Assignments

As you know (from the syllabus), the course grade will be given on the basis of problem sets --- containing problems of two types: regular and special. There will be about 10 (plus or minus 1) problem sets --- one every 1 to 1.5 weeks, more or less. The regular problems will be graded by the TA, and the special ones by the instructor.

Note that there may also be "suggested readings", "suggested problems" and other "suggested" things. These are for you alone to do or not do. Thus: do not hand in these! I recommend that you do as much as possible though.

Policies on Collaboration

It is permitted to exchange information with other students, in the sense of hints, general ideas, pitfalls to avoid and so on. That is: within reason-- for example: "let me see/copy the answer" is not within reason. You can also consult books, and other materiel available in the library, for information relevant to a problem you may have forgotten [but not to see if you can find the problem done somewhere!].

The most important criteria, however is:

When you write your final answer, you must do so 100% alone, with full understanding of every dot that goes there. When doing this you can only have on hand: the class textbooks (as listed in the syllabus), the course notes provided by the instructor (via the course WEB page or in-class hand-outs), your own notes from the lectures, and nothing else. If you have any questions about these policies, ask the instructor.

You will be held responsible for everything that is in your answers, and the instructor reserves the right to call you for an explanation of your answer. Specifically: you will be asked to do the problem (or part of it) again, in front of the instructor, and explain your steps. If this process indicates that you do not understand your own answer, you may/will loose up to all the credit for the entire problem set, depending on how severe the situation is.

Policies on Presentation

A) Hand in the regular and special homeworks separately, since they have to be graded separately. Put your name in every page and staple the pages in each set, so they do not get lost.

B) Your hand outs must be written in clear English and be legible.

This means:

1. Don't use arrows and other "funny" symbols to avoid writing. Instead, explain your ideas in as plain and clear English as you can manage.
2. If not typed, use a dark pencil or ink and reasonably large type.
3. If your hand-writing is not clear, type the answers.
   Problems that are hard to read (either because of poor explanations, or hard to read writting) will not get full credit [may even get no credit].

Grading

The TA will grade a few problems in each set, selected randomly ---- answers will be provided for all. Please, do all the problems, this is the only way to really learn the course materiel [besides: if you just happen to miss the ones picked, you will get no credit --- even if you did all the others].

The reason for this policy is that I would rather have the TA grade well a few problems than attempt to grade all with "in-a-hurry" sort of grading.

Regular Problem Sets and Special Problem Sets are included in the 18.311 Problems List (PDF). See the Problem Set Assignments below to determine which problems are required and suggested for each Problem Set.

PROBLEM SET # REGULAR SPECIAL SUGGESTED 0 Kitchen Experiments Play with the faucet water jet, as it impinges on a dish. Notice the hydraulic jump that forms, and see how it changes as you vary the jet velocity, flux, and dish depth (horizontal dish). Try changing the inclination of the dish.  Bathtub Experiments Fill the bathtup with an inch-deep amount of water, and see if you can produce "solitary" waves (use a rule to excite them).  Web Search Search the WEB for pictures of flood waves moving down rivers and/or washes in deserts. Search also for tidal waves moving up rivers.  1 MeVi: Dimensional analysis. ExPD: One directional wave equation. ExPD: Laplace's equation in 2D. GBNS: Scheme A. GBNS: Scheme B. GBNS: Scheme D. MeVi: Pendulum with torsion. ExPD: Kinematic transport equation in 1D. ExPD: General solution of the 1D wave equation. ExPD: Initial value problem for the 1D wave equation. 2 MeVi: Two torsion coupled pendulums. ExPD: Check 1D wave equation solution. ExID: Simple single variable y = y(x) dependence. GBNS: Scheme C. GBNS: Scheme E. AENS: Scheme A. vNSA: Scheme A. ExPD: Separation of Variables for the 1D Wave Equation. AENS: Scheme B. vNSA: Scheme B. 3 ExPD 06: Nonlinear plane wave profile behavior. ExPD 08: Check one directional wave equation solution. FouS: Computer Exercise in Fourier Series. Derivatives by spectral methods. (TXT) Stiffness and pseudo-spectral methods. (TXT)  Download MATLAB® for Fourier Series Problem Scripts: readmeFouSer.m fourierSC.m FSFun.m FSoption.m FSoptionP.m heatSln.m 4 MeVi 01 --- Experiments with Slinkies. DWMo ---- Dispersive Waves an Modulation. TFPa 06 --- Solve a first order linear PDE. TFPa 07 --- Solve a first order linear PDE. EIKO ------ The Problem. Part I. Eikonal Equation. 5 CHRO. Chromatography. TFPb 11. Check solution by implicit differentiation. TFPb 14. Check if discontinuities are allowed shocks. GaDy 02 --- Isentropic Gas Dynamics Viscous Shock Profile. Download Gas Dynamics Problems (PDF). 6 TFPa 10. Traffic light red to green. TFPa 11. Last car to make green light. TFPa 18. Envelopes for families of curves. TFPb 20. An initial value problem. EIKO --- Eikonal Equation (Part II). TFPa 13. Shock formation time.

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