Math 4581 Student Comments + Responses

Name at least one thing I'm doing with the class that you hope I keep doing.

1. Working many examples
2. Lecture notes in Maple
3. Discussing problems of practical significance
4. Deriving various rules

Can you name something I've been doing in class that you'd like me to quit doing?

1. Referring to lecture notes when problems are too hard, or when you run out of time
   
   

   I'll keep this in mind. I don't like to leave a problem unfinished, so I'll try not to do this again.
   
   There are some details for which I think Maple is appropriate. In class, I hope to focus primarily on the mathematical concepts. For this reason, I sometimes leave details aside. The main reasons for my providing the lecture notes are (1) to give you plenty of samples of code for solving the kinds of problems we address, and (2) so we don't get lost in tedious details during class.

2. Going at such a slow pace, especially early in the quarter

   Several of you said this. I'll keep it in mind. This is the first time I've taught Math 4581, so I'm sure I can stand to adjust the pace in places.

3. Making mistakes on the assignments

   I apologize for the times this has happened. I'm afraid it's partly due to the fact that Dr. Abell and I have had to make up a lot of exercises, since we haven't found appropriate ones in the text. We do our very best to correct the assignments before they're given. Please, don't hesitate to ask questions about the assignments when they're not clear -- especially if you suspect a mistake has been made.

4. Lengthy, complex problems

   My choice of examples hasn't always been the best. I'm working on it!

5. Not finishing examples

   Please see my response to number 1.

Is there anything you wish I would start doing?

1. Pass out copies of lecture notes when you refer to them, or make them available on the web a couple of days ahead of time.

   I'm afraid I can't photocopy lecture notes for every class. But, I'll try to get the lecture notes online at least one day in advance so you can print them out before class.

2. More applications

   I'll do what I can. Unfortunately, I can only discuss examples with which I'm familiar. If you find some good ones, please share them!

3. Opening with a snappy show tune

   I'm working on a few tunes from "Grease", but they're not polished enough yet!

4. Provide examples in using Maple

   That's what the lecture notes are for. I expect you to look over the note after each class. Feel free to ask me about them whenever you don't understand what I'm doing, or don't understand how to modify it. I don't think it's a good idea to devote class time to the use of Maple, though.

5. Give hints or suggestions for starting HW problems

   I prefer to wait until you've tried the problems and have specific questions. So ask lots of questions!

6. Publish solutions to assignments

   Good idea! I think I will. Stay tuned . . . .

7. Review before tests

   I don't generally believe in doing a lot of this for a 4000-level course. I'll try to give you some idea as to what to expect, but I expect you to do your own review.

Would you like to make any other comments about the class regarding the pace or presentation of material?

1. Class description should suggest computer knowledge

   I guess I believe that this is a reasonable expectation for any 4000-level course at Georgia Tech. All of the science and engineering majors I'm familiar with at Georgia Tech require their students to take a computer course. You may not come to the class familiar with Maple, Mathematica, or Matlab, but that's why I'm providing the lecture notes.

   You should go through the lecture notes each day after class and make sure you understand the purpose of all of the code. I realize that this takes up quite a bit of time, but I believe it's the right way to approach this material. Most of the students in this course are in engineering; I'm completely confident that their future use of this material will be best-suited for analysis using a computer.

2. I feel like I'm not learning concepts, just how to use Maple

   This is something to be concerned about. Quite frankly, it's difficult to find a text book for this course which makes a suitable use of the technology available for these methods. Our text was first published in 1944! Dr. Abell and I are trying to reach a suitable combination of hand calculations and computer use, but we'll probably continue making adjustments.

   I expect you to take time to insure that you understand the properties and principles addressed during class. Make sure you know HOW to work the problems by hand, even if you don't actually finish them that way. Also, make sure you understand the derivations for the formulas we use.

3. Appreciate discussion of forcing functions

   Thanks!

4. Too much variety of material; something new every day

   See the next comment.

5. Cover more material/go faster

   Some think we're going too fast, others think we're going to slow. Maybe there are some details we've dwelled on too much, leaving little time for more suitable details. I'll try to adjust appropriately; I await your specific suggestions as to what I should modify.

6. Prefer easier, do-able problems instead of problems that require lots of time debugging Maple syntax

   Please refer to my remarks for the first and second comments. I believe learning how to use the software to solve these problems is important. While most of them haven't been collected, I have been assigning some problems from the text which I think are do-able. Please look at the recommended exercises and ask about them when you have any questions -- I'm more than happy to discuss them.

7. How about posting test solutions?

   I'll try to do this. Working up the lecture notes and such takes up quite a bit of time, so I may not always be able to do this for every problem on the test.

8. Some web notes are confusing or produce error messages

   I work very hard to prevent any mistakes or errors in the lecture notes, but I'm human. If you spot mistakes, please point them out and I'll correct them.

9. Some of the explanations in the lecture notes skip steps

   I mainly provide the lecture notes to give samples of the use of Maple for solving the kinds of problems we address. I don't really intend for them to serve as a surrogate text book. (Not this quarter any way!)