This class is primarily intended for students majoring in engineering, biology, chemistry, physics and other fields, who wish to expand their culture of nonlinear differential equations. The class can also be taken for credit by math majors, or MCS majors, who wish to specialize in applied mathematics.

We will closely follow the textbook Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Engineering by Steven Strogatz. The style of this book, as well as the class, is to cover material in a qualitative way. This means that the accent is more often on description than theorems.

The class covers analysis tools for models—based on differential equations—that arise in real-life applications. The material includes

Exposure to calculus and linear differential equations at the level of Math 53 is required. Some basic physics is recommended. The class will occasionally illustrate examples through small computer experiments, but no previous knowledge of computer programming is necessary.

The class will be in room 380X, even though it may have been previously advertised as 380W.
The first class will be on Wednesday April 4. There will be no class on Monday May 28 (Memorial day).

There will be homework and a final exam. Grading: homework 50%, final 50%. The lowest grade on the homework will be dropped.

We kindly ask that you complete an online course evaluation at the end of the term, through Axess. Your opinion is very important to us!

• Here is a small write-up explaining disconnectedness of the Cantor set. Not material for the exam, but still a great exercise in basic topology.
• Here is a practice final exam.
• Please write neat and complete solutions to the problem sets. "Neat" means well structured, not only esthetically, but also logically. "Complete" means that the grader will need to see a sufficient amount of explanations and details to give you full credit, even if the question only asks for a numerical answer.
• Understanding the homework problems is part of solving them. When we (or the textbook author) ask a seemingly vague question, that may be a way to get you to make sense of it.
• A universal advice for whoever wants to ace a math class is to look carefully at every point that is taken off in your homework. Figure out all your mistakes, perhaps with the help of the CA or TA, and make sure you would know how to score 100% if you were to take an exam from the same homework questions. It is all too tempting to dismiss a certain fraction of mistakes or oversight as acceptable.