Numerical Methods (88-376)
Information for Students (2002/3 Academic Year)

Lectures

There are 4 lecture sections for this course:

Topics to be covered:

Click here for a little more detail about the syllabus

Interruptions invariably make a lecture harder to follow for the majority of listeners. Consequently,

Recitations

You should attend one of the many weekly 90 minute recitation sessions.

If you wish to attend a session other than that for which you are registered you should ask the instructor's permission first. Moves from more crowded sessions to less crowded ones are allowed and encouraged at the start of the semester, but you should try to stick with the same instructor after that.

On the web site I will post a set of problems on each of the topics we will study. These are intended as "homework", but will not be graded. In the recitation sections the instructors will review material, solve the problem sets and solve further problems.

Grades

100% on the final exam. More details towards the end of the semester.

Students retaking this course: Even if you took this course in a previous year and failed it or are retaking it, you will be treated like a student of the current year. That means that even though there was a midterm when you took the course before, it will not count. And you must learn this year's material, which may differ slightly from what you learnt before.

Prerequisites

It is assumed that all students have taken "Infi" 1 and 2 and "Linearit" 1 and 2. In particular, students are expected to understand how to compute derivatives and integrals, the basic applications of derivatives and integrals, Taylor series, the intermediate and mean value theorems, how to solve systems of linear equations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors. And probably a few other things that I've forgotten.

Equipment and Books

Every student should have a good scientific calculator, and bring it to classes, and especially to the exam.

Every student should keep an eye on the course website http://www.math.biu.ac.il/~schiff/Teaching/376/376.html where I will post exercises, important handouts and past exams. I will not usually distribute such things in class.

Every student should have access to one of the software packages Matlab or Scilab. Both these packages provide environments for numerical computations, with simple routines for matrix manipulation ("Matlab" is short for "matrix laboratory" ), as well as useful graphics capabilities. Matlab is propietary software, but is installed on the department unix computers (sunshine and sunlight). To start Matlab just type "matlab". Scilab is free software, that you can download for many different platforms (I recommend linux). See http://www.math.biu.ac.il/~schiff/Teaching/376/376lab.html for more information. Scilab and Matlab are very similar.

Books: The material in the course is all standard, and can be found in numerous introductory textbooks on numerical methods, as well as on a number of internet sites. I might prepare a list sometime.

Contact Information

For questions on the material, please approach your recitation instructor before your lecturer.

Office Location Office Hours Email address
Lecturers Dr. Jeremy Schiff 325, Math and CS Building Wednesday 14:00-16:00 schiff@math.biu.ac.il
Dr. Yakov Krasnov 203, Math and CS Building Monday and Wednesday, 8:00-10:00 krasnov@math.biu.ac.il
Instructors Shira Tsur zur@macs.biu.ac.il
Ariel Gefen arielgefen@hotmail.co.il
Yaakov Gershtein gerstey@macs.biu.ac.il
Ruthi Leabovich treismr@macs.biu.ac.il
Or Shachar shaharo@macs.biu.ac.il

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