Undergraduate numerical analysis, first semester, APPM 4650. University of Colorado Boulder, Fall 2020.
This is a flipped class. Students are responsible for watching pre-recorded videos made by the instructor. During the scheduled class time, students must attend the live zoom session for at least 10 minutes (for at least 90% of the lectures); class time will be used to go over homework answers, run live demos, have students work on small projects/demos, and answer questions. Two TAs will be on zoom to help assist as well.
Week 4 update Students no longer need to attend 10 minutes of class; this participation grade is being replaced by the PlayPosit video quizzes.
- The instructor is Stephen Becker, Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics
- Contact him at stephen.becker@colorado.edu
- Daniel Ferguson is the graduate student TA. He is a PhD student in the Applied Math department. He's a Matlab specialist, but also knows Python.
- Andy Starr is an undergraduate TA (he will join the afternoon lectures). He is a Mech E and Applied Math major. He's a Matlab specialist, but also knows Python.
- Nick Elsasser is an undergraduate TA (he will join the morning lectures). He is a CS major. He's a Python specialist, but also knows Matlab.
There are two different sections of this course, both online. We suggest you attend the zoom session of your assigned section, but if necessary, it is OK for you to attend the zoom session for the other section.
- Morning section, 4650-001: 9:10 to 10:00 AM
- Afternoon section, 4650-002: 1:50 to 2:40 PM
Prof. Becker's office hours:
- 7:30 to 8:00 AM Wed (intended for students in different time zones)
- 2:40 to 3:40 PM Wed
- 1:00 to 2:00 PM Thurs
- 4:00 to 4:30 PM Thurs
The TAs do not have office hours, but at least 2 TAs attend every class, and since this is a flipped class, you can ask them questions during the class time, so this functions like office hours.
See the separate syllabus document.
This is intended to have a normal workload, less than Calculus III (which is 4 credits) but more than an elective class
MATH 3430 or APPM 2360 (these are ODE and linear algebra courses), and APPM 3310 (matrix methods). Minimum grades of C-.
Burden and Faires' textbook (9th or 10th edition) is our primary book, but homework problems will be written out explicitly, so it is not 100% necessary to purchase the book. This course has used this book in recent years, and it is used by the second semester class.
There are many other reasonable textbooks that can be used as a supplement. For example,
- Fundamentals of Numerical Computation, by Driscoll and Braun, SIAM from 2017. The first part of the book is free online, and they have examples in Matlab, Python and Julia (all good modern languages).
- Numerical Analysis, 1e, L. Ridgeway Scott, $95, which integrates with Perusall
- Scientific Computing: an Introductory survey, by Michael T. Heath. This has been used before (around 2018) for this class.
- Numerical Mathematics, by Quarteroni, Sacco & Saleri, 2007 which is free on CU via SpringerLink. This is quite detailed and used for graduate courses sometimes
- Numerical Anaysis, by Tim Sauer. This is used by CSCI-3656 some semesters.
- Numerical Methods: Design, Analysis, and Computer Implementation of Algorithms, by Anne Greenbaum and Tim P. Chartier, 2012, also integrates with Perusall. Focuses on a few topics.
Other good ideas are at the CSCI-3656 class; in particlar, Eijkhout (2017), Introduction to High-Performance Scientific Computing is much more high-performance implementation oriented.
See the separate syllabus document.
There are no recitations
- There will be two midterms, which might be take-home exams
- There is an final exam (done remotely, probably proctored via the Proctorio software -- you will need a laptop with zoom and a chrome browser; we'll do a dry-run first.)
There are no projects
There will be weekly homeworks. You are allowed to drop 1 homework (this will be done automatically).
In general, late homework assignments are not accepted; instead, you can use your one dropped homework. Under exceptional circumstances (such as serious illness, including COVID-19, or serious family issues), homework can be turned in late. If the reason is foreseeable (e.g., planned travel), you must contact the instructor in advance.
Examples:
- Your sister is getting married and you have to travel out-of-state. That's great, but this is when you use the one dropped homework. This is foreseeable, and not an "emergency", so it does not count as an exceptional circumstance.
- A close family member becomes infected with COVID-19 and you have to return to your home country to take care of family. This does count as an exceptional circumstance. Please email the instructor to discuss arrangements.
Similarly, missing exams are not made up except under the same exceptional circumstances.
If you miss the final exam for a legitimate reason, then it may be an option to get an "Incomplete" grade for the course and retake the final exam in a different semester. Otherwise, you need to take the final exam.
Cheating is not acceptable. Take-home exams and homeworks are easy to cheat on if you really want to, but as this is an upper-division course, I am relying on the fact that students are here to learn (and paying the university to do so), and thus cheating does not make sense. Cheating does not hurt the instructor, it hurts the student (and hurts the grades of honest classmates).
If a student is caught cheating, on the first occurrence, the penalty ranges from losing points on the item in question (like one test problem; this is for very minor infractions) to losing all points for the assignment (i.e., the entire homework or entire exam). Students may be referred to the honor council. On the second occurrence of cheating, similar penalties may apply, and additionally the student may fail the class, at the instructor's discretion.
"Minor infractions" include not following the instructions during an exam (in person or remote). For example, if the instructions on a remote test are to keep your microphone on and your hands in sight of your webcam, then failing to follow these instructions construes a minor infraction, and (even though cheating may not be proven) you are subject to losing points.
