TIME TABLE: 20136 MWF 01:00--01:50 in 300 Taft Hall from 08/23/2004 to 12/03/2004.

PREREQUISITES:

Timetable lists "Grade of C or better in MCS 460 or the equivalent, and MATH 480 or consent of the instructor,'' but this is outdated. The MCS 460 has in the mean time become MCS 320 (introduction to symbolic computation) and instead of Math 480, MCS 471 (numerical analysis) works even better as the second prerequisite.

INSTRUCTOR:

Jan Verschelde, Office: 728 SEO, Phone: 312 996 4609. E-mail: jan@math.uic.edu.

OFFICE HOURS

are at two on Monday, twelve noon on Wednesday, and eleven on Friday. Feel free to stop by if you have any math questions. We can also make an appointment.

TEXT BOOK:

The text book for this course is Numerical Polynomial Algebra by Hans J. Stetter, SIAM 2004. The course outline shows a map of the table of contents. With some minor exceptions, we will work ourselves through the book from cover to cover.

MCS 563 SITE:

See http://www.math.uic.edu/~jan/mcs563/index.html for a copy of the syllabus, posting of lecture notes, reference materials, and changes in the scheduling.

HOMEWORK:

Every section in the text book has a list of interesting exercises which form a good preparation for the exams. Some exercises provide inspiration for an interesting project. At the end of every lecture, interesting homework problems will be recommended. The collection of homework will be announced at least one week ahead of the deadline.

PROJECTS:

Three projects will be assigned during the semester. In the first project we will use Maple to experiment with the concepts and algorithms in the book. The goal of the second project is a computational detailed study of a novel algorithm. In the third project we consider application fields, still to be determined, and depending on personal interests and preferences.

EXAMS:

During the semester, there is one midterm on the first half of the text book. The midterm and the final exam are excellent preparations for the Symbolic Computation branch of the Symbolic and Numerical Computing (SNC) Prelim. Students not interested in this Prelim may opt out the exams, and focus on research projects instead.

CLASS ATTENDANCE:

Students are expected to attend all class meetings. While the lectures cover the same materials in the text book, usually other examples will be presented and discussed.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

who require accommodations for access and participation in this course must be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). Please contact ODS at 312/413-2183 (voice) or 312/413-0123 (TTY).

SOME IMPORTANT DATES:

Friday 3 September : last day to self-drop the class.
Monday 6 September : Labor Day.
Friday 26 November : Thanksgiving holiday.
Monday 6 December, 1:00-3:00PM : Final exam.