Physics 206: Chaos and Complexity (last updated on 5/5/08)
(5/5/08): The final exam will be given at 1 p.m. on 5/7(W).
The final exam will consist of 40 questions.
To prepare for the final exam, review Quiz#1 through Quiz#5.
Bring your calculator to the final exam.
(5/5/08): The total in the last column in the updated grades (with the extra quiz score) posted in Moulton 208 is calculated by the following formula:
(Total)=(3/83)*(ReadingQ)+(25/110)*(Homework)+(5/50)*(Lab)+(50/100)*(Quiz)
and it does not include 20 points from the final exam so that it is at most 80 points.
Course syllabus
A copy of the course syllabus in pdf (posted on 1/14/08)
Reading assignment for 4/28 (M): read Gleick (p.202-211) and the Class Notes (p.94-96)
Reading quiz solutions, in-class lab solutions, Homework sets and their solutions
Answers for the reading quizzes #1 through #18 in pdf (posted on 4/9/08)
Answers for the reading quizzes #19 and #20 in pdf (posted on 4/30/08)
Links mentioned in Class Notes
Prologue
Los Alamos National Laboratory
The Theoretical (T) Division
Mitchell Feigenbaum
Mitchell Feigenbaum photos
The Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos
Fractals
Fractal posters
More fractals
The Laplacian fantasy of deterministic predictability
The Butterfly Effect
Edward Lorenz
Von Neumann
NOAA
Claude Navier
George Stokes
The Rayleigh-Benard Experiment (computer simulations)
Revolution
Thomas Kuhn
Christian Huygens
Stephen Smale
Jerry Rubin
The International Mathematical Union
The Fields Medal
Norman Levinson
Dame Mary Lucy Cartwright
John Edensor Littlewood
Balthasar van der Pol
The Great Red Spot
Philip Marcus
Life's Ups and Downs
James Yorke
The Institute for Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland
Robert May
A. N. Kolmogorov
Yasha Sinai
Frank Hoppensteadt
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
A Geometry of Nature
Wallace Stevens
Benoit Mandelbrot
Interview with Benoit Mandelbrot on Edge web site
Hendrik Houthakker
Wassily Leontief
The IBM research center in Yorktown Heights
Georg Cantor
Lewis F. Richardson
Helge von Koch
Giuseppe Peano
Waclaw Sierpinski
The Lamont-Doherty Geophysical Observatory
The fractal Mandelbrot set
Strange Attractors
Lev D. Landau
Harry Swinney
Jerry Gollub
David Ruelle
The Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifique
Floris Takens
Universality
Peter Carruthers
Kenneth Wilson
Leo Kadanoff
Michael Fisher
The Experimenter
Albert Libchaber