Department of Mathematics

 

Math 312 - Applied Mathematics: Social Sciences
Spring 2006


Instructor: Warren Weckesser
314 McGregory, (315) 228-7228
Email: wweckesser-at-mail-dot-colgate-dot-edu
Office Hours:Wednesday, Thursday: 9:00-10:30 AM
Lecture: M,W,F 12:20-1:10, McGregory 214
Web Page: https://math.colgate.edu/~wweckesser/math312/

Overview

Love and marriage. Battles and wars. Drugs and disease. Fun and games. These are not the subjects that most people think of when asked "How is mathematics used in the real world?" In this course, we will see how mathematics can be used to study all these topics and more.

This is a course on mathematical modeling. The problems that we will study are dynamic: time, either continuous or discrete, is the independent variable. Applications will be drawn largely from the social and biological sciences.

Cautionary Quote

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

--Albert Einstein

Course Information (in PDF format)

Final Project


Notes and Supplements
Homework

Note: Unless otherwise noted, homework is due by 5:00 PM on the given due date.

AssignmentDue Date
Homework 1 Friday, Jan. 27
Homework 2 Friday, Feb. 3
Homework 3 Friday, Feb. 10
Homework 4 Friday, Feb 24
Homework 5 Friday, March 3
Homework 6 Friday, March 31
Homework 7 Monday, April 17
Homework 8: Exercises 5.2.3, 5.3.1, 6.3.1 Friday, May 5


Web Applications, Solvers, Applets, and Links

Solvers for Specific Systems of Differential Equations
Phase Plane Java Applets
Linear Map Iterators Additional Solvers One-dimensional Maps Monopoly and Markov Chains