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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2010/2011
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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Physics and Astronomy : Undergraduate (School of Physics and Astronomy)

Undergraduate Course: Computational Methods (PHYS09016)

Course Outline
School School of Physics and Astronomy College College of Science and Engineering
Course type Standard Availability Available to all students
Credit level (Normal year taken) SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) Credits 10
Home subject area Undergraduate (School of Physics and Astronomy) Other subject area None
Course website None Taught in Gaelic? No
Course description The course is an introduction to computational methods in physics, using the Java programming language. It requires the completion of a series of checkpoints covering vectors, simple harmonic motion and particle dynamics. The material is available through WebCT. Checkpoints must be marked by a demonstrator during a timetabled CP Lab session.
Entry Requirements
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: Physics 2A: Forces, Fields & Potentials (PHYS08022) AND Physics 2B: Waves, Quantum Physics and Materials (PHYS08023) AND Foundations of Mathematical Physics (PHYS08024) OR ( Applicable Mathematics 4 (Phys Sci) (MATH08017) AND Mathematical Methods 4 (Phys Sci) (MATH08018)) OR ( MP2A: Vectors, Tensors and Fields (PHYS08032) AND MP2B: Dynamics (PHYS08033))
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Students MUST NOT also be taking Advanced Computer Simulation (PHYS10014)
Other requirements None
Additional Costs None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites None
Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Delivery period: 2010/11 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1) WebCT enabled:  Yes Quota:  None
Location Activity Description Weeks Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
King's BuildingsLaboratory1-11 15:00 - 17:00or 15:00 - 17:00
First Class First class information not currently available
No Exam Information
Delivery period: 2010/11 Semester 1, Part-year visiting students only (VV1) WebCT enabled:  No Quota:  None
Location Activity Description Weeks Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
King's BuildingsLaboratory1-11 15:00 - 17:00or 15:00 - 17:00
First Class First class information not currently available
No Exam Information
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion it is intended that the student will be able to:

1.Explain why it is appropriate to solve certain physical problems, such as integration and modelling interacting particles by computation;

2. Explain the use of Java classes as building blocks in
object-oriented programming, and differentiate the purpose of private, public and static fields and methods;

3. Formulate and utilise algorithms for solving physical problems as computer programs using variables, loops and subroutines (self-written and externally-supplied);

4. Use system library routines to read in data from external sources, process those data, and export results to visualisation software;

5. Understand, distinguish and use local data, member data and static member data;

6. Explain the origin of numerical errors in computational techniques, and demonstrate understanding of their impact;

7. Use plotting & graphing packages (XMGRACE, VMD).
Assessment Information
Coursework, 100%
6 checkpoints marked out of 20. Final mark is the weighted sum of the checkpoint marks. Weighting:

Checkpoint 1: 5%
Checkpoint 2: 5%
Checkpoint 3: 15%
Checkpoint 4: 30%
Checkpoint 5: 25%
Checkpoint 6: 20%

Visiting Student Variant Assessment
Coursework, 100%
Checkpoint 1: 5%
Checkpoint 2: 5%
Checkpoint 3: 15%
Checkpoint 4: 30%
Checkpoint 5: 25%
Checkpoint 6: 20%
Special Arrangements
None
Additional Information
Academic description Not entered
Syllabus Not entered
Transferable skills Not entered
Reading list Not entered
Study Abroad Not entered
Study Pattern Not entered
Keywords CMeth
Contacts
Course organiser Dr Andrew Turner
Tel: (0131 6)51 3578
Email: andrew.turner@ed.ac.uk
Course secretary Miss Laura Gonzalez-Rienda
Tel: (0131 6)51 7067
Email: l.gonzalez@ed.ac.uk
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copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh - 31 January 2011 8:13 am