This is the course website for Physics 301/Math 355: Mathematical Methods of Physics.
Please visit this site frequently; all homework assignments will be posted here, as well as detailed solutions to all
homeworks. These solutions will be made available for public viewing as soon as homework is collected in at the beginning of class.
This site will also post a series of classnotes to elucidate issues raised in class, provide greater detail about certain topics, provide tutoring
in the use of Mathematica, and also to show how the material done in class can be extended.
You can always view the syllabus here.
The software platform Mathematica will be used extensively in this course. Mathematica is loaded on all Loyola network machines, and Loyola students can download
a version for your own computer by going to the its mathematica webpage . You will need your Loyola id and password
to gain access to this page. The page will give you all the information needed to download a copy of mathematica to your own machine.
- Jan. 12:For the first day of class, read and study this classnote describing orthogonal curvilinear coordinates .
- Jan. 18:For the Mathematica labs (starting next Monday), please make sure you read this introduction to Mathematica .
- Jan. 27:For lab next week, read this introduction to defining and using functions in Mathematica.
- Jan. 29:Here are solutions for the first group assignment done today in class.
- Feb. 1: As we begin our study of Fourier series, read this review of series expansions.
- Feb 1: Here are some Mathematica codes with brief explanations that help us study the properties of waves.
- Feb. 1:Employing symmetry arguments can be a powerful way to evaluate integrals without having to do explicit calculation.
- Feb. 5:For next week's labs, read this discussion on loops and control stuctures in Mathematica.
- Feb. 10:This write up should help you use Mathematica to help study Fourier series/
- Feb. 12:This week we will learn to use if statements in Mathematica
- Feb. 19:As we begin our review of vector calculus, read and study these notes on Einstein Summation Notation..
- Feb. 22:Notes for the first hour exam.
- Feb. 22:>Solutions to last year's first hour exam.
- Feb. 22: 2014 first hour exam with solutions are available.
- 22 Feb. 22: Read more about summation notation including the epsilon-delta relationship.
- Feb. 23:Here is the write up about using Mathematica to integrate complex functions.
- Feb. 24:I have posted the examples using if statements done in computer lab.
- Feb. 29:You can review the solutions to the first hour exam .
- March 4:Over break, read the classnote about gradients. Note that this was written using an older version of Mathematica. Newer
versions of Mathematica call grad, div, and curl differently. We will go over those in lab following break.
- March 14:For lab this week (and for next Monday's homework) read using Mathematica for vector calculus.
- March 16: To get a better sense of the utility of summation notation, review this derivation of BAC-CAB using term-by-term expansion.
- March 16 : This write-up will show you how to solve some fairly elaboratevector proofs via summation notation.
- March 21:We will continue our study of numerical solutions of differential equations with an introduction to discretization methods and
more advanced elements of discretization methods .
- April 4:As we begin Chapter 12, read this review of series solutions of differential equations.
- April 6:Read and review this example of using Euler's method and recursion techniques to solve trajectory problems. We will use this technique to study
motion under the force of friction.
- April 7: As we begin our discussion of the Legendre differential equation and Legendre polynomials, read how Legendre polynomials are treated in Mathematica
and also some applications of Legendre polynomials to physics .
- April 7: For our last week of computer lab, read how modules work in Mathematica.
- April 7:Now that you are familiar with using Euler's method to solve differential equations, here is the code to allow you to use a slightly more sophisticated routine, the
Runge-Kutta technique.
- April 8: It might be very helpful and instructive to review this very extended discussion of the lunar infall problem.
- April 8:Solutions to this morning's group work assignment.
- April 15:Notes for the second hour exam
- April 18:Past second hour exams are available at: 2015 exan, 2014 exam,
2013 exam. Remember that the order of topics was different in the past, so the scope of these exams may differ from yours. Use the information I have posted to know the scope of this exam.
- April 25:This note will describe in detail how to solve Laplace's equation in spherical coordinates..
- April 25:Second hour exam solutions .
- April 28:Notes for the final exam.
David B. Slavsky
Loyola University Chicago
Cudahy Science Hall, Rm. 404
1032 W. Sheridan Rd.,
Chicago, IL 60660
Phone: 773-508-8352
E-mail: dslavsk@luc.edu
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