Math 331: Mathematical Problem Solving with Computers
Fall 2002

• General Course Information
• Computer Resources
• The Textbook
• About Classwork and Homework
• Homework Assignments: Questions
• Homework Assignments: Problems
• Projects

• Instructor:
  • Prof. Suzanne Hruska. email: shruska@math.sunysb.edu
  • Office hours: Mon 2-3, Wed 3:15-4:15, or make an appointment.
  • Office: Math tower 3-114.
    
• The course meets MWF, 11:35-12:30, in room S-235 of the Math tower.
• Students should read:
  • course description, including grading policies, text , etc.
  • S-235 mathlab information, including how to set up your math account, and mathlab usage guidelines.

• One preferred email client is pine, but you are welcome to use something else if you are more comfortable with it. The tutorial Getting Started with Pine covers all the basic stuff, and a bit more, and the Pine User's Guide has some more information, as well.
• Using a web browser (which you must already be doing if you are reading this) will also be quite handy. I like Netscape Navigator, (or its other version, Mozilla), but any other browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer is OK if you want. You can get Netscape and MSIE from Netscape and Micro$oft, respectively.
• We may sometimes have documents on the web which are in PDF form (Portable Document Format). To read these you will need to have a copy of the freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader on your machine. You can get this from Adobe.
• If you need to look at a PostScript document, a free viewer can be had from the GhostScript site.
• We will be using Maple extensively. Some locally produced notes (which will change as the semester progresses) are available, either web browsable or as a PostScript document. Other useful information about using Maple can be found in various places on the web, including a nice collection of some stock answers to maple questions at MIT, a collection of maple resources (including a tutorial or two) at Indiana University, the Maple lab manual from Worcester Polytechnical Institute, and, of course, the home of Maple at Waterloo Maple Software. You can purchase a student version of maple for your own computer, if you want. Rumour has it that the student version runs about $120 these days.
• Since we will be doing most of our work (in class at least) on a Unix system, you should look over Using Unix. Also useful are the UNIXhelp tutorial, and sections of UNIX is a four-letter word.
• It is quite possible to access the mathlab machines remotely, either via ssh, telnet, ftp, X11, or Vnc. Ask me for specifics, if you are unsure how to do any of the following.
  • To run simple commands at a terminal (i.e. something with no graphics, like submitting your homework), run the command 'ssh mathlab.sunysb.edu' or 'telnet mathlab.sunysb.edu', and then you can login to your mathlab account.
  • To remotely run graphical applications, like Maple, from a non-unix machine, you will need a vnc viewer.
  • To transfer files between your home computer and the mathlab machines, you can use any FTP program. For example, use a web brower and instead of the URL, type:
    ftp://userid@mathlab.sunysb.edu
    A window will appear prompting you for your password, and then the browser will show your mathlab files. Simply drag and drop to transfer files.

• HTML version of the full text
• Chapter 1: Preliminaries about Maple HTML PDF
• Chapter 2: If the Curve Fits, Wear it HTML PDF
• Chapter 3: The Art of Phugoid HTML PDF
• Chapter 4: fsqFsHn sGGousG ---We won't be doing this chapter this semester. It's on cryptography, so take a look if you're interested! HTML PDF
• Chapter 5: A turtle in a fractal garden HTML PDF
• Additional notes for Chapter 5: Affine Transformations and Fractals (Maple Worksheet), or (postscript), and more fractal pictures: Fractal 1, Fractal 2.

