Introduction to Applied Mathematics · Applied Physics And Applied Mathematics
Professor He is extremely clear and makes differential equations and linear algebra relatively easy to understand, she's a wonderful professor!
Just right. Some of the problem sets are tedious and time consuming, but in comparison to real EE courses, they're not that bad. A little more work than the Calc1-4 problem sets.
hw, midterm1, midterm2 20% each. Final is 40% Homeworks took me 2-4 hours to complete.
40% midterm, 40% final, 20% for about 12 HW assignments. HWs are assigned 1-2 weeks before the deadline, and they are due every week on Friday. HW questions are taken from the textbook, and you can find additional questions there too. No calculators or reference sheets for exams. I don't believe there is a curve.
In theory, this course is awesome. It gets you through Differential Equations and Linear Algebra in only a semester. The reality is that while Marc Spiegelman is one of the nicest guys I've ever met, he's extremely scatterbrained. When proceeding through lecture, he VERY frequently steps a few steps back finds a mistake and restarts. He often goes on tangents that make the material unnecessarily complex. That said, the course does use Gilbert Strang's Linear Algebra text as "backup"...the Strang lectures are awesome. Zill is pretty dense and sometimes misguided, but is probably a good life-long resource for many engineers. First midterm was easy, second one was not...there was more theory than I had expected.
Professor Tippett is very helpful in class and in office hours. In general, he is a great teacher. The class size was huge (In the big room in Havemeyer) and the professor could not be heard well from everywhere. He used good examples in class which clarified my concepts a lot. The homeworks were generally easy, and mainly from the book. The homeworks are graded by different TAs every week to make sure no one student keeps facing a harsh grader. Midterms are often lengthy and include a good mix of easy, medium and hard questions. Midterms are usually out of 130-140 points, so losing a few points affects the percentage less than you would imagine. He also has bonus questions in all exams but they are usually much harder. Partial points are awarded. A solid understanding of the material is required to do well on the course. I disagree with the previous comment regarding the curve. In the beginning of the semester he hands out an info sheet detailing the rough grade boundaries. (90+ A range,80+ B range etc) According to that I expected an A- given my percentage of 92-93% but ended up getting an A. In my opinion, while the original boundaries may not be the friendliest, he tries to stick to the boundaries. I do not think he downcurves at all.
I really enjoyed this class. You cover ODEs up until the midterm, and Linear Algebra and systems of ODEs for the remainder of the semester. Prof He explains very well, and she always provides several practice problems for each type of question we can expect to see on an exam. There are no review sheets for the exams, but during lessons she gives hints as to what kinds of questions she might use. There is also no review lesson before the midterm/final, but she does reviews at the end of every chapter.
bring caffeine...that sometimes worked for me.
Weekly pset (20%) (for me, that was about ~4 hrs per pset) 2 Midterms (20% each) Final (40%) He said he put more weight on your final if that was to your benefit.
Easy homework (1-4h), grading, and exams. 20-40-40 correspondingly.