , Introduction, examples, how Chebfun works
how to use it. Try the examples in Chapter 1 to make sure your
installation of Chebfun is working.
First six chapters
of "Approximation Theory and Approximation Practice" by L.N. Trefethen
Tuesday, October 3 Root finding
Scripts from October 3 class
Questions on Homework 2, fzero, cells, polyval
Root finding: bisection, Newton's method, secant methods, fzero
NCM - Chapter 4 ,
Thursday, October 5 More root finding
Homework 2 (PDF) - Chebyshev polynomials ,
Homework 2 (TEX) ,
Scripts from October 5 class (used in Quiz 3)
Tuesday, October 10 Quiaz 3 (30 minutes)
Secant method, Iteration, Julia set, Mandelbrot set
Practice Quiz 3 (PDF)
Practice Quiz Solutions (PDF)
Thursday, October 12 Intro to Julia sets and
the Mandelbrot set
image, colormap
Scripts from October 12 class
The Mandelbrot set, EIM Chapter 13
Julia sets - Wikipedia
The Mandelbrot set - Wikipedia
Benoit Mandelbrot - Wikipedia
The Mandelbrot set -Wolfram MathWorld
Tuesday, October 17 More about the Mandelbrot set
tic, toc, profiling, vectorization
Thursday, October 19 More about Mandelbrot set
Homework 3 (PDF) - Area of Mandelbrot set ,
pre-allocation
Tuesday, October 24 Review for Quiz 4,
Linear algebra, 60 minute class today
Scripts from October 24 class
Thursday, October 26 Ceasar code, reading files
Scripts from October 25, for Prac Quiz 4
Directory of simple cryptography files This leads to a dirctory of
files that we will use over the next few weeks. You should creat your own directory and copy these into it. Clicking on each file, should open the file in a text editor, which should then allow you to save the file.
ASCII code - Wikipedia
Project Gutenberg , free out-of-print books
Pride and Prejudice , Project Gutenberg
A Tale of Two Cities , Project Gutenberg
Tuesday, October 31 2-grams, n-grams
Practice Quiz 4 (PDF)
Solutions (PDF)
Thursday, November 2
link to about 60,000 English words
Tuesday, November 7 letter frequencies,
Thursday, November 9 one time pads, intro to RSA
One-time pad - Wikipedia
VENONA project - Wikipedia
Enigma machine - Wikipedia
Ultra - Wikipedia
RSA cryptosystem - Wikipedia
RSA factoring challenge - Wikipedia
Tuesday, November 14 RSA
Revised Project 1 due.
Multiplicative group mod n - Wikipedia
RSA cryptosystem - Wikipedia
RSA factoring challenge - Wikipedia
Scripts for Nov 14 - RSA
Practice Quiz 5 (PDF)
m-file for problems 5 and 6 on practice quiz 5
Solutions (PDF)
Thursday, November 16 random walk on integers
Scripts for Nov 16
Simple random walk - Wikipedia
Central Limit Theorem - Wikipedia
Brownian motion- Wikipedia
Bore-Cantelli lemmas - Wikipedia
Tuesday, November 18 No class
Thursday, November 23 Thanksgiving, no class
Tuesday, November 28 harmonic measure, linear algebra
scripts for Nov 28
NCM- Chapter 11 Partial differential equations
Thursday, November 30 DLA
Second Project Due
scripts for Nov 30
Tuesday, December 5
Scripts for Dec 5
DLA --- Wikipedia
Thursday, December 7 last class, continuation of Dec 5, DLA,
Paths inside Brownian motion
Wednesday, December 13 Final exam, 5:30pm-8:00pm
Technology Support:
Student Technology Services.
TLT provides academic technology support to all students. If you require assistance with Blackboard or other academic technologies, please contact TLT at: helpme@stonybrook.edu; Phone: 631.632.9602; Chat; http://www.stonybrook.edu/helpme or visit a SINC Site.
Students who need assistance with their personal devices can contact DoIT's service desk at: 631.632.9800, submit an online request, or visit the Walk In Center on the 5th floor of the Melville Library (West Campus), Room S-5410. For more information, visit: https://it.stonybrook.edu/students
The University Senate Undergraduate and Graduate Councils have authorized that the following required statements appear in all teaching syllabi (graduate and undergraduate courses) on the Stony Brook Campus.
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (DSS) STATEMENT: If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services at (631) 632-6748 or http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/dss/. They will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STATEMENT: Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Facultyare required to report any suspected instances of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. Faculty in the Health Sciences Center (School of Health Technology and Management, Nursing, Social Welfare, Dental Medicine) and School of Medicine are required to follow their school-specific procedures. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/
CRITICAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT: Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students' ability to learn. Faculty in the HSC Schools and the School of Medicine are required to follow their school-specific procedures.