MIT Concourse - 18.03 Syllabus - Spring 2017
Course Meeting Times:
Lectures (Robert Winters): 2 sessions/week (Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:30pm-3:00pm, 90 minutes/session)
Recitations (Robert Winters): Choose either Tues, Thurs 11:00am to noon or 2:00pm-3:00pm, 1 hour/session)
An optional, informal weekly session covering some more theoretical aspects of the course may also be scheduled.
Course website: http://math.rwinters.com/1803
Prerequisites/Corequisites:
18.01 (Single Variable Calculus) is a prerequisite; 18.02 (Multivariable Calculus) is a corequisite, meaning students may take 18.02 and 18.03 simultaneously.
Texts: None required, but two good optional texts are:
(1) Differential Equations & Linear Algebra by Farlow, Hall, McDill, West. This text is published by Pearson and has ISBN #9780131860612.
(2) Elementary Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems. 6th ed. by Edwards, C., and D. Penney. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008. ISBN: 9780136006138. [Note: The 5th Edition (ISBN: 9780131457744) or the 4th Edition will serve as well.]
We will also make great use of "18.03: Notes and Exercises" by Arthur Mattuck, and "18.03 Supplementary Notes" by Haynes Miller (both available online at no cost) as well as lecture notes prepared specifically for our course. If applicable, we may also reference additional materials from the mainstream course.
The Concourse version of the 18.03 course will closely parallel the mainstream 18.03 course. As has been the case for the last few semesters, there will be additional emphasis on Linear Algebra throughout the course, and some topics listed above may be less emphasized than in previous years.
This course is a study of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE's), including modeling physical systems. Topics include:
Lectures
The lecture period is used to help students gain expertise in understanding, constructing, solving, and interpreting differential equations. Students should come to lecture prepared to participate actively.
Recitations
These meet twice a week to discuss and gain experience with the course material. Even more than the lectures, the recitations involve active participation. Students are encouraged to ask questions early and often.
Office Hours
Regular office hours at times to be determined. You are encouraged to drop by for any matters that cannot adequately be addressed in class.
Tutoring
Tutors/graders are available within Concourse. Another resource of great value to students is the Mathematics Department tutoring room. This is staffed by experienced undergraduates. This is a good place to go to work on homework (as is the Concourse Lounge).
Videos
You may find the 18.03 lecture videos of Arthur Mattuck helpful. They are available on the Open Courseware site and were recorded in Spring 2003.
The Ten Essential Skills
Students should strive for personal mastery over the following skills. These are the skills that are used in other courses at MIT. This list of skills is widely disseminated among the faculty teaching courses listing 18.03 as a prerequisite. At the moment, 140 courses at MIT list 18.03 as a prerequisite or a corequisite.
The Ten Essential Skills is also available as a (PDF).
Homework:
Homework assignments typically will consist of a combination of routine skill-based problems drawn from a textbook or notes, and other problems that may be more searching and interpretive. Both kinds of problems will be tied to topics presented in the lectures. Students should form the habit of doing the relevant problems between successive lectures and not try to do the whole set the night before they are due.
Exams:
There will be 3 one-hour exams held during either a lecture class or a recitation. There will also be a three-hour comprehensive final examination.
Grading:
The final grade will be based on the following scheme (subject to minor modification):
25% homework, 40% hour exams, 35% Final Exam
ODE Manipulatives ("Mathlets"):
This course employs a series of specially written Java™ applets, or Mathlets, developed by the Mathematics Department. They may be used in lecture occasionally, and each problem set typically contains a problem based around one or another of them.