Physics 2200, Computational Physics
Fall 2013 Academic Calendar and Homework Assignments

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WeekLecture No.DateSubjectHomework
11Mon, Aug 26Introduction to computational physics. Course logistics.
 
2Wed, Aug 28A very short introduction to linux, I.
C programming I: ’Hello, world!’.
 
3Fri, Aug 30C programming: variables; input and output; printf and scanf.
 
2Mon, Sep 2Labor Day - No classes 
4Wed, Sep 4C programming:
HW01 due
5Fri, Sep 6C programming: conditionals; branching and looping;for loop; Fibonacci numbers.
 
36Mon, Sep 9C programming: while loop; operators. Machine є. Correct programs – wrong results: use recurrence to compute a family of integrals In = ∫01 xn ex−1 dx, I.
 
7Wed, Sep 11C programming: local and global variables; scope of variables; functions and function declarations, I; integer division;
 
8Fri, Sep 13 C programming: functions and function declarations, II; function prototypes.
 
49Mon, Sep 16 C programming: arrays. Correct programs – wrong results: calculation of π by evaluating the perimeter of a regular polygon, I.
HW02 due
10Wed, Sep 18C programming: strings, I. Correct programs – wrong results: calculation of π by evaluating the perimeter of a regular polygon, II. Linux: output redirection; graphing with gnuplot; make and makefiles, I.
 
11Fri, Sep 20C programming: structures.
 
512Mon, Sep 23Numerical systems: decimal, octal, hexadecimal, binary. Conversion between systems. Bits, bytes.
HW03 due
13Wed, Sep 25ASCII. Bitwise operations in C: and (&), or (|), left shift (<<), right shift (>>), exclusive or (^, xor, ⊕). Introduction to cryptography: historical ciphers.
 
14Fri, Sep 27Introduction to cryptography: historical ciphers, II. C programming: command line arguments.
 
615Mon, Sep 30Introduction to cryptography: random binary numbers; one time pad – “unbreakable” cipher. Huffman coding.
HW04 due
16Wed, Oct 2Huffman coding.
 
17Fri, Oct 4Computer representation of integers.Two’s complement.
 
7Mon, Oct 7Midterm I.
HW05 due
18Wed, Oct 9Midterm review
 
19Fri, Oct 11Algorithms: sorting; bubble sort. Performance of algorithms; asymptotic analysis. Big-Oh notation; C programming: recursion, I; Hanoi Tower game
 
820Mon, Oct 14Algorithms: sorting; merge sort; Divide and conquer algorithms I. C programming: recursion, II.
 
21Wed, Oct 16Divide and conquer algorithms, II; The master theorem. Long multiplication.
 
22Fri, Oct 18C programming: multidimensional arrays
 
923Mon, Oct 21Computer representation of floating point numbers.
HW6 due
24Wed, Oct 23Computer representation of floating point numbers and errors in numerical algorithms.
 
25Fri, Oct 25General errors in numerical algorithms, II.
 
1026Mon, Oct 28C programming: pointers, I.
HW7 due
27Wed, Oct 30C programming: pointers, II; dynamic data structures. Programming tools: valgrind
 
28Fri, Nov 1C programming: dynamic data structures, II.
 
1129Mon, Nov 4Monte Carlo methods. Random number generators. Takehome Midterm II.
 
30Wed, Nov 6Monte Carlo methods II.
 
31Fri, Nov 8Numerical integration: midpoint, trapezoidal, Simpson’s, Newton-Cotes rules vs. Monte Carlo integration.
 
1232Mon, Nov 11Numerical solution of ordinary differential equations, I.
 
33Wed, Nov 13Van der Pol oscillator, I. limit cycles.
 
34Fri, Nov 15Van der Pol oscillator, II. Weak nonlinearity; method of averaging.
HW8 due
1335Mon, Nov 18Numerical solution of ordinary differential equations - flame propagation; stiff ODE.
 
36Wed, Nov 20Dynamic chaos. Lorenz system
 
37Fri, Nov 22
HW9 due
14-Mon, Nov 25Thanksgiving recess 
-Wed, Nov 27Thanksgiving recess 
-Fri, Nov 29Thanksgiving recess 
1538Mon, Dec 2Restricted three body problem, I.
 
39Wed, Dec 4Restricted three body problem, II.
 
40Fri, Dec 6Public key kryptography
 

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