General information:

• Textbook: Brannan and Boyce, Differential Equations, published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
  


• Course Description and Prerequisites: This is an introductory course in ordinary differential equations (ODEs).  The core topic of the course is linear differential equations.  That includes first and second order ODE's, and linear systems with two variables or more generally any number of variables.  We will also give an introduction to non-linear ODE's, the Laplace transform, and numerical methods of approximating the solutions to ODE's.  Math 51 or the equivalent is required for this course. In particular, you should be familiar with one-variable differentiation and integration, two-variable differentiation, vectors, matrices, systems of linear equations, determinants, and inverses.


• Grading Policy: homework 20%, each midterm 25%, final exam 30%.
  
  
• Homework Policy: There will be eight problem sets.  We will post a problem set each Thursday, and it will be due the following Thursday before 5pm. We can't accept late homeworks, but the lowest homework grade will be dropped.  You are encouraged to work together on the problem sets.  You can also discuss the problem sets with SUMO tutors or with anyone else, and you can look for helpful information in the library, on the web, or from any source.  But you must write your own solutions to the problem sets.

• The Schedule for the First week: The first lecture will be on Wednesday, April 2.  The first section will be on Thursday, April 3.  The first office hours will be on Thursday, April 3.
  

Homework page

Signing up for Lectures and Sections:

To take the course for credit, you must register in Axess for exactly one of the following four Lectures:
• Section 1: Larry Guth MWF 10 AM in 380-380X
• Section 2: Richard Siefring MWF 2:15 PM in 380-381U
• Section 4: Richard Siefring MWF 1:15 PM in 380-380X
• Section 7: Larry Guth MWF 11 AM in 370-370

To take the course for credit, you must also register in CourseWork for exactly one of the following eight discussion sections:
• Section 3: Eric Schoenfeld at 1:15 PM TuTh in 380-380C
• Section 5: Tania Rojas-Esponda at 11 AM TuTh in McCull126
• Section 6: Tania Rojas-Esponda at 10 AM TuTh in 380-381U
• Section 8: Kamil Szczegot at 11 AM TuTh in GESB124
  
• Section 9: Andres Angel at 1:15 PM TuTh in 380-380D
  
• Section 10: Andres Angel at 10 AM TuTh in ApPhys 200
• Section 11: Kamil Szczegot at 2:15 PM TuTh in Hewlett 102
• Section 12: Eric Schoenfeld at  2:15 PM TuTh in HerrinT 195

Office Hours and Contact Information for the Teachers

You may go to any of the following office hours (regardless of who your TA/Lecturer is)

• Richard Siefring, Tues 4-5:30 pm, Wed 4-5:30 pm, room 381-B, siefring "at" math.stanford.edu
• Larry Guth, Tues 3:30 - 4:30 pm, Wed 2-3, Fri 1:30 - 2:30 pm, room 382-L, lguth "at" math.stanford.edu
• Eric Schoenfeld, Tues 3:10 - 3:40, Wed 3 - 5:30, room 380-L, erics "at" math.stanford.edu
• Kamil Szczegot, Tues 9:30 - 10:30 am, Thurs 9:30 - 10:30 am, 3:30 - 4:30 pm, 380-M, kamil "at" math.stanford.edu
• Tania Rojas-Esponda, Tues 1-2 pm, Wed 11 am - 12 pm, Fri 2:20-3:20 pm, room 380-R, taniar "at" math.stanford.edu
• Andres Angel, Wed 5-8 pm , room 380-T , jangel "at" math.stanford.edu

Other resources

• There is free SUMO tutoring Mon and Wed from 6-10pm in 380-381T.
• The Center for Teaching and Learning also offers free tutoring.
• ACE (Accelerated Calculus for Engineers)
  

Course Outline (Tentative Schedule)

• Chapter 1 of the textbook, Sections 1.1-1.3.  April 2-4.  Introduction to ODE's.
• Chapter 2 of the textbook, Sections 2.1-2.6.  April 7-15.  First order ODE.
  
• Chapter 3 of the textbook, Sections 3.1-3.5.  April 16-22.  Systems of two first order ODE.
• Appendix A of the textbook, Section A.4.  April 23-24.  Linear algebra: eigenvalues and eigenvectors.
  
• Chapter 6 of the textbook.  April  25 - May 1. Linear systems of ODE in any number of variables.
  
• Chapter 4 of the textbook.  May 2-9.  Second order ODE.
  
• Review May 12-13.
  
• Chapter 5 of the textbook.  May 14-20.  Introduction to the Laplace transform.
• Numerical Approximation, Sections 2.7-2.8. May 21-22.
  
• Chapter 7 of the textbook.  May 23 - Jun 2.  Nonlinear ODE.
• Review.  June 3-4.
  

 Homework:

Exam dates:

•   Midterm 1: Tue Apr 22, 7-8:30pm
  • There will be alternate exams from 5-6:30 pm and from 9-10:30 pm in rooms to be announced. If you have an academic conflict and need to take this exam, send an e-mail to Prof. Siefring at siefring@math.stanford.edu by Friday April 18 5pm.
    
  • Material covered: Chapter 1, sections 1.1 - 1.3; Chapter 2, sections 2.1 - 2.5; Chapter 3, sections 3.1 - 3.4.
  • Location: If you are in lecture sections 1 or 7 (Guth), the exam will be in Hewlett 102; if you are in lecture sections 2 or 4 (Siefring), the exam will be in Hewlett 201.
    

•   Midterm 2: Tue, May 13, 7-9pm
  • There will be an alternate exam at a time to be scheduled. If you have an academic conflict and need to take this exam, make sure you let your TA know by Thursday, May 8.
  • Material covered: Chapter 4 and Chapter 6.

•   Final Exam: Fri, June 6, 7-10pm 
• There will be an alternate exam at a time to be scheduled. If you have an academic conflict and need to take this exam, make sure you let your TA know by Tuesday, June 3.