Math 442, Partial Differential Equations, Spring 2015

Instructor: Junping Shi, Jones 117, phone: 221-2030, jxshix@wm.edu

Meeting time and location: Tuesday and Thursday 2:00-3:20pm, Jones Hall 306

Web pages: http://jxshix.people.wm.edu/schedule-math442-spring2015.html (schedule, homework assignments, software, extra reading)

Office Hours: R 3:30-5pm, F 10:30-11:50 or by appointment. 

Textbook: Partial Differential Equations: An Introduction, 2nd Edition Walter A. Strauss 2008. (errata of the book)

Course Description: An introduction to partial differential equations. Waves, diffusion, and boundary value problems; Fourier analysis; harmonic functions; Green’s function and Green’s identity; computation of solution; . Introduction to numerical methods for approximating solutions. We will cover selected sections from Chap 1-8, 10, 12 and 14 in the textbook.

Prerequisites: Math 111, Math 112, Math 211, Math 212/213, Math 302.You should be familiar with material in Appendix 1-3 in textbook.

Computer and Calculators: Computer demonstrations will be given in classes sometimes. Computer software Maple/Matlab/Mathematica (Wolfram Alpha) will be used in some homework assignments and midterm exams. 

Tests and Final Exam: We will have two take-home exams during the semester and there is no final exam. The two take-home exams will take place around early March, and late April-early May. The exams must be completed by the students individually in one week. Books, notes and computer can be used in exams.

Homework: Homework will be assigned for every lecture, and it will be available from http://jxshix.people.wm.edu/schedule-math442-spring2015.html. Homework will be collected weekly and usually they are due on Friday 5pm. You can request extension for 2 homework without any penalty. The problems are from textbook or from the instructors, and some problems may involve writing simple Matlab programs. Students are encouraged to discuss homework problems with each other or with the instructor. No late homework will be accepted for any reason. 

Math 300: Student can write an additional essay to fulfill Math 300 requirement.