Math 309: Linear Analysis
Autumn 2014
Instructor: Alexandru Chirvasitu

Class times and locations: Office: C-417 Padelford
Office hours: Wednesday 11 - 12 and 2:30 - 3:30, Friday 11 - 12, or by appointment (meaning email me and we'll work it out)
Email: chirva AT uw.edu
There is an official Math 309 syllabus here that I'll try to follow more or less closely.
Textbook

We're using the custom 10th edition of Boyce's Linear Analysis. You do need it, as I'll be assigning problems from it as homework by just telling you the problem numbers. See that link for info on how / where to get it.
Reading

I'll probably ask you to read some of the sections in the textbook before most lectures, so we're in sync. I'll post the reading assignments here; the date is that of the lecture, so please do the reading before that.

Date Section(s) Remarks
Wed Oct 01 7.4
Fri Oct 03 7.5
Mon Oct 06 7.6
Wed Oct 08 7.7
Fri Oct 10 7.8
Mon Oct 13 7.9 Only read diagonalization and variation of parameters;
skip undetermined coefficients and Laplace transforms.
Mon Oct 20 9.1 Won't be on the midterm.
Fri Oct 31 10.2
Mon Nov 03 10.3
Wed Nov 05 10.4
Fri Nov 07 10.5
Mon Nov 10 10.6
Mon Nov 17 10.7
Wed Nov 19 10.7
Fri Nov 21 10.8
Homework

We'll have seven of these. You'll have a week for each assignment and they're all due Monday in class, starting October 6.

No late homework please, but if you can't make it to class you can still slide it under my office door (C-417 Padelford) so long as it's Monday before about 4 PM; otherwise the homework grader won't be able to pick it up and it won't count.

You'll find the assignments as PDF files in the table below. They'll typically just be lists of problems from the book, and I'll announce each assignment more than a week before the due date.

# Due date File
1 Mon Oct 06 Link
2 Mon Oct 13 Link
No hw due weeks of Oct 20
and Oct 27 (before and after midterm)
3 Mon Nov 3 Link
4 Mon Nov 10 Link
5 Mon Nov 17 Link
6 Mon Nov 24 Link
7 Mon Dec 1 Link


The grader will assign each homework a grade out of 10: two graded problems for four points each, and two points for completion. I won't be telling you in advance which problems are being graded though.. Do collaborate on the homework if you like, but write up your own solutions. And by all means drop by at office hours if you need a hand.
Midterm

We're having it Friday, October 24 in class (so that's usual place, usual time, lasts 50 minutes) and it'll cover Chapter 7 of the textbook. Note the date change! It used to be Oct 20.

I've now posted solutions for it; the link opens a PDF file.

Midterm material

Any type of problem you've seen on the homework is fair game, so get practice with those. That has you covered for sections 7.2 up to 7.7. There's going to be no homework from 7.8 and 7.9, so I'll just make some suggestions: You should also check out midterms and quizzes from this collection of old tests; ignore the parts of the problems that deal with stuff we haven't covered.

Pre-midterm extra office hours: Tuesday (Oct. 21) 10 - 11 and 3:30 - 4:30, Thursday (Oct. 23) 11:30 - 1 and 3 - 4-30 and Friday (Oct. 24) 10 - 11

Post-midterm extra office hours: Monday (Nov. 03) 3:30 - 5
Final

They've been scheduled by the department: The final is theoretically cumulative, but in practice it'll focus on the material not covered by the midterm. So it'll be mostly Chapter 10, with some stuff from Chapters 7 and 9 thrown in.

No "cheat sheets" or calculators or other such aides please. I'll make sure the problems aren't computationally horrible and that you don't need any arcane formulas you feel you should memorize. Should you find that say a trig formula is indispensable, ask during the exam and I'll write it on the board for you. This paragraph applies to the midterm too..

Here's a link to an older course website (by someone else) with some past exams. That'll give you an idea of what sorts of things you'll be expected to do on the test.

Office hour schedule week before final: Thursday (Dec. 04) 8 - 11 and Friday (Dec. 05) 9 - 12
Grading
We'll drop the lowest homework score.
Overloading and such

"Overloading" means allowing more students in class than the limit (which in our case is 50 for each of the two sections, Math 309 B and Math 309 C). We won't be doing any of that during the first week. Instead, you should keep watching and waiting for spaces to open up; it's all a bit fluid in the beginning, so that may well happen.

There's a kind of forum set up for students who want to discuss switching sections in various courses, 309 included. Here's a link; it'll ask you for your UW NetID, and then take you to the discussion board.
CLUE

I've just found out about this study support thing that's being run on campus; they have exam reviews and stuff like that. I was told they'd run reviews for Math 309 on Thursday, Oct. 16 (for Midterm 1), Sunday, Nov. 16 (for those Math 309 sections that have a second midterm; not our case, but you might want to drop in anyway), and Monday, Dec. 8 for the final.

Those dates are supposed to be preliminary for now. I've let them know Dec. 8 is too late for some (309 C are having their final on that day), so I'm hoping they'll change the date. I'll keep you posted and update this space when I hear more.
Disability Resources

If you need special accomodations please go to DRS (Disability Resources for Students) for more information. You should meet with a DRS counselor and get a letter attesting your need for academic accomodations. Once you have such a letter, please see me so that we can arrange for those.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me.

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