This course is the study of computational techniques applicable to physics. Techniques examined are applied to solve problems from various areas of (astro)physics and other areas of science.
MWF 10:00 — 10:50 in Rogers 103
Instructor: Gregory A. Feiden, Ph.D.
Office Hours: WF 14:00 – 16:00, TR 13:00 – 14:00
- write software using Python
- select an appropriate numerical technique to solve a problem
- solve physical problems using a computer (here, with Python)
Note that it is not a goal of this course to teach you basic programming skills that can be developed by taking one of UNG's computer science courses (CSCI 1301 or 1371). We will take time to learn those basic skills as they are applied in Python, since our intro courses only teach MatLAB and Java.
Take a look at the Schedule page to see our tentative schedule.
There are two required textbooks for this course. Both will serve you well in the course, but are excellent references even after you leave this course.
Computational Physics: Problem Solving with Python, 3ed, by Landau, Paez, & Bordeianu ($50)
A Student's Guide to Python for Physical Modeling by Kinder & Nelson ($18)
Anaconda Python Distribution (w/ Spyder, NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, VPython)
You will be evaluated and assessed with five different metrics: In-Class Exercises, Homework, Independent Project, 3 Midterms, and a cumulative Final Exam.
| Category | Weight |
|---|---|
| Exercises | 25% |
| Labs | 15% |
| Project | 15% |
| Midterms | 30% |
| Final | 15% |
To be clear, each midterm exam is weighted at 10%, for a total of 30% across the three midterms.
During a typical week, Monday and Wednesday will be reserved for working through tutorial exercises that guide you through a particular skill or set of skills. This may include 10 - 15 minutes for a short lecture to reinforce and/or clarify material presented in your textbook that will be relevant for the day's exercise(s).
Fridays are reserved for working through more complicated problems that require applying skills learned on Monday and Wednesday. It's essentially a lab day where the problems may carry over as homework. They will require write ups that include derivations, description of your methodology, and analysis of your results.
You are required to undertake an independent project to solve a real-world problem using techniques learned in class or those contained in later chapters of Computational Physics.
You'll have three midterm exams on 20 September 2019, 25 October 2019, and 21 November 2019. They will largely be testing your understanding of when a particular method is applicable and the conceptual basis for various numerical techniques. All coding on midterms will be written as pseudo-code.
There will be a cumulative final exam on Monday 09 December 2019 at 10:20 in Rogers 103. It will be a similar format as the midterms and may have a take-home component.
| Percentage | Letter Grade |
|---|---|
| 93+ | A |
| 83 - 92 | B |
| 70 - 82 | C |
| 60 - 70 | D |
| < 60 | F |
Additional course policies are listed in UNG's Supplemental Syllabus
Gregory A. Feiden, Ph.D.
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