Math 151A -- Applied Numerical Methods

Meets: MWF 2:00-2:50pm, MS 6229

T 2:00-2:50pm (discussion), MS 6229

Instructor: Jason DeVita

Email: jason@math.ucla.edu

Office: 7619E MS

Office Hours: M 3:00 - 4:00; R 2:00-3:00

Course Homepage: http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jason/151a.2.06f/

TA: Adam King

Email: aking@math.ucla.edu

Textbook: Numerical Analysis, Burden & Faires, 8th Ed.

Grading:
                   25% Homework
                   30% Midterm
                   45% Final

Homework: Homework will be assigned approximately once per week, and will be due precisely one week later. Tenatively, homework will be assigned/due on Wednesdays. Late Homework will not be accepted. The lowest homework assignment will be dropped, however.

Midterm: Friday, November 3 (tentative!). No make-up exams.

Final: Friday, December 15, 8:00-11:00am. The final exam is mandatory!

About the course: This is an introductory course in numerical methods with emphasis on algorithms, analysis of algorithms, and computer implementation issues. Here is a rough outline of the topics covered:

       weeks 1-2: Solutions of equations in one variable.
       week 3: Computer arithmetic, errors and accuracy.
       weeks 4-5.5: Polynomial interpolation & midterm.

weeks 7-8: Numerical differentiation and integration.
weeks 9-10: Direct methods for solving linear systems.

Computing: You are expected to know how to program a computer. This course we will not cover programming concepts. Each of you has been given an account for the PIC lab. Please visit http://www.pic.ucla.edu/piclab to read about the PIC lab.