Math 441 - Introduction to Numerical Analysis

Fall 2025 - Matthias K. Gobbert

Detailed Schedule - Last Updated 03/28/2025

This schedule is designed to give you an overview of the material to be covered and is tentative in nature. This is a living document and may be updated throughout the semester.
The section numbers refer to Kendall E. Atkinson, An Introduction to Numerical Analysis, second edition, Wiley, 1989.
The numbers HW0, HW1, HW2, etc. in the Class column indicate homeworks "HW" due as PDF upload to Blackboard on that day.
The numbers BQ0a, BQ0b, BQ1a, etc. in the Main Topic column indicate online Blackboard quizzes "BQ" due before that class.
The numbers GQ0a, GQ1a, GQ2a, etc. in the Main Topic column indicate in-class group quizzes "GQ" during that class due as PDF upload.
These numbers in the detailed schedule are designed to show the teaching philosophy and learning techniques associated with each class meeting.
See the Assignments area of the Blackboard site for our course for the precise due dates and times.

Class	Date	Main Topic	Section(s)
1, HW0	Th 08/28	BQ0a, Introductions, Overview, GQ0a	pre-assessment
2	Tu 09/02	BQ1a, GQ1a, Gaussian elimination: reduction in appended tableau and in Matlab/Octave	8.1
3	Th 09/04	BQ1b, Gaussian elimination: reduction in appended tableau and in Matlab/Octave, IQ0	8.1
4, HW1	Tu 09/09	BQ1c, Gaussian elimination: LU factorization in software, effect of accumulated round-off, GQ0b	8.2
5	Th 09/11	BQ2ab, Taylor's theorem in one dimension	1.1
6	Tu 09/16	BQ2c, Taylor's theorem in higher dimensions, GQ2a	1.1
7, HW2	Th 09/18	Taylor's theorem in higher dimensions, GQ2b	1.1
8	Tu 09/23	BQ3a, Interpolation: existence and uniqueness	3.1
9	Th 09/25	BQ3b, Interpolation: Newton divided differences, error theorem	3.2
10, HW3	Tu 09/30	Interpolation: problems with equidistant nodes, Matlab/Octave	3.5
11	Th 10/02	BQ4a, Numerical differentiation: Taylor's theorem and methods	5.7
12, HW4	Tu 10/07	BQ4b, Numerical differentiation: errors and effect of round-off, Matlab/Octave, GQ4a	5.7
13	Th 10/09	BQ5ab, Numerical integration: composite trapezoidal and Simpson rules	5.1-5.2
14, HW5	Tu 10/14	Numerical integration in Matlab/Octave, GQ5a
15	Th 10/16	Review
16	Tu 10/21	Midterm Exam
17	Th 10/23	BQ5e, Numerical integration: Gauss-Legendre quadrature, GQ5e	5.3
18, HW6	Tu 10/28	BQ5f, Numerical integration: general Gaussian quadrature	5.3
19	Th 10/30	BQ7a, BQ7b, Rootfinding: bisection, Newton, secant methods	2.0-2.3
20, HW7a	Tu 11/04	BQ7c, BQ7d, Rootfinding: Newton's method in Matlab/Octave GQ7d	2.5
21	Th 11/06	BQ7e, Systems of non-linear equations: Newton's method	2.10-2.11
22, HW7b	Tu 11/11	Systems of non-linear equations: Newton's method in practice
23	Th 11/13	BQ8a, Numerical ODEs: problem, local truncation error, GQ8a	6.1
24	Tu 11/18	BQ8b, Numerical ODEs: basic methods, linear stability analysis	6.2-6.3
25, HW8	Th 11/20	Numerical ODEs: method survey, methods in Matlab/Octave	6.7-6.10
26	Tu 11/25	Numerical ODEs: stiffness in ODEs, GQ8b	6.7-6.10
	Th 11/27	Thanksgiving Holiday
27	Tu 12/02	BQ9a, Computer numbers: IEEE-standard for floating-point numbers	1.2
28, HW9	Th 12/04	Computer numbers: IEEE-standard for floating-point numbers	1.2
29, HW10	Tu 12/09	Review	post-assessment
	Tu 12/16	10:30-12:30 Final Exam Note the date and time!