Physics 220 Computational Physics

Instructor: Dr. Hank Yochum
Tuesday 1:30 - 2:20 pm
Thursday 2:30 - 4:20 pm
Both times we meet in Guion 10.

How to contact me:

Please consult the web page for class announcements, exam hints, homework assignments, and other useful information.

Feel free to call whenever you need. I tend to check my voicemail and email frequently, so if I am not around, I will get in touch with you as soon as possible. One of the benefits of going to a small college like Sweet Briar is the opportunity to actually interact with your professors, take advantage of this in all your courses.

Texts:
Computational Physics by Nicholas J. Giordano
True Basic Bronze Edition Guide and Software

Structure of the class
In general, the Tuesday class will be a lecture/discussion.  The Thursday 2 hour session will often be a lab where a program or programs are to be worked on.  This format may change as we see what works best.  It is likely we will jump around the Computational Physics textbook, but will cover parts of chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7.   For a few weeks we will go over the TrueBasic Language Guide to get acquainted with the  language and programming in general.  I plan to teach the course as if you do not have any programming experience.  For those of you with programming experience, using TrueBasic may take some getting used to.
 
Office Hours:
Monday 10:30-11:30 pm
Wednesday 10:30-11:30 pm
Thursday 10:30-11:30
drop by whenever though..
I am generally around the department, so if you are looking for me, look in the physics department whether or not I am having office hours.

Preparation:
You are expected to have a solid knowledge of Calculus and have had a two semester sequence of general physics.  We will be solving differential equations so some knowledge of such may be helpful.   You are expected to go back to your General Physics text if needed.

Course Objective:
The student will obtain the skills necessary to solve problems in physics with computers.

Attendance:
Simply put, coming to class is expected.

Programs and Homework Sets:
Programs and hw will be assigned throughout the semester.  This work may vary, from doing conventional physics problems to writing a program from scratch to altering a program I give you.

I encourage you to work and discuss the course with your classmates.  Communication with your peers is a powerful way to learn.  This does not mean copying other students work.  The programs and work you do should be your own! 

In addition to getting programs to work correctly and getting the correct answers to homework problems, it is your job as a physicist to communicate effectively how you solved the problem or how the program works.  This means programs should be written so that they are easy to follow by an outside reader.  We will go over good programming organization. 

Tests:
There will be a midterm and a final. 

Project/Paper:
You will write a computer program either based on a program we have already written or something new you are interested in.  You must submit a proposal to me by March 21 on this project and then complete the program by April 18.  The proposal should state what you are going to do and why it would be interesting.  The program need not necessarily be physics related (any science will do, Biology, Chemistry, Geology).   Each student will conduct a powerpoint presentation of their final project to the class at the end of the semester.

Grades:
Homework sets and programs.......50 %
Project/Paper................................10 %
quizzes..........................................10 %
midterm........................................15 %
Final exam....................................15 %


Course Schedule:
(subject to change)