Course material from my mathematical physics class and related info
Taught 2012-2024 at Earlham College (Physics 360, Boas); from Fall 2026
taught at Smith College as PHY 210 using Felder & Felder, Mathematical
Methods in Engineering and Physics. Current-semester planning lives in
SyllabusAndFirstDay/2026/. The topic directories below (Fourier, Laplace,
Bessel, ...) are textbook-independent and carry over.
Non-public materials (solutions, exams, grades, other professors' files)
live in private/, a gitignored symlink to
~/Dropbox/__Smith/Classes/210-MathMethods/private/.
- Python materials
- Install the Anaconda Python distribution
- Either JakeVdP's notes, or Software Carpentry notes, or something similar.
- (From a previous year, when we brought Software Carpentry to campus) The two-day Python Workshop, led by Software Carpentry hosted on Earlham's campus, January 11-12, 2015 (that's the Sunday/Monday before Spring classes, so housing should not be a problem). The ability to build and tweak simple computational models greatly expands the types of questions you can ask (and answer!) by yourself. We will use a series of IPython Notebooks throughout the semester, and this two-day bootcamp will teach you all the Python you need to get started right away. Students with previous Python experience can discuss opting out with the instructor. Students who absolutely cannot make it to the Bootcamp can discuss working independently with the instructor to catch up very early on in the semester.
Our notebook on convolutions may be found here
- "The Fast Fourier Transform and Its Applications" by E. Oran Brigham, 1998, ISBN 10: 0133075052 / ISBN 13: 9780133075052
- Terry Tao's blog entry from March 2014
- Should be able to use some of John's material for a very nice stock project, then ENM models as an extension.