| Professor: |
Dr M-G
|
| Office: | 202B Love (in
which I hold office hours)
|
| Phone: | (850 64)4 2580
|
| Email: | mesterto@math.fsu.edu
|
| Web site: | http://www.math.fsu.edu/~mesterto |
| Course page: |
http://www.math.fsu.edu/~mesterto/CalculusOfVariations.html
(this page—but obviously, if you are reading a
hard copy of it, then you won't be able to activate the
links until you go online) |
|
Class meets: |
in 215
HTL, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 12:20-1:10 p.m.
|
| Required text: |
None. The course will be based on my lecture notes
with problems |
| Optional texts: |
The following books will be on reserve in the Dirac
Science Library:
Leitmann,
Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control: An
Introduction (Plenum, 1981)
MacCluer,
Calculus of Variations: Mechanics, Control Theory, and Other
Applications (Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005) |
| Credit: |
3 semester hours. |
| Syllabus: |
A selection of the following topics will be covered:
Fundamental
problems
Weak and strong extrema
Necessary and
sufficient conditions
Hamilton-Jacobi theory
Dynamic
programming
Control theory
Pontryagin's maximum
principle |
| Prerequisites: | | (i) | MAP 2302, MAA 4226; or
Professor M-G's consent and | | (ii) | self-motivation and
industriousness. Professor M-G's philosophy of learning is perhaps best expressed
by the following diagram: |
|
| |  |
| Communication: | It is your responsibility to
register here for a
(free) FSU computer account so that I can send you email, which you are
expected to check regularly. If you prefer to read your email elsewhere
then you can arrange to have messages
forwarded, but you must still obtain an FSU account in the first
instance |
| Your name: | I don't know who you are, but because
everything works so much better when I do, I would like to learn your name
as soon as possible. Please take a sheet of paper, fold it in half, write
your first name in large letters on one side and stand it up on your desk
so that I can see it. (Write whatever you want me to call you—if
you're a William who likes to be called Dubya, write Dubya, not William.)
Please bring your name plate to every class until I have finally learnt
your name (which will take significantly longer than it used to take when I
started out) |
| Grades: |
Will be based on five written assignments (20% each). Note that
quality of presentation is extremely important, and so there will be
penalties (commensurate with degree of infraction) for badly presented
work. It is not enough merely to produce an answer: the method by which
you obtain it must be sound, and you must clearly demonstrate that you
understand it. In borderline cases, a smaller number of completely
correct solutions will carry more weight than a proportionate number of
fragmentary answers, and later scores will carry more weight than
earlier scores. Partial credit is awarded only when part of a solution
is completely correct (not when all of a solution is partially correct,
whatever that means, if anything). Assignments will be due at the
beginning of class on the designated day. Late assignments will be
viewed as badly presented, and very late assignments will not be graded
(i.e., will achieve a grade of zero). |
| Etiquette: | You are firmly bound by Florida State
University's Academic Honor Code (briefly, you
have the responsibility to uphold the highest standards of academic
integrity in your own work, to refuse to tolerate violations of academic
integrity in the University community, and to foster a high sense of
integrity and social responsibility on the part of the University
community). Although you may discuss assignments with others in general
terms, the solutions you present must be your very own work ("in
general terms" means that discussion is oral and nothing is copied
down). |
| Helpline: | If you get stuck between classes then consider
using my Homework Helpline. Just send me your question by email. As soon as
I possibly can (which might be as soon as within half an hour, but might
also be a day or two later—I have a life, too, you know), I will
reply, not to you, but rather to the class alias (after carefully
concealing your identity, just in case you are inexplicably bashful about
being perceived as smart enough to ask questions). |
| Disabilities: | If you have a disability
requiring academic accommodations, then not only should you register with
the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC), but also you
should bring me
written confirmation from SDRC during the first week of class. |