Syllabus: AMATH 351, Summer 2017

GENERAL INFORMATION
Instructor: Brian de Silva, bdesilva@uw.edu
TA: Doris Voina, dvoina@uw.edu
Lectures: MWF, in CMU 226 from 1:10-2:10
Office hours: M 2:20-3:20 and W 12:00-1:00 in LEW 129
TA office hours: TBD

WEBPAGE
Homework assignments, solutions, and gradebook can be found at the canvas course webpage: https://canvas.uw.
edu/courses/1145444.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Introductory survey of ordinary differential equations, linear and nonlinear equations, Taylor series, Laplace trans-
forms, and linear systems of ODEs. Emphasizes formulation, solution, and interpretation of results. Examples drawn
from physical and biological sciences and engineering.

PREREQUISITES
Proficiency in manipulation of algebraic equations and methods of differentiation and integration at the level of MATH
124 & 125 are assumed.

TEXTBOOK
W.E. Boyce & R.C. DiPrima: Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems.
The text is not required, but obtaining some edition of it is to use as a reference is strongly recommended.

GRADES
Homeworks: 25%. Assignments are typically due on Wednesdays at the beginning of class.
Exams: 25% each × 3. Tentatively scheduled for Monday 7/10/17, Monday 7/31/17, and Friday 8/18/17. In-class.
Each midterm covers only one section of the course. They are not intentionally cumulative; however, topics build on
each other, so familiarity with previously covered material is necessary.

HOMEWORK POLICY
Collaboration: Collaboration is encouraged, but every student must submit their own assignment consisting of their
own work.
Late assignments: No late assignments will be accepted for any reason. In the rare event of an emergency, with
sufficient documentation, a homework will be dropped and other homeworks re-weighted.
Scoring: Each homework assignment will be graded for completeness, with a few problems selected at random graded
for correctness. Students are urged to treat each problem seriously, as it is possible any problem will be graded for
correctness. The lowest homework score is not dropped.

EXAM POLICY
You are allowed one handwritten, double-sided reminder sheet (8.5”×11” max.) No calculators, computers, or collab-
oration allowed. The lowest exam score is not dropped.

ATTENDANCE POLICY
Attendance is not recorded nor taken into consideration in grades. However, it is highly recommend that students
attend lecture to keep up with the material.

COMPUTING POLICY

1
Some Matlab will be used in the course and a basic understanding of Matlab will be beneficial. However, computing
is not a main focus of this course. Those interested in learning more about numerical methods should consider taking
AMATH 301, Beginning Scientific Computing.

HONOR CODE
Students shall abide by the University of Washington Academic Responsibility policies, which are outlined at https:
//depts.washington.edu/grading/pdf/AcademicResponsibility.pdf

Suggestion Box If you have a suggestion or any comments on anything related to the course that you do not feel
comfortable bringing up with me in person, I have created an anonymous suggestion box. I urge you to bring issues to
my attention sooner rather than later. I’ll do my best to address your concerns in a timely manner. The suggestion
box can be accessed at https://www.suggestionox.com/r/TOJT6G.