Math 331, Spring 2011
Differential Equations
Tuesday & Thursday, 1:00-2:15am, Goessmann 151

Instructor: Hans Johnston

Office: 1526 LGRT
Phone: (413) 545-2817
Office Hours: M 10-11, W 3-4
Email: johnston at math.umass.edu

Textbook: Differential Equations (3rd edition), by Blanchard, Devaney & Hall

Course description: The course is an introduction to ordinary differential equations. We will cover first and second order linear differential equations, systems of linear differential equations, Laplace transforms, numerical methods, and applications.

Grading: HW 20%, Quizzes 15%, Midterm 30%, Final 35%

Teaching Assistants: The teaching assistants will hold office hours to go over homework, examples, prepare for exams, answer questions, and so on...

TA :   Allison Tanguay
 Office :   LGRT 1335E
 Phone :   545-1714
 E-Mail :   tanguay at math.umass.edu
Office hours: Monday & Tuesday 4-6PM     Room: LGRT 204

TA :   Sami Zreik
 Office :   LGRT 1337
 Phone :   545-0467
 E-Mail :   zreik at math.umass.edu
Office hours: Wednesday & Thursday 4-6PM     Room: LGRT 202 (W) LGRT 204(Th)

SI Instructor: The LRC in DuBois Library has an SI instructor assigned to 331 this term. Hours: Sunday & Wednesday 8:45-10PM    Room: 1367 DuBois

Homework : We will use an online homework system, WeBWork . Problems will also be assigned from the book, but not collected.

Slope Field Calculator : Here is a link to the Slope Field Calculator that I used in class.


FINAL EXAM - Tuesday 5/10 in ECSC 119, 1:30-3:30


Class Activity
1/20/11 First day of class. Read sections 1.1-1.3.
1/27/11 Population models. Read sections 1.4-1.5. Assignment: WebWork HW1 due 2/8/11.
2/10/11 Euler's method and Existence and Uniqueness of solutions. Read sections 1.6-1.8. Assignment: WebWork HW2 due 2/18/11 & HW3 due 2/25/11
3/1/11 Linear equations and integrating factors. Assignment: WebWork HW4 due 3/9/11.
3/22/11 Linear systems. Read sections 3.1-3.3.
3/29/11 Eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Assignment: WebWork HW5 due 4/12/11.
4/12/11 Second order equations. Read sections 3.4-3.6 and 4.1-4.3.
4/21/11 Resonance, Laplace transform. Read sections 6.1-6.3. Assignment: WebWork HW6 due 4/28/11.