MA113 Differential Equations A
Lecturer: Bjorn Stinner
Term(s): Term 2
THIS MODULE IS NOT AVAILABLE TO MATHS OR MATHS/PHYSICS STUDENTS
Commitment: 15 lectures
Assessment: 100% 1 hour examination in June
Formal registration prerequisites: None
Assumed knowledge: We will assume familiarity with differential and integral calculus for functions of one variable
Useful background: Some knowledge about curves and their parametrisations and on vector fields should be helpful
Synergies: Some understanding of how differential equations can describe natural phenomena and how they can be investigated, is beneficial in various disciplines, fields, and applications. Numerically computing their solutions often is covered in MA124 Maths by Computer, sometimes also in MA117 Programming for Scientists
Leads to: The following modules have this module listed as assumed knowledge or useful background:
- MA261 Differential Equations: Modelling and Numerics
- MA254 Theory of ODEs
- MA250 Introduction to Partial Differential Equations
- MA256 Introduction to Mathematical Biology
- MA258 Mathematical Analysis III
- MA209 Variational Principles
- MA390 Topics in Mathematical Biology
- MA3J3 Bifurcations, Catastrophes and Symmetry
- MA3H7 Control Theory
- MA4J1 Continuum Mechanics
Module content and objectives: This module covers about half of the module MA133 Differential Equations. More specifically, MA113 covers section 1 (first order ordinary differential equations), section 2 (second order differential equations) and section 4 (systems of linear differential equations) of the notes from MA133 (which are available for sale in the Undergraduate Office in Mathematics).
Books:
Everything important in this module can be found in the excellent book, An Introduction to Ordinary Differential Equations, by James Robinson, Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0 521 53391 0.