CS 3734 Scientific and Engineering Computing I

The goal is to take advantage of the programming skills that the students learn in introductory level computer science courses to exploit the broad power of modern computing related to their science and engineering disciplines. Computational techniques are taught in parallel with programming and problem-solving methodologies. The students learn how to recognize a "good" or "bad" formulation of the problem, select the proper algorithm to solve a given computational problem, and interpret the results, and thus learn to become intelligent users, rather than creators, of computational software. The first semester will deal with fundamental issues in numerical computing.

Pre-requisites for this course are CS1114, MA1122, MA2012, MA2132. Serious numerical calculations will be performed using MATLAB in class and in homework assignments. Students are required to bring their laptop notebook computers to classes. Make sure that MATLAB is properly installed on your laptop. Help with software and hardware issues should be addressed to Information Systems located in RH 305.

Instructor :

K. Ming Leung

E-mail :

mleung@duke.poly.edu

Office :

LC 127

Office hours :

Tuesday: 1:00 - 2:00 pm, 5:00 - 6:00 pm

Thursday: 10:00 - 11:00 am

Textbook :

Scientific Computing: An Introductory Survey, 2^nd Edition, (McGraw-Hill, NY, 2002), by Michael T. Heath.

Lectures :

2 lectures a week, totaling to 39 hours per semester.

Recitation :

Roughly one hour per week

Exams :

Extended homework assignments and projects instead of midterm or final exam.

Homework :

Weekly homework assignments

Recitation Infrastructure :

Hands-on programming and exploration using MATLAB and existing public-domain software packages .

Course Objectives :

Knowledge of the fundamental issues concerning scientific and engineering computing.
Ability to formulate the problem, identify an appropriate computational algorithm, and properly interpret the results.

Tentative topics:

Week 1: MATLAB basics, floating point numbers, round-off errors, accumulation of errors

Weeks 2-3: Solutions of linear systems
Weeks 4-5: Solving nonlinear algebraic equations
Weeks 5-6: Interpolation and polynomial approximation

Weeks 7-8: Numerical differentiation and integration

Weeks 9-10: Linear least squares
Weeks 11-12: Eigenvalue problems

Week 13: Fast Fourier transform

Recitation topics:

Fully coordinated and integrated with lecture material.

ABET Competencies :

This course addresses the following ABET competencies :

a) Students apply knowledge of mathematics (calculus, linear algebra, differential equations) and computational techniques to solve science and engineering problems.

e) Students identify, formulate and solve scientific and engineering problems.

k) Students learn techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice by using computational and graphical tools for homework assignments and term projects.

Content by Category :

Engineering Science = 4 credits (100%)

Instructional Materials :

Materials for lectures and recitation classes

Homeworks :

Homework assignments and their solutions