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MATH2916 Working Seminar A (Special Studies Program)

General Information

This page contains information on the Intermediate Unit of Study MATH2916 Working Seminar A (Special Studies Program).

This unit is offered in Semester 1.

Lecturer(s): Mary Myerscough

For further information on Intermediate Mathematics and Statistics, refer to the Intermediate Handbook. In particular, see the MATH2916 handbook entry for further information relating to MATH2916.

You may also view the Faculty Handbook entry for MATH2916 in the central units of study database.

  • Credit point value: 3CP.
  • Classes per week: One hour-length seminar.
  • Prerequisites: Entry into this unit of study is by invitation only, and is restricted to students with a High Distinction average over 12 cp of Advanced Junior Mathematics.

Email enquiries about MATH2916 may be sent to MATH2916@maths.usyd.edu.au.

Students: Please give your name and SID when emailing us. Anonymous emails will not be replied to.

Announcements

I have just posted Emma and Linh's reports. Please don't leave reading reports until the last minute---it takes a bit of time. The talk marks are due in by before Thursday 4 July , so you have about a week after the exams finish. You must submit your peer assessment by then to complete MATH2916 and receive a mark. Part of the purpose of peer assessment is to encourage you to read and think about how other students have addressed their report writing so that everyone can learn from one another.

I will be away for Stuvac week. The following week I am officially on leave, but if you need to see me, please email me and we can make a time.

Thank you to everyone for a fun and interesting semester exploring a diverse and complicated topic.

Next semester, Anthony Henderson will coordinate MATH2917, with a study of a topic in Algebra or Geometry.

Please complete the survey as soon as you have a moment and return to me. I have left some envelopes on the back of my door (room 626) if you would like your survey to remain confidential. I will not look at the survey until after I have attended the second year examiners' meeting and your marks are beyond my control.

Linh and Diana are posting the videos of the talks. I understand that everyone knows what the link is.

Here is a sheet for reporting your marks for the reports. I have given a list of criteria on the back that you may want to use. Please note that you must return your assessment to me by Thursday 4 July.

I have now started a separate section for the reports. See below.

Here is the revised Schedule of Talks.

Here is a document about giving talks that you may find useful.

Here is the rubric that will be used to assess your talk. Please remember that you (that is each student) are also required to assess your peers on their talks. Please enter your mark (out of ten) on the marksheet and hand the sheet to me before Friday 7 June.

Reports

  • Topic 0 An Introduction to the Calculus of Variations by Mary Myerscough, including LaTeX file.

  • Topic 1 An Introduction to Optimising Functionals by Kevin Liang including LaTeX file.

  • Topic 2 Generalisations of the Functional by Maggie Corrigan.

  • Topic 3 Piecewise Smooth Extremals by William de Ferranti.

  • Topic 4 An Introduction to Isoperimetric Problems by Kevin Wang including LaTeX file.
  • Topic 5 Applications to Eigenvalue Problems by Timothy Kwan including LaTeX file.
  • Topic 6 Holonomic and Nonholonomic Constraints by Merlin Ge including LaTeX file.
  • Topic 7 Variational Problems with Variable Endpoints by Edmond Abdou
  • Topic 8 Hamiltonian Formulation of Euler-Lagrange Equations by Somasuntharam Arunasalam including LaTeX file.
  • Topic 9 Noether's Theorem by Nathan Duignan including LaTeX file.
  • Topic 10 The Second Variation by Joshua Ciappara including LaTeX file.
  • Topic 12 Optimal Control with Linear Dynamics by Emma Johnstone
  • Topic 14 Applications of Calculus of Variations to Fluids by Linh Chu including LaTeX file.

    • Info

    Course Info sheet

    Convenor

    In 2013, the MATH2916 convenor is Mary Myerscough.

    Time and location

    Friday 11am-1pm, Eastern Avenue Tutorial Room 310.

    Assessment

    One 40 minute presentation (assessment 40% by staff, 10% by peers) and an essay of about 10-12 pages on the same topic, due about 2 weeks after the presentation (assessment 40% by staff, 10% by peers).

    Clarity, accuracy, attention to detail and good writing/presentation style will be the major criteria. The convenor will assist you in preparing your presentation and your essay. In order to pass the unit successfully, you must attend all lectures.

    Learning outcomes

    By completing the working seminar you will

    • practise effective oral and written communication of mathematics;
    • gain substantial knowledge and understanding of the calculus of variations and its role in mathematics, physics, biology and numerical analysis.

    The topic for MATH2916 in 2013 is `Calculus of Variations'.

    Reference books

    The main reference is:

    • Bruce van Brunt, The Calculus of Variations, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2004.

      supplemented by

    • Frederick Y.M. Wan, An Introduction to the Calculus of Variations and its Applications, Chapman and Hall. New York, 1995.
      • Both these books are available for short loan (less than about 2 hours) from the Mathematics Student counter at room 520.

      Other useful references are listed on the course information sheet.

    Reference books on Writing and Presentation

    Advice on writing and presenting mathematics can be found in:

    • Terry Tao, Advice on Writing Papers
    • Nicholas J. Higham, Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences, SIAM, 1998. (Scitech 808.06651 4)
    • Norman E. Steenrod, Paul Halmos, et al., How to Write Mathematics, American Mathematical Society, 1973. (Scitech 808.066 17)
    • Steven G. Krantz, A Primer of Mathematical Writing, American Mathematical Society, 1997. (Scitech 808.0665 25)

    The most convenient references for the use of LaTeX are:

    See here for links to further LaTeX documentation.

    There are a number of tutorials on Beamer available on the web such as this one or this one.

    The slides from the talk given in Week 1 are available for you to look at.

    Other Useful Information

    I have written a short explanation of how Taylor series for a function of two variables are derived if you are interested.

    Presentation Schedule

    Here is the Schedule of Talks. Each speaker has to submit (via e-mail) a title and an abstract (no more than 75 words) on the Wednesday prior to her/his presentation.

    Essays

    Essays have to be submitted electronically (pdf file) about two weeks after the presentation.

    Timetable

    For questions or comments please contact webmaster@maths.usyd.edu.au