Mathematical Tools for Physical Sciences (211-0-1)

Instructors

Carl Dahl

Meeting Info

Technological Institute L251: Mon, Wed, Fri 12:00PM - 12:50PM

Overview of class

This course teaches mathematical tools for modeling, interpreting, and reasoning about the physical world. While the course covers traditional mathematical topics, the approaches emphasize the physics mindset in how to apply the tools to a problem. Selected topics include dimensional analysis, complex numbers, series expansions, single and multi-dimensional integrals, and probabilities and probability distributions.

Registration Requirements

PREREQUISITE
PHYSICS 135-1 or equivalent, MATH 230-1 or equivalent.

Learning Objectives

This course teaches mathematical tools for modeling, interpreting, and reasoning about the physical world. While the course covers traditional mathematical topics, the approaches emphasize the physics mindset in how to apply the tools to a problem. By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Translate physical descriptions into mathematical models and interpret mathematical results in physically meaningful ways.
• Apply dimensional analysis to derive and assess relationships among physical quantities
• Use complex numbers to represent and manipulate oscillatory systems
• Construct and evaluate series expansions to approximate physical behavior and identify scaling laws
• Build single and multi-dimensional integrals to describe physical systems with useful coordinate systems
• Characterize random processes using probabilities and probability distributions

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Preregistration is reserved for PHYSICS majors during the preregistration period. All other students who meet the course prerequisites will be able to attempt to enroll during regular registration. Prerequisites: PHYSICS 135-1 or equivalent, MATH 230-1 or equivalent

Associated Classes

DIS - Technological Institute M164: Fri 3:00PM - 3:50PM