Syllabus

Course Description

This course will provide an introduction to the differential equations. Topics included: first and second order ordinary differential equations; methods of undetermined coefficients and variation of parameters; matrices and systems of linear differential equations; Laplace transforms; computing symbolic and graphical solutions using Matlab.
Prerequisites: Math 20C or equivalent with a grade of C or better. It is strongly suggested that you be familiar with the material from Math 20A and 20B (or equivalent courses), especially differentiation and integration techniques.
Textbook: Fundamentals of Differential Equations, 9th edition by Nagle, et al.

Homework Assignments (20% of your course grade)

First and foremost, late submission will not be accepted. Extension requests due to non-emergency reasons are often declined. Also, please keep in mind that reasons such as "forgetting the due date" or "being occupied with the course work of other classes" will never be accepted. Students on the Wait List are advised to keep up with the course progression and complete any assigned homework during their Wait List period.

In total, there will be ten (10) mandatory homework assignments in total but the one with the lowest score/percentage will be dropped (so only the highest nine scores will be counted toward your grade).

The assignments are available through Pearson's MyLab website, to which you should be able access directly from your UCSD Canvas page. Please refer to the calendar on this website for the exact detail on the due dates. During the active period, students may attempt the homework problems as many time as they would like. However, only the most recent scores recorded by the system by the due date will be considered official. Homework assignments are due at 11:59pm on Friday every week, starting from Week 2, 01/19. The only exception is the last homework assignment, whose due date is 2:59pm of Friday 03/22, right before the Final Exam.

Due to the fast pace of the quarter system, it is important that students are able to keep up with the course progression. The homework problems should serve as a good test for your understanding of concepts discussed in the lecture. As a result, students are advised to try their best to complete the homework exercises within 1-2 days after the corresponding lecture and/or before the subsequent lecture. Do not wait until the day of the due date to start working on your homework! "Start early, start often!"

MatLab (10% of your course grade)

This course contains a mandatory MatLab segment and there will be four MatLab assignments (6% - 1.5% each) and one MatLab quiz (4%). Unlike the homework, none of the MatLab assignments will be dropped. Further information on the lab assignments and quiz can be found in the MatLab website available at https://mathweb.ucsd.edu/~math20d/

UCSD students can obtain a MatLab license for free from THIS LINK

The MatLab assignments can be done anytime you would like. In addition, there will be tutors available at remotely to help you with the MatLab section of the class. Similar to regular homework assignments, late homework submission for MatLab will not be accepted. If you fail to submit your paper to Gradescope by the due date, then you will automatically receive a zero for that assignment.

The MatLab quiz will be administered online through Canvas, and will be available from 12:00am (midnight) on Wednesday, 03/13 to 11:59pm on Thursday, 03/14. During this period, you can start the assignment at any time; however, once you open the quiz on Canvas, then you will have 60 minutes to complete it. Ideally, you should start your exam at least one hour before the deadline to have the entire time period available to you.

There will be no make up quiz! It is your responsibility to ensure that you complete the assignment in a timely manner.

Exams (70% of your course grade)

There will be two in-class midterms and one in-class Final Exam.

Students are allowed one page of handwritten notes (standard 8.5x11'' size, both sides) for the midterms and two pages of handwritten notes (same requirements) for the Final Exam. Beyond these sheets, no textbook, notes, calculator, or any other electronic devices will be allowed during the exam.

There will be no make up exam! The midterms will take place outside of regular lecture times. The Final Exam time is scheduled by the university. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not have a schedule conflict involving the exams.

The first midterm will be held on Friday, February 02 (Week 4), covering topics from Sections 1.1 - 1.3, 2.2 - 2.4, 4.2 - 4.5
The second midterm will be held on Friday, March 01 (Week 8), covering topics from Sections 4.6 - 4.7, 9.1 - 9.6
The final exam will be held on Friday, March 22 (Week 11), covering ALL materials from the course (with more emphasis on Section 9.7 and Chapter 7 topics)

Sample exercises and study guide are posted on Canvas under the "Files" section, within their respective folders.

