Welcome to Modern Computational Math! For grades, log into Moodle. If you need help, contact Prof. Wright.
Prof. Wright's office hours: Mon. 1–2pm, Wed. 9–10am, Thurs. 10–11am, and Fri. 1–2pm in RMS 405. Check Google Calendar for up-to-date availability, or email to schedule an appointment.
Help sessions: to be announced
Do the following before the first class:
- Complete the Introductory Survey, if you haven't done so already.
- Install Mathematica on your computer. If you've already installed Mathematica, open it up and check that your license key is still active. You might be prompted to upgrade to the most recent version. For assistance, see this IT Help Desk page.
Friday
February 6
February 6
Introduction; Mathematica basics
Do the following before next class:
- Read the Syllabus and complete the Syllabus Quiz on Moodle.
- Watch the video Hands-On Start to Mathematica by Wolfram.
- Read pages 1–12 of Experimental Mathematics. Come to class prepared to summarize Archimedes's method for computing \(\pi\).
- Complete the Intro Mathematica homework problems and submit your notebook to the Intro Mathematica assignment on Moodle.
Monday
February 9
February 9
Computing \(\pi\)
Do the following before next class:
- Read the following pages about the Wolfram Language: Fractions & Decimals, Variables & Functions, Lists, Iterators, and Assignments.
- Modify the code from class to complete the Archimedes's Method practice problems, and upload your solutions to the Archimedes's Method assignment on Moodle.
- Read pages 13–25 in our Experimental Mathematics text. Come to class prepared to explain what the text means by accuracy, efficiency, and representation.
- If you're curious why the sum of reciprocals of squares converges to \(\pi^2/6\) (on the Intro Mathematica practice problem), then watch this video.
Wednesday
February 11
February 11
Madhava series for \(\pi\)
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
February 13
February 13
Inverse tangent formulas for \(\pi\)
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
February 16
February 16
Formulas for \(\pi\) by Ramanujan and others
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
February 18
February 18
Probabilistic approaches for \(\pi\)
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
February 23
February 23
Fibonacci implementations
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
February 25
February 25
Fibonacci identities
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
February 27
February 27
Fibonacci polynomial identities
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
March 4
March 4
Generalized Fibonacci numbers
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
March 6
March 6
Iterated functions; Collatz trajectories
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
March 9
March 9
Patterns in Collatz trajectories
Generalized Fibonacci
Project due
Project due
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
March 11
March 11
More Collatz trajectories
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
March 13
March 13
The logistic map
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
March 16
March 16
The logistic map
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
March 18
March 18
Logistic map bifurcation diagrams
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
March 20
March 20
The Feigenbaum constant
Generalized Fibonacci
Project revisions due
Project revisions due
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
March 23
March 23
Intro to Sage and CoCalc
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
March 25
March 25
Prime numbers
Iterated Functions
Project due
Project due
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
March 27
March 27
Prime numbers: sieve of Eratosthenes
Have a great Spring Break! No class March 30 — April 6.
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
April 8
April 8
Properties of prime numbers
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
April 10
April 10
Counting primes
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
April 13
April 13
Counting primes and the Riemann zeta function
Iterated Functions
Project revisions due
Project revisions due
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
April 15
April 15
Counting primes and the Riemann zeta function
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
April 17
April 17
Detecting large primes
Primes Project
due
due
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
April 20
April 20
Pseudorandom numbers
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
April 22
April 22
Probabilistic simulation
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
April 24
April 24
Random walks
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
April 27
April 27
1D Random walks
Primes Project
revisions due
revisions due
- To be announced
Wednesday
April 29
April 29
2D Random walks
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
May 1
May 1
2D Random walks
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
May 4
May 4
3D Random walks
Random Walk
Project project due
Project project due
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
May 6
May 6
Artificial intelligence and computational mathematics
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Friday
May 8
May 8
Artificial intelligence and computational mathematics
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Monday
May 11
May 11
Final projects
Random Walk project
revisions due
revisions due
Do the following before next class:
- To be announced
Wednesday
May 13
May 13
Final projects
We've made it to the end of the semester! A few last things to do:
- To be announced
Wednesday
May 20
May 20
Final Presentations 9:00–11:00am