• In order to make it easier for you to keep up with the lectures, any Maple worksheets from each lecture will be available from this page. These are saved in files named by the date of the lecture HERE. Depending on how your browser is set up, you might be able to just click on the worksheets, or you might have to right-click and select "save link as..." and then open them from maple once you have saved a copy. Alternatively, you can open them directly from maple, assuming you are using Maple 6 or 7. (Most of what we do will also work fine in Maple Vr4) If you are logged in to the mathlab system, this directory is /home/mat331/Worksheets and should be readable by anyone.
• How to submit your homework: From a Unix shell, use the command

  submit331 file1 file2 ... filen
  

  where file1, file2, etc. are the Maple worksheets you want to submit.
  I strongly recommend that you use one worksheet per problem, and that you choose appropriate names for your files. For example, suppose you solved problems 01, 03, 06, saving the corresponding worksheets in the files prob01.mws, prob03.mws, prob06.mws. Then you can submit them by typing

  submit331 prob01.mws prob03.mws prob06.mws
  

• Questions A: (assigned Wed. 9/4/02, due Mon 9/9/02)
  Send an email message from your preferred email address to me (shruska@math.sunysb.edu). If your preferred address is not your mathlab account, set up mail forwarding on that account using a .forward file.
  In this message, list: (1) your name, (2) your year in school, (3) your major, (4) your math background, (5) your computer background, and (6,7,8) three questions/comments you have about this course (expectations, concerns, anything else you want me to know)---in complete english sentences!
  (9) PLUS -- send your class/activity schedule so that I may select three weekly office hours.
• Questions B: (assigned Wed. 9/11, due Mon. 9/16 by 5pm)
  Read Chapter 1 of the notes, which is a brief introduction to Maple (also in PDF). Email me with three questions/comments on the Chapter 1 material.
• Questions C: (assigned Wed. 9/25, due Sun. 9/29 by 5pm)
  Read Chapter 2 of the notes, on curve-fitting (also in PDF). Section 2.8 (a nod toward statistics) is optional. Make sure you understand well the material in sections 2.3 (fitting a line to data), 2.4 (fitting a cubic to data), 2.6 (fitting a circle to data), and 2.7 (robust fitting). Email me with three questions/comments on the Chapter 2 material.
• Questions D: (assigned Wed. 10/16, due Sun. 10/19 by 5pm)
  Read Chapter 3.1-3.5 of the notes, on ODEs and the glider model (everything before fixed point analysis) (also in PDF). Make sure you understand well the material in sections 3.2 and 3.5. Email me with three questions/comments on the material of 3.1-3.5.
• You should read the rest of Chapter 3, sections 3.6 (fixed point analysis), 3.7 (qualitative classification of solutions) and 3.8 (dealing with the singularity).
• Questions E: (assigned Wed. 11/20, due Sun. evening 11/24)
  Read Chapter 5.1-5.6 (on the Koch Snowflake, box dimension, and Cantor sets). Email me with three questions/comments on the material.

• Problems 1-6: (1,2 expire 9/23. 3,4,5,6 expire 9/30) html, as well as pdf and PostScript, which print nicer if you have the right software installed.
• Problems 7-10: (7,8 expire 9/30. 9,10 expire 10/14) html, pdf, PostScript.
• Problems 11-12: (expire 10/14) html, pdf, ps.
• Problems 13-16: (expire 10/21) html, pdf, ps.
• Problems 17-20: (expire 10/28) html, pdf, ps.
• Problems 21-24: (expire Fri. 11/22) html, pdf.
• Problems 24-28: (expire Fri. 12/13) html, pdf . Note I am leaving town friday immediately after class, so if you want to hand in some of Problems 24-28 on paper, you must do it during class.

• The first project (html, postscript) dealing with least-squares fitting, is due on October 9. A rough draft is due in-class Mon. Oct. 7, we will do an in-class peer review that day.
  The write-up portion of your project may be handed in in a non-Maple format, on paper in class on Wednesday. The Maple portion may be handed in on paper, but must also be submitted like a homework problem.
• The second project (html, ps, pdf), dealing with differential equations and a model of glider flight, is due on Monday, November 11. This is the hardest project of the semester, so I'd suggest you get started immediately.
• The third project (html, ps, pdf) is quite short and easy, and is due on Wednesday, December 11. It concerns fractals and box counting dimension. If you are doing this at home, you might need a copy of the file turtle.txt, which implements the turtle language. You also may want to review the additional notes on Affine Transformations (Maple Worksheet or Postscript). I am leaving town friday 12/13 immediately after class, so you must hand in this project by classtime friday 12/13.