Bill Goodwine's Courses

University of Notre Dame
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

AME 30315: Differential Equations, Vibrations and Control II

Instructor:

• Bill Goodwine
  Office: 365B Fitzpatrick
  Email: goodwine@controls.ame.nd.edu
  Problem Sessions:
  • Mondays, 4:05-5:00pm, 118 DBRT
  • Tuesdays, 3:30-4:30pm, 356A FITZ

TAs:

• Dayu Lv , B22 Fitzpatrick, dlv@nd.edu, office hours: Thursdays, 7:30-9:00pm.
• Joanna Ho, Joanna.Ho.23@nd.edu

Time and Place:

• 141 DBRT
  MWF 12:50-1:40

Course Web Page:

• http://controls.ame.nd.edu/courses/

Grading:

• The final grade will be based on homework sets and three exams with the following initial distribution:
  1. Homework (15%)
  2. Exam 1 (25%): Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 7:00-9:00pm.
  3. Exam 2 (25%): Monday, April 6, 2009, 12:50-1:40pm.
  4. Final exam (35%): Wednesday, May 6, 1:45-3:45, 141 DBRT.

• The instructor will periodically inquire with other instructors this semester regarding the adequacy of the preparation of their classes with respect to the subjects covered in AME 30314. If they, or the instructor for this course, is of the impression that the students are not demonstrating reasonable proficiency in the subjects from the fall course, quizzes will be added to this course to help the students with their proficiency. The first time this appears necessary, the quizzes will be weekly. If this does not appear to be sufficient to remedy the situation, twice weekly quizzes will be added. If this still does not appear to remedy the situation, daily quizzes will be instituted. If the status at the end of the semester is that no quizzes are administered then the grade distribution is as above. If weekly quizzes are added, then they will be worth 20% of the grade for the course and the homework will be worth 5% of the grade and each midterm exam will be worth 20%. If more frequent quizzes are necessary, then the amount of the grade that the quizzes are worth will be increased by an additional 5% for each increment, with a corresponding 2.5% reduction in the midterm grade allocation.
• Guaranteed grades:
  1. (overall grade > mean + 1.5 stdev) OR (overall grade > 90%): A/A-
  2. (overall grade > mean + 0.5 stdev) OR (overall grade > 80%): B+/B
  3. (overall grade > mean - 0.5 stdev) OR (overall grade > 70%): B-/C+/C
  4. (overall grade > mean - 1.5 stdev) OR (overall grade > 60%): C-
  5. overall grade > mean - 2.0 stdev: D
  6. overall grade < mean - 2.0 stdev: F

Homework Policy:

1. Homework sets will be assigned weekly and will be due before the beginning of class on Wednesdays. Late homework will not be accepted without permission from the instructor prior to the time it is due.
2. Collaboration on homework assignments in encouraged. Unless otherwise prohibited, you may consult outside reference materials, other students, the TAs, or the instructor. However, all material that is submitted must be the result of your own individual effort and accurately and substantively reflect your understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing.
3. Examples of allowed activities include:
   1. working on homeworks and projects as a group provided every member of the group submits material that is consistent with paragraph 2 above;
   2. obtaining help debugging computer programs provided that the computer program submitted is consistent with paragraph 2 above.
   3. consulting another person regarding any aspect of a homework assignment provided that what is ultimately submitted is consistent with paragraph 2 above.
4. Examples of dishonest activities include:
   1. unless expressly allowed by the instructor, submitting material that is not entirely the result of your own intellectual effort;
   2. submitting material that is intentionally misleading such as plots or graphs that were not generated by an accompanying computer code listing, a computer code listing that is purported to be correct that is not or a homework problem that has the correct answer that does not result from the work preceding it;
   3. submitting material that is copied, wholly or in part, in any form; or,
   4. any activity not expressly allowed above that violates either the letter or spirit of the University Academic Code of Honor.

The "Don't be High Maintenance" Policy:

• I consider it part of my job to make it as easy as possible for you to develop a mature and sophisticated understanding of differential equations, their solution methods and the role they play in engineering. As such, I am happy to answer any and all questions you may have (or to direct you to others, if I think they could do so better) as many times as is necessary to help further this goal provided that you meet your similar obligation to make a substantive and mature effort to achieve the same goal. Hence:
  • If you regularly attend class, are not disruptive and make an effort to make class time productive for yourself and others, I will make every effort to promptly respond to any communication addressed to me.
  • If you skip class, are generally disruptive or inattentive I will answer your questions at a time that is convenient for me. If you ask questions regarding administrative matters, e.g., test coverage, that I already announced in class, I will not answer them.
  The rationale for this policy is to both manage my workload as well as to prepare you for the realities of the professional world.

Course Text:
The required text for the course is Engineering Differential Equations: Theory and Applications by Bill Goodwine.

Subject Outline:
This course covers three broad topics: solving systems of linear, first order ordinary differential equations, Laplace transforms and basic control theory and using Lagrange's equations to determine the equations of motion for mechanical systems.