Differential Equations

This course is taught at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.

Fall 2022 Course Policy Statement

Course Syllabus and Course Objectives

I strongly recommend that you form  study groups  with other midshipmen in preparation for your Final Exam.

Wed 7 Dec (at 2359) is the last day that I am accepting LATE WebAssign assignments. You can continue to work on WebAssign assignments after that day for zero credit

Inside the Navy's indoor ocean. 

Practice exams were written by other faculty members, and per their wishes, I am not going to post the solutions to every practice exam. 

You need to go to the Math Lab or MGSP for help, or work through the problems with other midshipmen and compare your techniques and your solutions. Practicing problems from scratch is the best way to really learn how to master the lesson objectives.

Furthermore, there are plenty of practice exams with complete solutions written by the author of the practice exam, so if you want, go through those practice exams first. 

Example of an electrical circuit.

Welcome to SM212 Differential Equations:

We will be using Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems (9th edition) by Dennis G. Zill. Since this course is for engineering, mathematics, and physics majors, the primary applications we will be focusing on are mass-spring systems and electrical circuits. 

Fall 2022 teaching in CH222

Professor Mee Seong Im 

Office:  Chauvenet Hall 342

Office Phone Number:  (410) 293-6776

Email:  im [at] usna [dot] edu 

Walk-in weekly Extra Instruction (EI) in my office:  Feel free to drop by and get extra assistance as needed.

I was told that the after-lunch time windows (1250-1320) on Mondays and Wednesdays are reserved for CO/SEL training time.  Academics-related activities should be on Tuesdays or Thursdays (and presumably Fridays) as per the Provost.

I will however be available on Mondays and Wednesdays during lunch (1220-1320) in case you need extra help and would like to drop by.  Please email me to let me know in advance. 

Other Extra Instructions (EI):  Request for them at least 2 business days in advance (this excludes evenings, weekends, and Federal Holidays).  In your email, please give me at least 4 time-slots and days that work for you. 

For all EIs, please attend prepared, with homework problems attempted in advance and with specific questions in mind.

Fall 2022 SM212

Midshipmen Group Study Program (MGSP; free peer-tutoring and assistance from two amazing leaders),  in CH155.

Math Lab,  in CH130.  This is run by the Department of Mathematics faculty members.

Academic Center,  US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.  Faculty and Staff  (Professional Tutors).

Study Groups.

Fall 2022
Fall 2022 Point Values

Section Leaders

For those who registered for WebAssign incorrectly (that is, Cengage is asking you to pay), you have been dropped from that section.  Now, please follow the instructions below.  

How to Register for WebAssign through Blackboard (follow the instructions here):  https://startstrong.cengage.com/webassign-blackboard-ia-no/

Once you are registered with your usna.edu email address, you should see that you have access to the homework assignments and the online textbook until the end of December 2022.  

Note that you must purchase Access Code from USNA's bookstore or from Cengage.com since your trial period will end on 8/31/2022

0.3306934 lb mass oscillating in air. 

0.3306934 lb mass oscillating in water  (it has lower frequency than in air due to the damping force (drag)).

A further discussion of  pure resonance:  an undamped oscillator  (spring/mass problem)  so  β = 0.

Below each lesson, I will summarize the topics covered during each day. 

Lesson 1 (Mon 22 Aug):  Introduction to differential equations  (Section 1.1) 

Lesson 2 (Tues 23 Aug):  Intro to differential equations  (Section 1.1)

Lesson 3 (Wed 24 Aug):  Intro to differential equations  (Section 1.1),  Initial value problems  (Section 1.2)

Announcement (Thurs 25 Aug):  SM212  MGSP schedule has been posted. 

Lesson 4 (Fri 26 Aug):  Separable equations  (Section 2.2)  and  First order linear differential equations  (Section 2.3)

Lesson 5 (Mon 29 Aug):  Direction fields  (Section 2.1.1)  and Euler's method  (Section 2.6)

Lesson 6 (Tues 30 Aug):  Applications of linear models: exponential growth and decay and cooling  (Section 3.1)

Lesson 7 (Wed 31 Aug):  Applications of linear models: Mixing  (Section 3.1)

Lesson 8 (Fri 2 Sept):  Applications of linear models  (Section 3.1)

Lesson 9 (Tues 6 Sept):  Homogeneous linear equations  (Section 4.1.2)

Lesson 10 (Wed 7 Sept):  Homogeneous linear equations (continued)  (Section 4.1.2)

Announcement (Thurs 8 Sept):

Lesson 11 (Fri 9 Sept):  Linear homogeneous differential equations: real roots  (Section 4.3)

Lesson 12 (Mon 12 Sept):  Linear homogeneous differential equations: complex roots  (Section 4.3)

Lesson 13 (Tues 13 Sept):  Mass-spring systems (free undamped motion)  (Section 5.1.1)  Review  Linear homogeneous differential equations: complex roots  (Section 4.3)

Lesson 14 (Wed 14 Sept):  Mass-spring systems (free undamped motion; continued)  (Section 5.1.1)

