Math 2090: Differential equations and linear algebra

Information about this course

Text book: Differential Equations and Linear Algebra; Second Edition, by Stephen W. Goode.
Class times and place: MTWF: 10:40 - 11:30am, Locket 276
Office hours: MTWF: Locket 210. 11:30am - 12, or by appointment.
Homework: There will be one homework most weeks. Total 12 or 13 homeworks. Homeworks will be given using webwork. Homework grades will be stored in semester book. Ungraded homework problems will be suggested for each class. It is important to work through problems after each class, to make sure you understand the contents of each class.
Please practice using the Webwork homework as soon as possible. Your user name is your paws ID. passwork initially your social security number. Please change this on your first login.
Tests: (in class time) :
- test 1: Wednesday February 14
- test 2: Wednesday March 7
- test 3: Wednesday March 28
Final Exam: Wednesday May 9 12:30 - 2:30pm
Computation of final grade:
- 15% homework, computed from best 10 homeworks
- 15% test 1
- 15% test 2
- 15% test 3
- 40% final exam
Grading scale: 90-100%=A, 80-90%=B, 70-80%=C, 60-70%=D.
Make up policy: No tests or exams can be dropped, but make up exams are possible in the case of illness or unavoidable absences, e.g., clash with exams for other courses, provided you have documentation to prove your reason for absence. This should be given in advance of the day of the exam where possible.
Course web page: http://www.math.lsu.edu/~verrill/teaching/math2090/index.html
Course contents: parts of chapters 1 - 10.
Test and exams: These will be based on homework questions, both graded and ungraded, and examples done in class. The final exam covers all topics of course.

Handouts and worksheets

Slope fields

Maple slope field worksheets. You can open the the following maple files using the maple program - LSU has a campus wide liscence, so you should be able to find this on any computer on campus. Files ending with ".mw" are maple files. I'm also including pdf versions of these files, so you can see the pictures of the slope field even if you are using a home computer without maple.

You don't need to know much about maple to use these files; just open the files in maple, and press the return key several times. You can edit the lines where the function is defined to get new examples of slope fields.

slopefields1.mw workshop and printout.
slopefields2.mw workshop and printout.
slopefields3.mw workshop and printout.
slopefields4.mw workshop and printout.
slopefields5.mw workshop and printout.
slopefields6.mw workshop and printout.
slope fields worksheet.mw workshop and printout.

Maple also has a worksheet on slope fields at Lesson 12: Slope Fields - Maple Application Center.

If you prefer using mathematica to maple, you can find a mathematica worksheet on the mathworld web page on slope fields (see link "download the mathemathematica notebook").

Several graphing calculators can also draw slope fields, so check to see if yours has this function.

Helena Verrill

Last modified: Fri Jan 26 11:25:50 CST 2007