• Syllabus
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CPSC 302: Numerical Computation for Algebraic Problems

2017/2018 Winter Term 1 (September-December 2017)

Mon/Wed/Fri 13:00-14:00, DMP 301

Syllabus

• External Quicklinks: UBC Connect, Piazza


• Course Description: Many important physical, industrial, and economic questions can be described as mathematical problems. However, typically they cannot be solved analytically. Therefore, numerical methods are needed to find an approximate solution obtained by a series of calculations on a computer. In this course, we will look at a variety of mathematical problems, learn how to choose good numerical methods for solving them, and how to analyze the error. The main focus will be on linear systems of equations. We will also study nonlinear equations in one variable, linear least squares problems, and small to moderate-sized eigenvalue problems.


• Instructor: Jessica Bosch, jbosch@cs.ubc.ca, ICCS 215


• Teaching Assistants:
• Michael Wathen, mwathen@cs.ubc.ca
• Nicholas Hu, nicholas.hu@alumni.ubc.ca
• Sarah Elhammadi, shammadi@cs.ubc.ca


• Office Hours:
• Jessica: Mondays 16:30-17:30, ICCS 215
• Michael: Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30, ICCS X337
• Nicholas: Tuesdays, 11:30-12:30, Demco Learning Centre (ICCS X150), Table 3
• Sarah: Wednesdays, 11:30-12:30, Demco Learning Centre (ICCS X150), Table 3 (starting Sept 20)


• Prerequisites: See here.


• Waiting List: If you are on the waiting list, please see the CPSC waiting list policies page.


• Course Communications: Primarily through the course website or Piazza. Students are expected to check Piazza regularly for announcements, and this website for updated course content.
• We will use Piazza as course discussion board. This is the best forum for asking questions about logistics or course content. The instructor and TAs will monitor the discussion board regularly, and will respond more quickly to questions posted there than questions asked by email.
• Questions regarding homework can be directed to the TAs/instructor. Questions regarding homework grading must be directed to the TAs, who will refer concerns to the instructor if necessary.
• Questions regarding midterm or final grading should be directed to the instructor.
• For issues of a confidential nature, please contact the instructor.

Tentative Grading Scheme

Your grade will be determined approximately by the following scheme:

Course Element	Fraction of Grade
Assignments	30%
Prior Knowledge Quizzes	5%
Pre-Class Readings Quizzes	5%
In-Class Group Exercises	5%
Midterm Exam (50 minutes)	15%
Final Exam (2.5 hours)	40%

• You must have a pass standing in the assignment component of the course. Failure to comply with this requirement or failure to write the midterm exam without a justified documented reason may result in ineligibility to write the final exam and/or an eventual final grade lower than the one computed by the above formula.
• The instructor reserves the right to modify the grading scheme at any time if necessary.

Assignments

• The plan is to have 5 written homework assignments.
• Hard Copy Submission: Assignments must be handed in at the beginning of class on the due date. If you cannot hand in your assignment in class, you may hand it in to the Assignment Box marked CPSC 302 in ICCS X235 before lecture on the due date. Your hard copy assignment must also include all your codes and plots.
• Electronic Submission: In addition, all codes and plots should be submitted electronically before lecture on the due date using the handin program. You can use either Web Hand-In or the command-line version of handin. The course account is cs302 and the assignment is asgnX, where X is the assignment number (so, replace asgnX by asgn2 for assignment 2, and so on). There are a number of ways to hand in your files, mentioned here.
• We will NOT accept late submissions except in exceptional circumstances.
• All homeworks involve programming tasks in Matlab. You may collaborate and consult with other students in the course, but you must hand in your own assignments and your own codes. If you have collaborated or consulted with someone while working on your assignment, you must acknowledge this explicitly in your handed-in assignment.
• Bonus assignment: There will be a bonus assignment (Assignment 6) at the end of the course.

Prior Knowledge Quizzes

• These quizzes help you discover what you already know about a previous discussed topic.
• There will be one quiz each week, which is due by 13:00 on Mondays. You will complete the quiz in Connect and have one attempt for each quiz.
  For the students on the waiting list, I will copy a PDF of the quiz into Piazza until Sept 19.
• 5 of these quizzes will be graded, but you will not know which ones.