Lesson 15 (Fri 16 Sept):  Mass-spring systems (free undamped motion)  (Section 5.1.1)  and  Mass-spring systems (free damped motion)  (Section 5.1.2)

Lesson 16 (Mon 19 Sept):  Review 

Lesson 17 (Tues 20 Sept):  Review

Lesson 18 (Wed 21 Sept):  Test 1

Announcement (Thurs 22 Sept): 

Lesson 19 (Fri 23 Sept):  Nonhomogeneous linear equations  (Section 4.1.3)

Announcement (Sat 24 Sept):

Announcement (Sun 25 Sept):

Lesson 20 (Mon 26 Sept):  Undetermined coefficients  (Section 4.4)  

Lesson 21 (Tues 27 Sept):  Undetermined coefficients  (Section 4.4)

Lesson 22 (Wed 28 Sept):  Undetermined coefficients  (Section 4.4)

Lesson 23 (Fri 30 Sept):  Mass-spring system: with external force, resonance  (Section 5.1.3)

Lesson 24 (Mon 3 Oct):  Series electrical circuits  (Section 5.1.4) 

Lesson 25 (Tues 4 Oct):  Laplace transform  (Section 7.1)

Lesson 26 (Wed 5 Oct):  Quiz 06

Lesson 27 (Fri 7 Oct):  Laplace transform and Inverse Laplace transform  (Sections 7.1 and 7.2.1)

Lesson 28 (Tues 11 Oct):  Solving differential equations using linear transforms  (Section 7.2.2)

Lesson 29 (Wed 12 Oct):  First translation theorem  (Section 7.3.1)

Announcement (Thurs 13 Oct):

Lesson 30 (Fri 14 Oct):  First translation theorem  (Section 7.3.1)

Lesson 31 (Mon 17 Oct):  Unit step function  (Section 7.3.2)

Lesson 32 (Tues 18 Oct):  Unit step function in a differential equation  (Section 7.3.2)  and  Review 

Lesson 33 (Wed 19 Oct):  Review

Lesson 34 (Fri 21 Oct):  Test 2

Lesson 35 (Mon 24 Oct):  Derivative of linear transform, convolution  (Section 7.4)

Lesson 36 (Tues 25 Oct):  Dirac delta function  (Section 7.5) 

Lesson 37 (Wed 26 Oct):  Dirac delta function  and  Matrices, basic definitions  (Section 7.5 and Appendix B1)

Lesson 38 (Fri 28 Oct):  Gauss or Gauss-Jordan elimination  (Appendix B2)

Lesson 39 (Mon 31 Oct):  Solving linear systems by Cramer's rule  (Handout)

Lesson 40 (Tues 1 Nov):  Eigenvalues and eigenvectors  (Appendix B.3)

Lesson 41 (Wed 2 Nov):  Solving systems of differential equations using linear transforms  (Section 7.6)

Announcement (Thurs 3 Nov): 

Lesson 42 (Fri 4 Nov):  Electrical networks  and  Systems with real, distinct eigenvalues  (Sections 3.3, 7.6, 8.2.1)

Announcement (Sun 6 Nov): 

Lesson 43 (Mon 7 Nov):  Linear systems of differential equations  (Section 8.1)

Lesson 44 (Tues 8 Nov):  Linear systems of differential equations  (Section 8.1)

Lesson 45 (Wed 9 Nov):  Systems with real, distinct eigenvalues  (Section 8.2.1)

Lesson 46 (Mon 14 Nov):  Systems with complex eigenvalues  (Section 8.2.3)

Lesson 47 (Tues 15 Nov):  Systems with real, distinct eigenvalues  and  Systems with complex eigenvalues  (Sections 8.2.1 and 8.2.3)

Lesson 48 (Wed 16 Nov):  Review 

Lesson 49 (Fri 18 Nov):  Test 3

Announcement (Sun 20 Nov): 

Lesson 50 (Mon 21 Nov):  Fourier series  (Section 11.2)

Lesson 51 (Tues 22 Nov):  Even and odd functions  (Section 11.3)

Announcement (Tues 22 Nov):

Lesson 52 (Wed 23 Nov):  Half-range expansions  (Section 11.3)

Lesson 53 (Mon 28 Nov):  Separable partial differential equations (first and second order)  (Section 12.1)

Lesson 54 (Tues 29 Nov):  Midshipmen-driven review

Lesson 55 (Wed 30 Nov):  Midshipmen-driven review

Lesson 56 (Fri 2 Dec):  Heat equation (zero ends)  (Section 12.3)

Lesson 57 (Mon 5 Dec):  Review

Lesson 58 (Tues 6 Dec):  Test 4

Lesson 59 (Wed 7 Dec):  Review for final exam

Announcement (Thurs 8 Dec):

Lesson 60 (Fri 9 Dec):  Review for final exam

Announcement (Sun 11 Dec): 

Announcement (Mon 12 Dec): 

Final Exam (Tues 13 Dec)1300 - 1600 

Announcement (Mon 19 Dec): 

Series electrical circuits