Last Updated: Mon, 01/05/2026
Syllabus
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General Class Information
Academic year:
2026
Semester:
Spring
Course prefix:
CX/Math
Course number:
4640
Section:
A, BG, BU, Q
CRN
29189
30181
30182
30481
Instructor first name:
Haesun
Instructor last name:
Park
Catalog Description

This course introduces the basic numerical methods used in many applications areas in computational science and engineering.

Topics Covered: 

  • Introduction: Floating point arithmetics, sources of errors
  • Systems of Linear Equations: Gaussian elimination, pivoting, norms, condition numbers
  • Linear Least Squares: Normal equations method, orthogonalization methods for full rank problems
  • Solution of Nonlinear Equations: Bisection and secant methods, fixed point iteration, Newton's method
  • Interpolation: Lagrange interpolation, Newton interpolation, Chebyshev polynomials, Hermite interpolation, Splines, Fast Fourier Transformation
  • Numerical Differentiation and Integration: Trapezoidal rule, Simpson's rule, Newton-Cotes quadrature, Gaussian quadrature, adaptive quadrature, finite difference, Richardson extrapolation
  • Numerical Solutions of Ordinary Differential Equations: initial value problems, systems of equations, Euler method, Runge-Kutta method
  • Optimization (if the schedule allows): Existence of solutions, Optimization in one dimension, unconstrained and constrained optimizations, optimality conditions, Newton's method, Steepest descent, Conjugate gradient method