Office hours: Wednesday 1-2 pm BLOC 123 (you may have to retrieve me from BLOC 636), Thursday 3:45 - 4:45 pm BLOC 122 (you may have to retrieve me from BLOC 636)

1st Day Handout

Announcements

• We are meeting during our final exam period 12:30 - 2 pm Friday May 4 in BLOC 627. I will get pizza for us for lunch.
• Cartoon about LaTeX
• Matlab files to help explain the connection between logistic and Gompertz functions: genlogistic.m and genlogisticdriver.m.
• Dropbox -- Easy File Sharing
• Why you should always label your graphs (cartoon): xkcd
• Due this week: Assignment 1 and a rough draft for Assignment 2.
• Videos produced for Math 442, Fall 2011
  • Daniel Miller: An Introduction to Chaos Theory with the Lorenz Attractor
  • Elida Espinoza: Eusocial Insect Foraging
  • Daniel Farias and Allen Hamilton: The Lorenz Attractor
  • Joel Arredondo and Arnoldo Gutierrez: Population Modeling
• Google Student Blog interview with Tova Wiener Nadler (used for recruiting) -- look at what she advises you to learn in college. We will cover some of that in Math 442, though I think you all might kill me if I forced you to do all your assignments in C++, Java or Fortran... :)

Some Example Mathematical Models

• The Mathematics of History (TED Video)
• A Mathematical Challenge to Obesity (NYTimes)
• Computer Model of Spread of Dementia Can Predict Future Disease Patterns Years Before they Occur in a Patient
• A Classic (Mathematical) Model for Ecological Stability Revised, 40 years Later
• Mathematical Model for Snowflake Morphology
• Jeremy Lin and statistical modeling with basketball
• Mathematics of Legos (Compare to the mathematics of cities!)
• Math majors and modelers wanted for lucrative employment...
  Following Digital Breadcrumbs to 'Big Data' Gold (NPR)
  The Search for Analysts to Make Sense of 'Big Data' (NPR).
• It's not a mathematical model, but here's an interesting article on unexpected useful applications of theoretical mathematics.
• Jumping Rope by the Numbers: a mathematical model for jumping rope.
• Revealed -- the capitalist network that runs the world
• Mathematical Modeling to place the names on the World Trade Center memorial
• Can math beat financial markets? from Scientific American
• The Mathematics of Being Nice
• The Mathematics of Social Networks
• Statistical Modeling in Baseball and Crime
• Mathematical model for Religious Affiliation -- Might religion become extinct in 9 nations?
  Here is a more academic look at this model: A mathematical model of social group competition with application to the growth of religious non-affiliation
• A mathematical model predicting the Zombie Apocalypse
  A more academic look at this model: When Zombies attack! Mathematical modeling of an outbreak of zombie infection
• A Physicist solves the City work of Geoffrey West from NYTimes Magazine.
• (Video TED Talk) Geoffrey West: The surprising math of cities and corporations.
• Mathematics of animal sizes and efficiency
• Math Will Rock Your World from Business Week.
• Introduction to Modern (investment) Portfolio Theory (minimal math)
  • Basics on a financial portfolio (Wikipedia)
  • Modern Portfolio Theory with mathematical models. (math)
  • (History) Modern portfolio theory was created by Harry Markowitz who applied mathematical ideas to the analysis of the stock market.
  • (Video: TED Talk) How Algorithms Shape Our World

• Videos produced for Math 442
  • Daniel Miller: An Introduction to Chaos Theory with the Lorenz Attractor
  • Casandra Levario: Phytoplankton
  • Elida Espinoza: Eusocial Insect Foraging
  • Daniel Farias and Allen Hamilton: The Lorenz Attractor
  • Joel Arredondo and Arnoldo Gutierrez: Population Modeling
  
  

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  Instructor: Jean Marie Linhart

  
  

  Section:	500
  Office:	Blocker 636
  Office Hours:	Wednesday 1-2 pm (we have BLOC 123 reserved), Thursday 3:45-4:45 pm (we have BLOC 122 reserved). If you don't find me in the Calclab, you may have to retrieve me from my office, BLOC 636. And, of course, you can also always make an appointment
  Email:	jmlinhart@math.tamu.edu (I prefer to receive messages by email)
  Phone:	(979) 845-3261 (main Math Department number in Blocker)

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  Prerequisites

  • Math 304 and 308
  • I want you to have success in this course. Please read my thoughts on Success at Math

  Class Administration

  • First day handout
  • When emailing include your full name, course and section. Here's what I'd like to see in email. Hopefully you already know this!

  In Class

  • Please be assertive in asking questions during class.
  • Please be assertive in paying attention in class.
  • You are responsible for material presented in lecture.
  • Did I miss anything in class today?
  • Please bring the appropriate materials to class.
  • Look over the reading/materials for class before class!

  Book and Homework

  • Our book is A Concrete Approach to Mathematical Modelling by Mike Mesterton-Gibbons, published by Wiley (1995/2007).
  • Our book is on reserve in the Evans Library Annex (4th floor).
  • The library has an electronic copy, which I believe you can access at any time.
  • Assignments
  • We have a discussion board on eLearning for homework questions
  • Guidelines for working together on homework and on using outside resources.

Extra Help

• Resources:
  • I'm always happy to see you in my office hours, to answer questions before and after class, and to answer your questions during the lectures.
  • If you are struggling with MATLAB or LaTeX: how the computer experts do it.
  • There is a discussion board up on eLearning where you can post questions about assignments/homework and help other students with their work. I will answer questions there too.
  • There is a discussion board up on eLearning where you can post if you are looking for study partners.
  • Khan Academy has videos of math concepts from arithmetic up through linear algebra and differential equations. Scroll through the (long) list of videos or search for what interests you. This is a good resource for learning something new or remembering something you've forgotten. Salman Khan gave a TED talk (video) about reinventing education.
  • Paul's Online Math Notes Another good resource for learning something or remembering something you've forgotten.
  • Google is a great resource.
  • Wolfram Alpha is another great resource.
  • Wikipedia is a great resource.
• TAMU Student resources
  • Student Learning Center
  • Student Health Services
  • Student Counseling Services
  • Aggie Honor System Office

Funnies

• If the IRS had discovered the Quadratic Formula
• xkcd
• Pi is all wrong
• xkcd: Fairy Tales from a Math Prof Mom

(C) 2011 Jean Marie Linhart, all rights reserved.