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• Assignment #1 - Due on September 8
• Assignment #2 - Due on September 15
• Assignment #3 - Due on September 22
• Assignment #4 - Due on September 29
• Assignment #5 - Due on October 6
• Assignment #6 - Due on October 17
• Case Study     - Progress Report due on October 27
• Assignment #7 - Due on November 3
• Assignment #8 - Due on November 5
• Assignment #9 - Due on November 17
• Assignment #10 - Due on November 26
• Modeling Activity - Due on December 12

Look at the home page for this course.
Look at "Two Approaches to Problem Solving: An Outline."

Assignment #1 - Due on Monday, September 8

Get your computer account activated.

Log in on the campus computer system and do the following:
1) Send an e-mail message to your instructor.
2) Use Netscape to access your instructor's web page. Find the home page for this course.
3) Follow the appropriate links and read the "Tentative Course Syllabus," and the "Instructor's Policies."
4) Follow the links to the home pages of the two authors of our textbook. Learn a little about the authors.

Tutorial Problem 3, Page 7. (Write up.)

Look at the home page for this course.

Assignment #2 - Due on Monday, September 15

Carefully read the "Preface" to our text.
Read, and carefully study, pp. 1-6 in our text.
Work "Tutorial Problem 7" on page 9. Use string lengths in the 0.10 m to 2.00 m range.
Read, and carefully study, pp. 10-12 in your text.
Send an e-mail message to your instructor. Reflect on some aspects of this course.

Look at the home page for this course.

Assignment #3 - Due on Monday, September 22

Read, and carefully study, Section 1.3 (pp. 12-24) in the text. In particular, consider how equation (2) on p. 21 suggests that the graph of t/c vs c should be a straight line (Fig. 1.11).

Work Tutorial Problem 11. In writing up your solution, carefully illustrate the mathematical modeling process outlined on page 24. Our authors' examples provide illustrations of good style in writing up solutions.

Which of the rules below "best fits" the following data: (0,2), (1,3.75), (2,8.5), (3,18) Rule 1: y = 2x^2 + 1 Rule 2: y = 2^(x+1) Discuss some different means of measuring "goodness of fit," and show that different definitions may affect our choice of best fitting rule.

Remember to send a "reflective" e-mail message to your instructor this week.

Look at the home page for this course.


Assignment #4 - Due on Monday, September 29

Revisit Tutorial Problem 7 of Chapter 1. (Write up this one.)  Consider the method you employed in gathering pendulum data class on Wednesday, September 17. Look up a discussion of the behavior of an "ideal pendulum" in a physics text. How is an ideal pendulum unlike (like) your real pendulum? Is your method of measuring the pendulum's length consistent with the physics text's method? Could you have introduced error with your method? Compare the physics text's model with your model. Which model best fits the data you gathered in class?   You might look ahead to section 4.3 in our textbook and perform a dimensional analysis (optional). In particular, look at Example 5 in that section.

Carefully read, study, and work through most of Chapter 2 this week. In particular, work through Tutorial Problem 1, Tutorial Problem 2 (write up), Tutorial Problem 3 (write up), Tutorial Problem 4, Tutorial Problem 5, Tutorial Problem 6 (write up), Tutorial Problem 7 (write up), Tutorial Problem 8, Tutorial Problem 9, Tutorial Problem 10 (write up Part (a) only), Tutorial Problem 11(b) (write up).

Write a reflective e-mail message to your instructor.

Look at "Two Approaches to Problem Solving: An Outline."

Look at the home page for this course.

Assignment #5 - Due on Monday, October 6

0. Look at the web page titled "Some Modeling Course Objectives."   http://henson2.salisbury.edu/~dccathcart/objectiv.htm

1. Tutorial Problem 13 (page 38). You can probably find those two differential equations models solved in your old calculus book. In each case, you are given an expression for dP/dt where P is a differentiable function of t and P(0) = Po; you seek an explicit relationship between P(t) and t. (Write up your solution to this problem.)

2. Carefully review the "Summary" of the modeling process on pages 39-40, and demonstrate that process in working Exercise 3 on pages 41-42. (Write up your solution to this problem.)