On homeworks, you are free to collaborate with other students, and to use resources like the internet appropriately. However, you must do your own work. There is a gray area between collaboration and cheating, and we rely on the students' and instructors discretion. Copying code verbatim is never permissible. You should be writing up your own work, and explaining answers in your own words. Snippets of code are allowed to be similar (sometimes there is only one good way to do it), but longer chunks of code should never be identical. If not expressly forbidden by the assignment, you may use the internet, but you may never post for help on online forums. (Regarding forums, please use our Piazza website if you want a Q&A forum).
Cheating is not usually an issue in this class, and I have faith that students will continue to act appropriately.
- 10% for participation (
attend 90% of lectures, for at least 10 minutes).If you miss a class for a legitimate reason (sickness, important travel), you can be excused. Doctor's notes are not needed to document illness (traveling to the student health center when only mildly sick can in fact be dangerous, as you spread disease to very sick people).- Update As of week 4, the participation grade is now determined by filling out the PlayPosit quizzes that are wrapped around some of the posted videos. Access these links via Canvas. You still only need to fill out 90% of these (the 90% will apply to combined attendance from weeks 1--3 and PlayPosit for the rest of the weeks)
- 30% Homework.
- Late homework is not accepted, but you are allowed one free "dropped" homework. Your lowest-scoring homework will be automatically dropped.
- 30% Midterms (2 midterms, each 15%)
- 30% Final exam
The overall grade may be curved as appropriate, but note that there is no set "quota" of A's, B's, etc., so you are not directly competing with your classmates.
We will use github for public content (notes, demos, syllabus), and use CU's default LMT Canvas for private content like grades and homework solutions. Canvas will also be used to organize things, like the pre-recorded lectures (posted as unlisted on Youtube, with links in Canvas), comments made via gradescope, and Q&A forums via piazza.
On zoom, please have your webcam on if at all possible
- Valid reasons for not having the camera on: to protect the privacy of your family or roommate, if you cannot have a virtual background
- Invalid reason: you don't feel like it, or you didn't wash your hair).
We have the same standards of behavior as we would in a classroom: appropriate attire, appropriate and not distracting virtual backgrounds, verbal and chat remarks should be respectful, etc. Real-world backgrounds should be appropriate and professional (please, no drugs or alcohol behind you).
It's always important to have respectful remarks, and even more so in an online setting, since it is easier to get carried away with chat comments since you cannot see the effect on other people.
If we enable private chat on zoom, remember that the zoom host can later see even "private" chats. Inappropriate or inconsiderate remarks, even on private chats, are not allowed.
Advice from your department advisor is recommended before dropping any course. After 11:59 PM Sept. 9, dropping a course results in a "W" on your transcript and you’ll be billed for tuition. After 11:59 PM Oct. 30, dropping the course is possible only with a petition approved by the Dean’s office.
Note that due to COVID-19, these requirements or dates may change.
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As a matter of public health and safety due to the pandemic, all members of the CU Boulder community and all visitors to campus must follow university, department and building requirements, and public health orders in place to reduce the risk of spreading infectious disease. Required safety measures at CU Boulder relevant to the classroom setting include:
- maintain 6-foot distancing when possible,
- wear a face covering in public indoor spaces and outdoors while on campus consistent with state and county health orders,
- clean local work area,
- practice hand hygiene,
- follow public health orders, and
- if sick and you live off campus, do not come onto campus (unless instructed by a CU Healthcare professional), or if you live on-campus, please alert CU Boulder Medical Services.
Students who fail to adhere to these requirements will be asked to leave class, and students who do not leave class when asked or who refuse to comply with these requirements will be referred to Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. For more information, see the policies on COVID-19 Health and Safety and classroom behavior and the Student Code of Conduct. If you require accommodation because a disability prevents you from fulfilling these safety measures, please see the “Accommodation for Disabilities” statement on this syllabus.
Before returning to campus, all students must complete the COVID-19 Student Health and Expectations Course. Before coming on to campus each day, all students are required to complete a Daily Health Form.
Students who have tested positive for COVID-19, have symptoms of COVID-19, or have had close contact with someone who has tested positive for or had symptoms of COVID-19 must stay home and complete the Health Questionnaire and Illness Reporting Form remotely. In this class, if you are sick or quarantined, please contact the instructor via email; you do not need to disclose the exact nature of your illness.
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit your accommodation letter from Disability Services to your faculty member in a timely manner so that your needs can be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities in the academic environment. Information on requesting accommodations is located on the Disability Services website. Contact Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or dsinfo@colorado.edu for further assistance. If you have a temporary medical condition, see Temporary Medical Conditions on the Disability Services website.
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Please know that faculty and instructors have a responsibility to inform OIEC when made aware of incidents of sexual misconduct, dating and domestic violence, stalking, discrimination, harassment and/or related retaliation, to ensure that individuals impacted receive information about options for reporting and support resources.
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, if you must miss the final exam due to religious reasons, talk to the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make special arrangements. If the homework is due on the date of a religious holiday, you are expected to turn the homework in early. If you have a religious holiday that lasts longer than one week, and so therefore you would not receive the homework with enough time to turn it in early, talk to the instructor at the beginning of the semester. For participation grades, talk to the instructor the week before the holiday.
See the campus policy regarding religious observances for full details.