Physics 210: Introduction to Computational Physics (Fall 2014)

• LECTURES: TUESDAY & THURSDAY 12:30-13:30 -- HENNINGS 201
  
• LABS: 
• L1A: TUESDAY & THURSDAY 13:30-15:30 -- HENNINGS 205
• L1B: TUESDAY & THURSDAY 15:30-17:30 -- HENNINGS 205
• NOTE: The computer lab is open 24/7, but the doors to Hennings are locked on the weekends, and from 6:30 PM to 7:00 AM on weekdays.
  
  
• Course Announcements will be made through Connect/Blackboard
  

• Course Notes
• Syllabus / Schedule (including deadlines)
• Archived Material (Announcements, updates ...)
  
• Homework
• Course Software (for personal machines)
• Online Course Resources
  
• Learning Goals & Course Topics
• Suggested Hard Copy References
• Term Projects
• Term Project Ideas
• See Course Notes page for sample animations from representative projects
  
• Instructor's sample term project proposal  [PDF]
• Student project proposals from
  
• 2009 [Group 1 PDF | Group 2 PDF]
• 2012 [L1A PDF | L1B PDF]
• 2013 [L1A PDF | L1B PDF]
• 2014 [L1A PDF | L1B PDF]
• Writeups of two exemplary projects from 2012.  Feel free to try and raise the bar, and perhaps yours will be here in 2016!j
  
• Simulating Forest Fires with Finite Cellular Automata (Eric Furugori)
• Note that Eric used python, but got special dispensation to do so since it was evident that he could just as easily have done it Matlab.  He is currently doing his Honour's thesis work (PHYS 449) in our group using---wait for it---Matlab.
  
• Simulation of Galaxy Collisions using the Toomre Model  (Jordon Johnson)
  
• Student Pages
• PHAS IT Catalogue
• Henn 205: Workstation map
  

• Matlab: An Introduction With Applications, 5th edition, Amos Gilat, John Wiley & Sons (2014)

You should also observe that there is a wealth of online material available about Matlab (I've accumulated a few links to some key sites in the Online Course Resources page, including a link to a site that provides (for individual use only), a complete text by the author of the first version of Matlab.

The Course Resources page also contains links to sites relevant to other topics that we will cover in the course. Some of these topics, such as Unix/Linux and basic Matlab programming, will be directly discussed in lectures or covered in labs. Others, such as the use of a text editor of your choosing, will be self-study topics, since a key goal of this course is to enhance your ability to use help facilities, online resources and the like to master new algorithms and software applications.

Finally, at times I will distribute notes to the class (or at least make them available on-line via the Course Notes page).  However, at other times, I will lecture using the blackboard, and then you will be responsible for taking your own notes.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!  Please refer to the Homework Page for the course policy on Homework / Term Projects and Academic Dishonesty

• Homework Assignments: 60%
• Term Projects (including writeup): 35% (due Wednesday December 3, 9:00 AM)
• Topic selection and in-class presentation of proposal: 5% (no evaluation; full marks for completion)
  
• Project per se: 30%

Each homework will contribute equal weight to your final mark, but again; the homework component of your mark may be subject to adjustments based on overall class performance. Be warned that many of you will find that the homeworks become significantly more challenging as the course progresses.

You are strongly urged to submit your homework by the due date. However, from time to time, and provided that the circumstances are sufficiently extenuating, work may be submitted late, subject to the following conditions:

1. If an extension is required, the extendee must submit a request for an extension, via e-mail, to the (the instructor), before the assignment is due.
2. Submitted homework, which absolutely must be submitted before the homework key is distributed, must similarly be accompanied by an e-mail indicating completion of the work.

Note that all messages are to be sent to me, not the TA, and that if you finish the homework on time, no additional action on your part is required.

Finally note that if you are unable to complete an assignment or term project on time due to illness or an equivalent circumstance (e.g. severe illness and/or death of a family member), please inform me as soon as possible and I will ensure that you are given sufficient time to complete your work once your situation has been resolved.

You are encouraged to develop your own project ideas, but all project topics must be approved by me. Some possibilities for term projects are posted on the Term Project Ideas page, which may be updated as the course progresses. I expect that many of you will complete a project from one of the suggestions, and there are no restrictions on the number of students who can select any given topic.

Topics for term projects must be chosen no later than October 16, and by that date each of you must have sent me an e-mail stating what topic has been selected.  During the classes and lab periods on October 21 and 23, each student will give a brief presentation on their proposed project; speaking order will be alphabetical by last name. The amount of time available for each presentation will be approximately 7 minutes, so talks will need to be carefully prepared and efficiently executed. Some form of presentation software, including Powerpoint, must be used to prepare your talk and you must generate a PDF version that you will need to e-mail to one of the TAs in a timely manner so that all of the talks can be assembled into a single set of slides. Details concerning this will be provided later.