Look at the home page for this course.

Assignment #6 - Due on Monday, October 20

1. Start reading and working through the case study in Chapter 3 that you elected to "read with a critical eye," answer questions about, and present to the class. As you investigate the case study, keep a "notebook" of comments, questions, thoughts, reactions, etc. that occur to you as you work through the case study. Your notebook should include a record of any meetings you have with your partners and a log of time spent working on the case study. Try to complete your work on the case study by Monday, Oct. 20. Be sure that you keep the questions on page 44 in mind as you read your chosen article. (Respond to those questions in your notebook. Turn in your notebook.)

2. Continue to explore the predator-prey model introduced in class. Try to develop qualitative graphs of PK(t) vs PV(t), PK vs t, and PV vs t. (Turn in some analysis.)

3. Prepare a set of notes in response to items on the Study Guide for Test #1. (No notes will be allowed on the in-class portion of the test.)

Look at the home page for this course.

Case Study #1 (from Chapter 3) - Progress Report Due on Monday, October 27

Read, "with a critical eye," and carefully work through one of the case studies in Chapter 3. Answer the authors' questions, work some exercises, and prepare to present the model developed to our class. As you investigate the case study, keep a notebook, or log, of questions, comments, thoughts, criticisms, reactions, etc. that occur to you as you work your way through the case study. Your notebook-log should include records of meetings you have with your partner(s) and a tally of time spent on the case study. Be sure to keep the authors' questions on page 44 in mind as you read your case study.

We cannot predict how much time it will take you and your partner(s) to complete your prepartation of the case study. We will adjust due dates as appropriate.

Look at the home page for this course.

Assignment #7 - Due on Monday, November 3

Complete your work on your case study.

Explore the use of Stella as a modeling tool.

If you visit Stella's web site at  http://www.hps-inc.com/products/STELLA/STELLA.html you can learn quite a bit about how Stella can be used in modeling. I recommend the tutorial that you can find at that site.

Revisit "The Lotka-Volterra Model" by James Morrow in the UMAP Journal of Summer 1997, and do the following exercises (most of them for your own good): 1, 2 (write up), 4, 6 (write up), 8 (write up), 9, 10.

Look at the home page for this course.

Assignment #8 - Due on Wednesday, November 5.

Continue the process of learning to model with Stella. If you visit the web site for this course, you can find links to Stella tutorials. The "official" Stella tutorial is at http://www.hps-inc.com/tutorial/tutorial.html.  Another tutorial is at http://mvhsl.mbhs.edu/mvhsproj/STELLA-Tutorial-96.pdf.  I think there is also a tutorial on our Stella package.

Work on developing a Stella model for Exercise #3 on page 41. Turn in a written record of your progress in trying to learn to use Stella to model logistic growth.

Play around with the population dynamics model "PopDynam" provided with our Stella software. (Locate the folder called "Tutorial" and open the model called "PopDynam.")

Comment on your play with Stella in this week's e-mail message.

Look at the home page for this course.

Assignment #9 - Due on Friday, November 14

Review the key activities in the modeling process summarized on pp. 39-40 of our text. Demonstrate those activities as you address Case Study 7 Epidemics, Part 1, on page 102 in Chapter 4. (Write up the development of a mathematical model for the spread of a cold.)

Hint. Part 2 may suggest an approach.

Comment on your modeling activity in addressing this case study in this week's e-mail message.

Look at the home page for this course.

Assignment #10 - Due on Wednesday, November 26

1) Write up solutions to exercises 1-6 on the handout titled "The Diffusion of a Rumor: A Model."

2) Develop, and write up, a model for the situation in Part 2 of Case Study 7 in Chapter 4 (p. 103). Implement your model using Stella. Turn in appropriate diagrams and graphs.

Look at the home page for this course.

Modeling Activity - Due on Friday, December 12

Your small (two or three) person group will be assigned a "modeling activity." Demonstrate application of either (a) the mathematical modeling process presented in class, or (b) the mathematical modeling process employed in our text and summarized on pages 39-40.

Look at the home page for this course.