12578 (v.3) Computational Physics 102

Area:

Department of Applied Physics

Credits:

25.0

Contact Hours:

4.0

Lecture:

2 x 1 Hours Weekly

Laboratory:

1 x 2 Hours Weekly

Other Requisite(s):

Admission: requisite upon completion of TEE Applicable Mathematics and Calculus

Syllabus:

Purpose of computing in Physics. The Need for numerical methods. Nature of the laboratory. Hardware terminology. Review of computer architecture. Round-off and truncation. Meaning of variables. Review of numerical integration and root finding. Programming principles. Documentation. Print and Read statements. Assignments Statements. Expressions. Intrinsic functions, Statement functions. Further numerical integration. Control structures. Arrays. FOR loops. Review of elementary statistics (random variables,distributions, mean, variance). Data and parameter statements. Formatted I/O Elementary file operations. Monte-Carlo simulations. Sub-programs. Least Squares. Function libraries. File operations. Sorting. Vector and matrix operations. Character handling.Graphing. Smoothing. Differencing. Trend removal. Logical, Complex, Double Precision. Gauss Elimination. Least Squares revisited. LU decomposition. Introduction to FORTRAN.

Unit Outcomes:

On successful completion of this unit students will be able to confidently generate material in response to physics problems which require a non-analytic solution. They will also experience an improvement in problem solving skills, particularly in termsof structured solutions to numerical problems, and written communication skills.

Text and references listed above are for your information only and current as of September 30, 2003. Please check with the unit coordinator for up-to-date information.

Unit References:

Landau, R. H. and Paez Mejia, M. J., 1997, 'Computational Physics: problem solving with computer', Wiley, New York. Gumley, L. E., 'Practical IDL Programming', Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

Unit Texts:

No prescribed text.

Unit Assessment Breakdown:

Workbook 70%. Practical Examinations 30%.

Year	Location	Period	Internal	Area External	Central External
2004	Bentley Campus	Semester 2	Y