Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Examinations

  • There will be two in-class exams.
  • The 3-hour final exam will be scheduled by the Registrar's Office.
  • All the exams (including the final) will be closed book.

Grading

Activities Percentages
Homework 15%
Exams (2) 30%
Laboratory 25%
Final 30%

Practice Sessions

The purpose of the practice sessions will be to give students experience in modeling and computational aspects of dynamics by working out examples, expanding on the material presented in the lectures. Part of the weekly homework will relate to these examples. Attendance in the practice sessions is obligatory.

Laboratory

Participation in the weekly laboratory session is an integral part of the course and attendance is obligatory. Assignment of students to one of the four sections will be completed during the first week of classes. No changes will be allowed after this time.

Homework

Homework problems will be assigned each week (typically on Friday) and will be due at the time indicated on each problem set (typically one week later). No late homework will be accepted. You may discuss the problems with others in class, but you must (a) write up your eventual solution independently, and (b) list the names of students with whom you discussed the problem set.

Text

None required. Optional reading assignments from these books will be given periodically:

  • Bedford, A., and W. Fowler. Dynamics. Addison–Wesley, 1995.
  • Palm III, W. J. Modeling, Analysis, and Control of Dynamic Systems. 2nd ed. John Wiley.