Marcelo Mendes Disconzi
Department of Mathematics, Vanderbilt University
email: marcelo.disconzi at vanderbilt.edu
office: Stevenson Center 1515
phone: (615) 322 7147
mail to: 1326 Stevenson Center Ln, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN 37240
Vanderbilt










Marcelo Mendes Disconzi
MATH 2420 - Methods of Ordinary Differential Equations - sections 01 and 02

General Information
For a description of the course, including the grading policy, consult the course syllabus. Students are responsible for reading the syllabus and being aware of all the course and university policies.

Textbook: Fundamentals of Differential Equations, 9th edition, by Nagle, Saff, and Snider (required). Student's solutions manual (optional).

Lecture 01 meets on TR, 9:35am–10:50am, at Stevenson Center 1432 (4th floor of the Mathematics Building).
Lecture 02 meets on TR, 11:00am–12:15pm, at Stevenson Center 1432 (4th floor of the Mathematics Building).

Contact Information and Office Hours
Instructor's office: Stevenson Center 1515 (5th floor of the Mathematics Building).
Instructor's email: marcelo.disconzi@vanderbilt.edu.
Instructor's office hours: Thursdays, 1:00–4:00pm, or by appointment.
Instructor's office phone: (615) 322-7147.

Exams

Description Date
 Location and Time
 Remarks
Test 1 Thu, Sep 27
 in class
 Covering all material discussed up to (including) section 4.7. Practice test. Solutions. Because of the test, office hours will be held on Tuesday Sept 25 from 1 to 4pm, rather than Sept 27. Test solutions.
Test 2 Tue, Nov 6
 in class
 Covering all material from (including) section 6.1 to (including) section 7.9. Sections 1.3 and 1.4 will not be on the test. Practice test. Solutions. Test solutions.
Final Exam Fri, Dec 14 (Lecture 01)
 3pm, SC 1432
 The final exam will cover all material, with emphasis on chapter 8, with the following exceptions. Sections 1.3, 1.4, the Cauchy-Euler equation, the Laplace transform of periodic functions, and the Gamma function will not be in the test. Section 8.8 will be on the test only as an extra credit question. Practice final. Solutions.

Sat, Dec 08 (Lecture 02) 9am, SC 1432
 The final exam will cover all material, with emphasis on chapter 8, with the following exceptions. Sections 1.3, 1.4, the Cauchy-Euler equation, the Laplace transform of periodic functions, and the Gamma function will not be in the test. Section 8.8 will be on the test only as an extra credit question. Practice final. Solutions.

Schedule
Below a schedule for the course (for the academic calendar, click here). This is subject to change and, therefore, you should check this webpage frequently. Unless stated otherwise, all problems are from the textbook. The due date for each assignment will be posted as the course progresses. Problems that require a computer, indicated with a computer symbol in the textbook, are optional.

Here are the class notes. These will be updated as the course progresses.

Date
 Sections
 HW
 Remarks
Aug 23
 1.1, 1.2
 Appendix A: 1-7 (odd), 15, 17, 29-33 (odd)
1.1: 1-16
 Appendix A is a review of calculus
Examples
Aug 28 1.2, 2.2 1.2: 1-7 (odd), 19-27 (odd)
2.2: 1, 3, 11-15 (odd)		 Examples
HW Appendix A, 1.1, 1.2, 2.2 is due on Sept 4
Aug 30 2.3 2.3: 11-21 (odd), 35, 36 Examples
Sep 4 2.4 2.4: 1-8, 9-17 (odd), 27, 30 Examples
Sep 6 4.1, 4.2 4.1: 1-6
4.2: 1-11 (odd), 16, 18, 21, 26		 HW 2.3, 2.4, 4.1, 4.2 is due on Sept 11
Sep 11 4.3 4.3: 1-17 (odd)
Sep 13 4.4 4.4: 1-8, 9-17 (odd), 27-32 Examples
HW 4.3, 4.4 is due on Sept 18
Sep 18 4.5, 4.6 4.5: 1, 2, 9-12
4.6: 5-15 (odd)
Sep 20 4.7, 4.9 4.7: 10-19
4.9: 3, 12		 Examples
HW 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 is due on Sept 25
Sep 25 1.3, 1.4 1.3: 1, 2, 5, 6, 10
1.4: 1, 3, 6, 12, 13		 Notes on existence, directions fields, and Euler's method
Examples with Mathematica
HW 1.3, 1.4, 4.9 is due on Oct 9. (4.9 is extra-credit.)
Sep 27 Test 1

Oct 2 6.1, 6.2 6.1: 3, 4, 9-13 (odd), 27, 28, 29
6.2: 3, 5, 7
Oct 4 7.1, 7.2 7.2: 5-19 (odd), 29a, 29b, 30 Examples
HW 6.1, 6.2, 7.2 is due on Oct 16
Oct 9 7.3, 7.4 7.3: 3-19 (odd), 22, 24, 31
7.4: 3-11 (odd), 23-27 (odd), 32, 34
Oct 11 7.5 7.5: 3, 5, 9, 11, 17, 19, 26, 36 Examples
HW 7.3, 7.4, 7.5 is due on Oct 23
Oct 16 7.6 7.6: 3, 5, 7, 13, 17, 22, 26
Oct 23 7.7 7.7: 4, 5, 7, 8,12, 27
Oct 25 7.8 7.8: 1, 3, 7, 11, 15, 17, 24, 29, 31
Oct 30 7.9 7.9: 1, 4, 11, 14, 15, 30, 33 Examples
HW 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9 is due on Nov 6
Nov 1 8.1, 8.2 8.1: 1, 5, 6
8.2: 1-7 (odd), 8, 10, 13, 19, 21
Nov 6 Test 2

Nov 8 8.3 8.3: 3-9 (odd), 13-23 (odd)
Nov 13 8.4 8.4: 1-5 (odd), 10-12, 15, 17, 18 HW 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 is due on Nov 27.
Extra credit: 8.4 problems 20 and 29. Due on Nov 27.
Nov 15 8.6

Nov 27 8.6, 8.7 8.6: 3-9 (odd), 11-17 (odd), 20-23, 25, 27, 31, 33, 36 Examples
Nov 29 8.7, 8.8 8.7: 5-11 (odd), 17, 18
Dec 4 8.8 8.8: 2, 3, 6, 19, 25 HW 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8 will not be collected.
Dec 6 Review


Anonymous feedback
Students are encouraged to bring suggestions and to discuss with the course instructor any concerns they may have, including something they think is not being properly handled in the course. But if you do not feel comfortable doing that, here you have the opportunity to send some anonymous feedback.