Pre-Class Readings Quizzes

• The Friday classes will be used for solving worksheets in small groups.
• In preparation for these weekly activities, you are asked to study the scheduled topic material at home in advance (outside-of-class learning activity). You will find the tentative lecture and pre-reading schedule here on the course website. There will be NO lecture in class on teaching the required Friday reading material again. Instead, we want to use the new in-class time for other valuable learning experiences. It is important to complete the pre-class reading and quiz to be prepared for Friday classes.
• After studying the new material, the quizzes here help you assess your understanding of foundational knowledge.
• There will be one quiz each week, which is due by 13:00 on Fridays. You will complete the quiz in Connect and have one attempt for each quiz.
  For the students on the waiting list, I will copy a PDF of the quiz into Piazza until Sept 19.
• 5 of these quizzes will be graded, but you will not know which ones.

In-Class Group Exercises

• In consequence of the pre-class reading above, the Friday classes will be used for solving worksheets in small groups.
• You will learn how to apply the new content through application exercises. Small group work will help you in addition learning about working with others, cross-cultural awareness, and developing a small community of supportive peers.
• 6 of these exercises will be graded, but you will not know which ones.

Clicker Bonus

• Students who register their clicker/REEF and correctly answer at least 70% of the in-class clicker questions during the term will receive an extra 1% on their grade. Clicker bonus questions start on Monday, September 20.

Midterm Exam

• The midterm exam is on Wednesday, October 25, 13:00-14:00, in PHRM 1201. Please bring your student ID and be in class on time. You are allowed one side of a letter-sized (216mm × 279mm) sheet with handwritten notes. No other material or accessories are allowed. The midterm exam will cover material from numerical algorithms and errors, nonlinear equations in one variable, linear algebra background, and direct methods for linear systems.
• Failure to write the midterm exam without a justified documented reason may result in ineligibility to write the final exam and/or an eventual final grade lower than the one computed by the above formula. Students who miss the midterm due to an illness must provide a doctor's note to the instructor. There is no makeup midterm exam. If you have missed the midterm exam for a justified reason, the weight for that midterm is transferred to the final exam, in a way that will be determined by the instructor.

Final Exam

• The final exam is on Wednesday, December 13, 19:00-21:30, in SWNG 222. Please bring your student ID and be in class on time. You are allowed one letter-sized (216mm × 279mm) sheet (both sides) with handwritten notes. No other material or accessories are allowed. The final exam will cover material from the entire course.
• Students who miss the final exam must follow the procedure of their Faculty to request a deferred exam. Students may be refused permission to sit a deferred exam if they have not demonstrated sufficient prior work in the course.

Text and Instructional Resources

• Course Textbook: The main course textbook is A First Course on Numerical Methods, by Uri M. Ascher and Chen Greif.
• The book is available online to UBC students from the UBC library. See also the Supplementary material including Matlab programs and Errata.
• Further References:
• Scientific Computing: An Introductory Survey (second edition), by Michael T. Heath
• Numerical Methods: Design, Analysis, and Computer Implementation of Algorithms, by Greenbaum and Chartier
• Numerical Analysis (any edition), by Burden and Faires
• Numerical Analysis: Mathematics of Scientific Computing, by Kincaid and Cheney
• Tentative Course Outline: Here is a tentative but detailed outline.
• Computing Resources: Matlab is the computational environment used in CPSC 302. We use only functions from basic Matlab (no toolboxes are required). You may be expected to read and/or write small pseudo-code algorithms during exams. You will NOT be expected to write syntactically correct Matlab code during exams.
• Matlab is available here to active and registered UBC students at no cost. You can find it also on Connect under "Resources". Students may also use departmental licenses through the undergraduate CS labs.
• Students who are unfamiliar with the Department of Computer Science can find out useful information, such as how to create accounts or remote computing, from the department's services and labs link.
• Matlab Resources:
• MathWorks tutorials
• Ian Mitchell, Matlab Resources
• Kevin Murphy, Matlab Tips
• UBC Connect: Grades, quizzes, surveys, solutions
• Piazza: Course discussion board, lecture notes, homework assignments, sample midterm
• iClickers/REEF: In-class polls, quizzes, clicker bonus questions, measure attendance
• If you do not already have a clicker/REEF, please read here how to get it. Clicker bonus questions start on Monday, September 20.
• Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: I expect students to be aware of and adhere to the UBC policy on academic integrity and plagiarism in all their work in this course. Academic misconduct of any kind, including cheating on quizzes, assignments or exams, will not be tolerated. The consequences for academic misconduct will include a grade of zero, and you could also face possible exclusion from the course or suspension.
• Policies: Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the Computer Science department's rules, policies, and penalties.