Basic information about 427K-H Spring 2010


Professor:   Karen Uhlenbeck    RLM 9.160  uhlen@math.utexas.edu  512-471-1172

                    Secretary :  Lizbeth Lynch RLM 9.158  512-471-6237  (use for messages for Dr. Uhlenbeck)

                     Office hours:  Regularly M: 3-4   W 2:15-3:15  Th 11:30-12:30 and by appointment or drop-in.  Feel free to make an appointment in class, or by e-mail.

Teaching Assistant:  Su Chen    schen@math.utexas.edu 512-475-9133

The web site for this course is http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/uhlen/ode10

Text:  "Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems" by Polking, Boggess and Arnold. The solutions and matlab manuals are optional.

Homework will be assisgned weekly and handed in during the TA session on Wednesday.  Late homework will not be graded.  The homework assignment will hopefully be posted at least a week in advance. It will not be problems from the book.
About every other week there will be a computer assignment instead of a set of problems to be worked by hand. If you are not already computer savy, there will be instructions on the web page on how to work the problems in matlab, although you can use any software you like to work them.

Course Material:  We will cover Chapters 1-4.4,7-9.5 and parts of 10-13.

Exams: There will be three hour exams and one two hour final.  The tentative dates for the exams are:

                 Thursday Feb 11
                 Wednesday March 31
                 Tuesday May 4

Project: There will be an optional project.  This is a short paper reporting on some subject not included in the course.  It is optionally done by a group of two or three students.  Project guidelines and references will be given. There are projects listed in the text some of which will be on the lists of possible projects.  Also, another  possible project would be the Laplace transform, which will not be covered in the lectures. The project possibilities will be more rigid than they have been in the past. The schedule for completion of the project will be  (at each stage, hand in one copy of the required information):

                 March 2: Hand in project title, references and list of group members
                 April 4:  Hand in outline and at least one a paragraph introduction and a synopsis of the project
                 May 6:  Hand in final project.

Extra Credit:  Most weeks there will be an extra credit problem.  Most of the extra credit problems require more mathematical sophistication than the regular problems. They will be handed in separately to Professor Uhlenbeck on Thursdays (they are graded by the professor, not the grader for the course). There will also be an extra credit problem on each exam.

Grading:  The homework, each hour exam, and the project each will be worth 100. The final is worth 2 at 200.    This gives a total of 700 for 7 units. .  You will be graded on the best 5, out of 500.  Extra credit can be added on top.  So it is poossible to get more than 500 points. 

                450-500 (+)   A
                400-449         B
                350-399         C
                300-349         D
                      -299         F

Grades are high in the section, but the competition is fierce (this is why the course is not graded on a curve).  Students in this section are very good, and they work hard. Be prepared.

Note:  If there are students with special needs in the class, we will make every effort to accomodate these students.  Please see Professor Uhlenbeck before the first exam. Also note that if you know you have to be away, it might be a good idea to check with Professor Uhlenbeck about your absence well ahead of time, especially if it involves a deadline or an exam. We understand completely that illness cannot be planned ahead of time. And, don't come to class or even an exam if you have the flu.