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Mathematical Methods of Physics I
PHYS 6124     Fall Semester 2014

Course schedule
ChaosBook.org/~predrag/courses/PHYS-6124-14/schedule.html
Place and times
Howey N210, T Th 9:35-10:55 am
Start
Tuesday Aug 21 2014, Howey N210, 9:35-10:55 am
Instructor
Predrag Cvitanović     
Office: Howey W501 (office hours: Tuesday 1:30-2:30pm)
Phone: 404 487 8469
E-mail: predrag dot cvitanovic snail physics dot gatech dot edu
TA
Kimberly Y. Short
Office: Howey W508 (office hours: Wednesday, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
Phone: 404 819 5304
E-mail: kyshort snail gatech dot edu
Course description
The course provides an overview of complex variables, matrix theory, perturbation theory, integral transformations, ordinary and partial differential equations with applications to various physics problems.
Prerequisites
Teaching method
Two lectures and a homework problem set per week.
Grading
Homework assignments will be posted on the web every Tuesday and will be due next Tuesday at 3pm, Academic Office Howey W111, c/o Kevin Carter. Solutions will be posted on t-square resources. You can discuss problems with each other, but the solutions have to be executed and submitted individually. There will be no exams, your performance (pass/fail) will be assessed based on the homeworks, so day-to-day participation is very important.

If you need a letter grade, arrange that through your graduate coordinator and let me know.
Resources
There is no assigned textbook for the course. A few references we have consulted:
M. Stone and P. Goldbart, Mathematics for Physics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2004) offers a very engaging, physics focused approach. Get this book:)
G. B. Arfken and H. J. Weber, Mathematical Methods for Physicists, 6th Edition: A Comprehensive Guide (Academic Press, San Diego 2005), ISBN: 9780120598762.
Roger Penrose, The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (Knopf 2005), is an amazing and wonderfully engaging attempt to teach you the meaning of all mathematical methods you will ever need.
Paul Goldbart's list of mathematical methods references
Questions
I have to skip next lecture? Dog ate my homework?  Where are the solution sets? What help aids can I take along?  How much programming needed?  Should I submit my code along with the computational exercises? 
Discussion site (experimental)
groups.google.com/group/gt-chaos-course/topics
suggestions by students and faculty (feel free to add your comments at any time).