Xinfeng Liu
Email:
xfliu@math.sc.edu
Phone: 576-5849
Office Location: LC 422
Office Hours: MWF 10:00AM-11:00
Textbook: Differential Equations and their applications, Fourth Edition, by Martin Braun.
Prerequisite: Completion of Math 526 or 544 with a grade of C or higher.
Course Content: This course will cover the materials presented in
Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the text.
Learning Outcome: Students are expected to master qualitative
theories and concepts and at the same time apply these terminology to solve problems
concerning higher order and systems of linear ODEs based upon the methods they learn from this class.
Reading: Reading the textbook
in advance of the lecture is strongly
encouraged. Benifits of this preparation include obtaining a familiarity with the terminology and
concepts that will be encountered (so you can distinguish major points from side
issues), being able to formulate questions about the parts of the presentation that
you do not understand, and having a chance to review the skills and techniques
that will be needed to apply the new concepts.
Homework and Quiz:
Homework will be assigned for each section and will not be collected, but you are supposed to do them all.
REMEMBER: the more problems you do, the better you understand the material.
Students are encouraged to work together on homework sets.
There will be approximately one quiz per week on Wednesday, and no quiz during the exam weeks.
There are two problems for each quiz.
The quiz problems will be either the same as, or very similar to those
from the homework. Thus, if a student has made a good attempt at the
homework, he/she should do well on the quiz.
Two lowest quiz grade will be dropped from the final grade calculation.
Your cumulative quiz grades will be based on the best eight of ten quizzes.
Exams: There will be three midterm exams and a comprehensive final exam.
Exam 1: Monday, Feb. 8, 11:15AM - 12:05PM
Exam 2: Friday, Mar. 5, 11:15AM - 12:05PM
Exam 3: Monday, April 12, 11:15AM - 12:05PM
Final Exam: Saturday, May 1, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
The exams are "closed book" – no books, no notes, no
graphing calculators, no labtop comptuer or equivalent technology, etc. You
may use the scientific calculator.
Picture I.D. is required and must be presented upon request.
There are no early exams. A make-up exam is only possible for
written legitimate documented reasons of illness, family emergency, or participation
in a University sponsered event.
You must take your exams with the lecture for which you are registered.
Grades:
Quizzes: 20%
Three Midterms: 15% each
Final exam: 35%
Grading Scales: A (90-100%), B+ (86-89%), B (80-85%), C+ (76-79%), C (70-75%), D+ (66-69%),
D (60-65%), F (0-59%)
The deadline to drop this course with a grade of W is Mondy, February 22, 2010.
Graduate Credit:
Graduate students enrolled in this course will be expected to work additional
problems assigned throughout the semester. Students taking the course for
un-dergraduate credit can work these problems for extra credit.
Attendance: Attendance at every class meeting is important - and expected. Students missing
more than 10% of the class meetings (4 days) can have their grade lowered.
Class Files:
Practice Exam1
Practice Exam2
Practice Exam3
Practice Final
Academic Dishonesty: Cheating and plagiarism in any form is not tolerated.
If a student is caught cheating, I will follow the guidelines as set
forth in the USC Honor Code and other University guidelines.