CDS 104 -- Spring 2008
Third Term
Introductory Concepts for Dynamical Systems
Tuesdays and Thursdays
2:30-3:25pm
Steele 214
Course Description
CDS 104 is aimed at students who are new to nonlinear dynamics, especially those in chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering. Our goal is to explain this subject in a direct and simple way, and to show how it can be used to understand the wonders of the nonlinear world. We will use the textbook written by Strogatz whose mathematical treatment is friendly and informal, yet still careful. Computation, concrete examples, and geometric intuition will be stressed. We will cover chapters on phase plane analysis, limit cycles, bifurcation as well as chaos, with applications to physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering. These materials should provide students with a good grounding on nonlinear methods.
Instructors
|
Dennice Gayme |
Genti Buzi |
Instructor Office hours:
Th 3:30-4:30pm in 214 Steele or by appointment
Teaching Assistants
|
Molei Tao |
Luis Soto-Ortiz |
TA Office hours:
Wednesdays 4:00 - 5:00pm in 110 Steele and Fridays 1:00-2:00pm in 214 Steele
Course Text
The Primary Course Text is Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos, with Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering by Steven Strogatz.
The following additional reference may also be useful but is by no means necessary (i.e. you do not need to buy it).
Lawrence Perko, Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems, Third Edition 2001.