APPM 2450, Calculus 3 Lab, Fall 2017

Announcements

• Welcome to APPM 2450 - Calc 3 Computer Lab!
• If you haven't done so... please download Mathematica onto your device!! Mathematica License

General Information

This is an introductory course that will cover basic programming using Mathematica. Our goal is to get you proficient enough with Mathematica such that you feel comfortable using it to solve math, science and engineering problems as you encounter them throughout your education/career. Attention will also be given to using Mathematica as a document creation tool for well formatted reports. The course is intended to supplement Calculus 3 - APPM 2350.

Schedule

In this table, you'll find the reading assignments (.nb files) and homework assignments (.pdf files) corresponding to each week. Each filename starts with the week it corresponds to.

Grading

This is a one credit pass/fail course.  In order to pass the course, you must attend class and do the required assigments.  Your homework scores must average at least 70%, and you may not miss more than 2 days of class. If you miss more than 2 days of class, you will automatically receive a FAIL for the course.

Lecture Times and Location

Office Hours

You may of course visit any the office hours for any TA in Calculus 3, but if you have Mathematica specific questions, it is best to try to make it to our office hours.

Note: Please bring a laptop if you plan on working on Mathematica code during Office Hours.  If you do not have access to a laptop, you may bring your code on a flash drive in order to ask specific questions.

Homeworks

Homework Guidelines

Just as in the Calculus 3 lecture, a part of this course is learning to clearly present technical concepts. The notebook you turn in should look neat and be well organized. More specifically, it should be

• Structured:
  • title
  • your name
  • the date/semester
  • it should be clear where each problem starts
• Professional:
  • no extra input cells (to delete these, click on the bracket on the right side of the notebook and then click delete)
  • use the cell formatting options to style plain text, section titles, and regular titles appropriately
• Complete

​Make sure to also include the statement

Clear["Global`*"]

at the beginning of your notebook so that the memory is cleared out before your commands are run. Finally, you should reduce the file size by deleting all output before you save! This saves space on your computer, your TA's computer, and the D2L servers.

You might consider using this Mathematica notebook as a template to help format your homeworks.

Submission Instructions

Homework will be posted Friday afternoon. The assignment is to be completed by the end of the following week (Friday at 4:00pm). You will submit your homework on D2L in the dropbox folder for the current assignment. To do so, log into D2L, click on ”Assessments” and choose ”Dropbox.” Choose the appropriate folder, and upload your notebook.

Projects

Submission Instructions

You and your group will submit your project on D2L, in the appropriate dropbox (you can find these under the "assessments" tab in D2L) Your group must

• submit your project report in pdf format. When word documents are uploaded to D2L, the equations in them are commonly jumbled around.
• submit the code used for your project (either a .nb file for Mathematica or a .m file for MatLab).
• do not zip your files.
• have only ONE group member should submit the project. Having multiple people in your group submit the project to D2L will result in multiple grades, and we will take the LOWEST one.
• include all group members' names, student ID numbers, and recitation section numbers on the project

Report Guidelines

Your report should be written in a professional format. Your report should "stand alone" in that the reader should be able to understand what you did (and how and why) with out having to refer back to the assigment or the appendix (the appendix should just offer extra details on the calculations). Additionally:

• You must work in a group of size three (you cannot work alone). Working in larger or smaller groups will result in a zero for all group members.
• Include a brief introduction that summarizes necessary background information and the goal of the lab.
• Include a brief conclusion that summarizes the main results of the lab. This should answer/address the goal you discussed in the introduction.
• Label plots (title and axes) and explain their relevance to the project in the text.
• Include important formulas used and main results in the body, however...
• do NOT include lengthy calculations. These can be included in an appendix, and referred to in the main body.
• Labs must be typed, including the equations in the main body (part of your learning experience is to learn how to use an equation editor). You might consider investing time in learning to use a more sophisiticated typsetting system, such as Lyx or LaTeX. An exception can be made for lengthy calculations in the appendix, which can be hand written (as long as they are neat and clean).
• You must include any plot that supports your conclusions or gives you insight in your investigations.
• Write your report in an organized and logical fashion. Section headers such as Introduction, Calculations, Results, Conclusion, Appendix, etc... are not mandatory, but are highly recommended. They not only help you write your report, but help the reader navigate through your paper, besides giving it a cleaner look.

Here is an example project.  Here is an example of a bad report.  Here is an example of a good report.

Project Schedule

In this table, you'll find the instructions for each project; some projects have supplementary files, so be sure to look at all files for each project. Below is a table of topics and due dates.

Regrade Requests

If you feel that your project was graded incorrectly, you may request a regrade.  To request a regrade, please fill out this regrade request form, and return it to Harry Dudley in STAD 152 or Nate Mathews.  Any regrade requests that are unjustified or are simply a complaint may lead to a lower project score.

Getting Mathematica on Your Home Computer

To get Mathematica on your home computer, follow the instructions at http://sitelic.colorado.edu/mathematica/

Policies

• Disability Services
• Religious Observances
• Classroom Behavior
• Discrimination and Harassment
• Academic Honesty and Honor Code
• Final Examination Policy