PHY102 - Physics Computations I (Spring 2006)

Maintained by Phil Duxbury
All course materials, worksheets and solutions will be posted here

Instructor

  • Prof. Phil Duxbury - BPS4260, 355-9200x2301, duxbury@pa.msu.edu

    Course Outline

    This is the first in a series of three one credit classes in physics computations(PHY102, PHY201 , PHY301 ). The objective of these courses is to give students a sound knowledge of the important computational techniques and tools used in physics. PHY102 concentrates on Mathematica. This is a powerful general purpose program to do algebraic and numerical calculations, graphics and animation for a variety of mathematics and physics problems.

    During PHY102 you will apply Mathematica to physics problems drawn from material covered in PHY183 and/or PHY193H. In addition to the algebraically solvable problems typically assigned in courses, you will also solve more complex problems numerically. Examples include the non-linear pendulum, motion in a gravitational field and chaos in simple maps. A weekly worksheet forms the core of the course.

    Laboratory Time - BPS1240

    - Thursday: 6-9pm

    Course Assessment

  • 75% will come from your solution to the weekly worksheets. For each worksheet which is not completed your grade is reduced by 0.5. If you complete all the worksheet you get a 3.0 grade.
  • 25% will come from a one hour practical exam at the end of the semester. This exam will be held in the last week of semester during your regular lab. time. In the exam you will be asked to perform mathematica functions you have used in the worksheets during the semester. Nothing new will be introduced. You will need to know how to use the online help facility.

    Lab. Exam

    The lab. exam is intended to test how well you know mathematica. If you know the basic commands well and work efficiently, you will finish in the allocated 1 hr.

    Less than two questions complete -> add 0.0
    Between two and four questions complete -> add 0.5
    Four or more questions complete -> add 1.0

    The worksheets for PHY102

  • Worksheet 1 - Due 9pm Thursday, January 19th ( Sample notebook, pdf )
  • Worksheet 2 - Due 9pm Thursday, January 26th ( pdf )
  • Worksheet 3 - Due 9pm Thursday February 2nd ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 4 - Due 9pm Thursday February 9th ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 5 - Due 9pm Thursday February 16th ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 6 - Due 9pm Thursday February 23rd ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 7 - Due 9pm Thursday March 2nd ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 8 - Due 9pm Thursday March 16th ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 9 - Due 9pm Thursday March 23rd ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 10 - Due 9pm Thursday March 30th ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 11: Review sheet 1 - Due 9pm Thursday April 6th ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 12 - Due 9pm Thursday April 13th ( pdf)
  • Worksheet 13 - Due 9pm Thursday April 20th ( pdf)
    1 hour lab. exam next week(April 27th) 6:00-7:00pm

    Helpfiles for PHY102

  • Introduction to Mathematica (Written by Ellen Lau)
  • Introduction to Linux Computing in BPS1240.
  • The mathematica website , it is very useful. In particular there are variety of tutorials to get you started. In addition the entire mathematica book is there.