Discussion Sections and worksheets

While not mandatory, attendance of discussion sections are strongly encouraged for this class. The discussion sections will provide not only a brief summary of the topics discussed during lectures, but also an opportunity for students to work on complex exercises that involve more than one topics from our course. Furthermore, these sections also involve community building and active learning, and will play a key role in your success at mastering the fundamental techniques of calculus.

Throughout the quarter, there will be eight (8) worksheets and seven (7) discussion sections (DIs).

The DIs start from Week 3 and will meet on every non-holiday Monday of the week. During each section, students are expected to work with their peer (under the guidance of the teaching assistants and tutors) to complete a worksheet. These papers will be collected by the Teaching Assistants at the end of the discussion and uploaded to Gradescope for evaluation and future review. You earn 1 point for each worksheet if you make a relevant attempt to complete all the exercises of the day and present your work in a logical and well-organized manner in the submitted worksheet.
There is no discussion during Week 1. However, you are encouraged to complete a worksheet which includes review exercises on integration techniques from Math 20B. Uploading a complete worksheet to Gradescope by 11:59pm of Friday 01/12 will also get you up to 1 point (depending on the quality and completeness of your paper).

In total, students can earn up to 8 points by participating in the discussion sections. These points can then be used to earn back the points you miss in the Final Exam. As the Final Exam is out of 100 points, this means you can earn back up to X% of the Final Exam score, where X is the number of points you accumulate from the worksheets. Regardless, the maximum Final Exam score will be capped at 100 and any points exceeding this value will not be carried over to other category.

Grade Policy

Your grade will be based on the scores of the homework+MatLab assignments, midterms, and the final exam. It will be calculated as

10% MatLab + 20% Homework + 20% Best Midterm + 20% Max {Other Midterm, Raw Final Exam} + 30% Adjusted Final Exam

(Namely, you may replace the lower midterm score with that of the Final Exam. "Raw Final Exam" is the (raw) score you earn in the actual exam. "Adjusted Final Exam" is your Final Exam score altered by the total worksheet points you accumulate over the quarter.)

You must pass the final examination (scoring at least 50%) in order to pass the course. Since there is no makeup exam, if you miss a midterm exam for any reason then your course grade will automatically be computed using the second method. In addition, if you cannot take the Final Exam during its scheduled time, then you should not enroll in this class. The letter grade you receive at the end of the course will be based on the following scale, which is the standard rubric at UC San Diego:

Regrade Policy

We shall grade your exams using Gradescope. All graded materials will be posted on Gradescope. If you find an error/inconsistency on any graded material, you must immediately request a regrade through Gradescope. All regrade issues must be resolved within TWO DAYS after the score is published. Once the 2-day period is over, the score will become final and any late requests will not be considered.

At the end of the quarter, all grades will be imported over to Canvas, and only the scores posted on Canvas will be computed toward your final score percentage. You must keep all of your graded materials and check that the scores are consistent. If there is any inconsistency in the recording of your scores from midterms, homework, and worksheets, you must inform the instructor or TA before the end of the Final Exam week of the quarter to resolve recording errors. Questions regarding missing or incorrectly recorded scores posted after Sunday, March 24 will have to wait until Winter quarter (mid-April).

Academic Honesty and Attendance Policy

As a student of UC San Diego, you have agreed to abide by the university’s academic honesty policy. Academic integrity violations will be taken seriously and reported immediately. Violation of such policy may result in failing the class, suspension, and even expulsion from the university. Further information regarding Academic Integrity policy are available under the "Links" button above. You should make yourself aware of what is and is not acceptable by reading this document. Ignorance of the rules will not excuse you from any violations.

Key facts about academic integrity related to our course:

You must work alone on the exams. You may not post the exam questions online where they can be answered by someone other than the instructor or TA.
You may consult other students, the instructor, or TAs while formulating your ideas on homework problems. However, you must complete your final homework solutions by yourself, based on your own understanding.
You may not copy or paraphrase solutions from another student or from any other source. If you consult any sources other than your textbook or discuss the problems with anyone other than the instructor or TA, you must acknowledge this on your homework.
You may not post your homework answers online where they could be found by future students of this course. If your instructor posts homework solutions, you may not show those solutions to future students of this course, or post them online.

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