PHY210: Fortran for the Physical Sciences
Course Syllabus

Gustavus Adolphus College
January Term 2002


Professors:Dr. Thomas Huber and Dr. Julie Talbot
e-mail:huber@gustavus.edu or jtalbot@gustavus.edu
Offices: Olin 209 (933-7036) and Olin 212 (933-7311)
Textbooks:

Course Policy and Evaluation

  1. Lecture Schedule: The class time is every day from 9:00-9:50 AM and 10:30-Noon in Olin 220.
  2. Credit Towards Physics Major/Minor Sequence: This is an elective course which DOES NOT count as a course credit towards a physics major or minor.
  3. Laboratory: Laboratories will be conducted on an open-lab basis. The physics department labs (Olin 221 and 224) will be open for use from approximately 1:00 - 4:00 PM daily, with one or both of the instructors available to help. (Students may also be able to work on their daily and longer-term assignments during the scheduled hours of the campus Windows-PC networks or personal machines). However,network lab assistants and Information Technology staff will not be available for debugging student programs!
  4. Attendance: Regular attendance at all classes is expected. In a four-week course such as this, cutting class is highly frowned upon and will be noted. Students will be held responsible for informing themselves of all announcements and assignments made in the classroom.
  5. Homework: Written homework will be collected at the beginning of class on the due date. Homework sets should be neat and organized. Unless stated otherwise, an acceptable homework set should include:
  6. Late Homework: Late homework will be accepted at the discretion of the instructors with some loss of points.
  7. Exams: There will be three one-hour exams on Fridays January 11, 18 and 25.
  8. Missed Exams: Students are expected to arrange with the instructors in advance to take an hour exam at other than the announced time. Permission to make up a missed exam after the fact will be at the discretion of the instructors and should not be assumed.
  9. Project: Each student is required to complete a Fortran programming project of his or her own design. Although the project counts as 25% of the final course grade, there is a parallel requirement that all students submit a project satisfying minimum reporting requirements in order to receive a passing grade in the course. Complete project reports are due no later than 4:00 PM on Friday, February 1. No programs or pieces thereof will be accepted after that time. Additional information on the project requirements and reports is available on the Project Guidelines Handout , which is available from your instructors if you did not receive it on the first day of class.
  10. Project Presentation: During the final week of classes, each student is required to give an oral presentation to the class on their final project (the presentation times will be assigned at least one week prior to the presentations). This presentation will be graded on both content and style.
  11. Computer Usage and Electronic Mail: Frequently during the semester, we will be using the campus network and computers for Electronic Mail (e-mail), to turn in assignments, and to access internet resources. In addition, each student will be given an access to the PHYSICS file server in order to access the Fortran compiler, editor, and ancillary programs. You can use your /Mydata folder to save files on Gustavus' fileserver disk system. IMPORTANT NOTE: While this system is backed up, each student should maintain backup copies of all work, either on floppy disks or on their own hard drive. In particular, you should save copies of programs that are "partially working" to avoid "breaking" them by adding features.
  12. Academic Honesty: In all academic exercises, examinations, papers, and reports, students shall submit their own work. Footnotes, or some other acceptable form of citation must accompany any use of another's words or ideas. (The full text of the Gustavus Academic Honesty Policy may be found in the Gustavus Adolphus College Academic Catalog).

  13. Evaluation:
    Grades will be assigned using the following as a guide: 
    14.      35%  Hour Exams 
         35%  Homework
         25%  Final Project
          5%  Project Presentations

         94-100    A         74-78   C+
         90-94     A-        70-74   C
         86-90     B+        66-70   C-
         82-86     B         62-66   D+
         78-82     B-        58-62   D
                              0-58   F


    Assignment of final letter grades will also take into account the instructors' subjective evaluation of the student's attendance, initiative, preparation (particularly quantity and quality of homework), and evidence of improvement.

  14. Incompletes: A grade of incomplete will only be given for work not completed due to circumstances beyond the control of the student (this is the college policy).
     
  15. Approximate Course Content:
	Week 1    Jan 7 - 11      Chapters 1 - 3
		  Jan 11          ** EXAM 1 **


	Week 2    Jan 14 - 18    Chapters 4 - 7
		  Jan 17         ** PROJECT PROPOSAL DUE **
	          Jan 18         ** EXAM 2 **


	Week 3    Jan 21 - 25    Chapters 8 - 9, 12
	          Jan 25         ** EXAM 3 **


	Week 4    Jan 28 - Feb 1  Numerical Methods
	          Jan 31 - Feb 1  ** PROJECT PRESENTATIONS **
	          Feb 1           ** PROJECT REPORT DUE at 4:00 PM **

Electronic Copy: http://physics.gac.edu/~huber/classes/phy210/fortsyl.htm