There will no evaluation of this aspect of your term projects.  However, on-time e-mail submission of your approved topic and your in-class presentation are worth 5% of your grade: i.e provided that you do submit your topic and make a presentation you will receive the 5%.

Note that the main purpose of this exercise is to ensure that you have chosen an appropriate topic, and that you have a good (though perhaps not complete) understanding of what will be required to complete it.

In keeping with the spirit of the course, all term projects must involve programming to a significant extent, and you are expected to use Matlab to implement your project.  Implementation of your project should be, as much as possible, "from scratch",  i.e. you are expected to do more than use some built in Matlab facility to perform the bulk of your computations.

Provided that there is sufficient rationale for doing so, you may also use another programming language for your project: if you wish to do this, I ask that you check with me before you start work on your proposal so that I can ensure that use of the language that you propose is well motivated, and that the overall project appears appropriate.

All term projects must be written up in the style of a scientific/technical paper; a typical structure will be:

• Title and Abstract
• Introduction, including basic description of problem to be solved, simulated, analyzed etc.
• Mathematical formulation of the problem as relevant
  
• Description of techniques, algorithms, analysis tools etc. used to solve the problem, including discussion of overall flow of the program
• Discussion of computations (numerical experiments) that were performed
• Analysis of results
• Conclusions (may include suggestions for future work)
• References / Bibliography
• Appendix including program listing (program code), if you wish
  

Note that for some projects not all of the above sections will be relevant; as always, feel free to check with me should you have any questions about your writeup.  I will also ask you to make any programs that you write for your term project available to me through your homework directories on  your PHAS accounts, and in all cases I must be able to run your programs on my own PHAS account. If there is any concern on your part about this last point, please talk to me about it before you start your your project.

The suggested paper length is about 15-20 pages, double spaced (please!), including title page, figures and graphs and references.  If you include program listings (code), they should be single spaced. You are encouraged to use the LaTeX typesetting system to write your paper, but this is not mandatory. 

As noted above, the term project itself, including the write-up, is worth 35% of your final mark, 30% if you exclude the essentially automatic 5% that you will receive for e-mailing me your approved topic choice and orally presenting your propose. Factors that will be taken into account in my grading will include (but are not necessarily limited to): scope and difficulty of the problem, degree to which the project was completed successfully, effort devoted to the project, originality, and completeness and quality of the written report.

Your written report and the source code for your project are due by Wednesday December 3, 9:00 AM, except under very extenuating circumstances. You must deliver a hardcopy of your report to my office by that time: i.e. electronic submissions will not be accepted.

IMPORTANT!! You should note that completing a good term project is much different than finishing a homework, or even a few homeworks: in particular, it is virtually impossible to do a decent job on a term project in the space of a few days.  It is the nature of computational physics (as in experimental physics and in many other pursuits) that things will go wrong unexpectedly, and it can often take much more time than anticipated to get programs to work.  Moreover, coding a functional program is typically just the first stage in completion of the project; you also will need time to generate and analyze results, as well as to write things up. 

IMPORTANT!! Note that projects will be graded rigorously, and that doing well in the homeworks will not automatically guarantee that you do similarly well with your project.

In summary then, please take your term projects very seriously, and do your best to begin work on them as soon as is feasible. 

Finally, be sure that you understand and abide by the University and course policies concerning Academic Honesty as they pertain to your term projects, and as are laid out in the Homework page.

• Lecture topics are listed in regular font; Lab activities, other than working on the current homework and/or term projects, and which will be updated throughout the course, are listed in italics, and will link to notes for the lab activities when appropriate. [SOTD] entries are links associated with "Simulation of the day" animations shown in class.
  
• Homework assignments are denoted H1 through H3 and have due dates as indicated above.
• See Learning Goals & Course Topics page for a more detailed outline of course material.
• Term projects are due WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3, 9:00 AM (note that this is the Wednesday following the last day of classes).

• Tuesday, September 16: Last day for withdrawal from this course without withdrawal standing of "W" recorded on your academic record.
• Friday, October 11: Last date for withdrawal from this course with withdrawal standing of "W" recorded on your academic record.
• Monday, October 13: Thanksgiving Day, University closed.
• Monday, November 10: Remembrance Day. University closed. 
• Friday, November 28: Last day of classes.
• Tuesday, December 2: Examinations begin.
• Wednesday, December 17: Examinations end.