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. |
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 Buildings | Laboratory | | 1-11 | | 15:00 - 17:00 | | | or 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 Buildings | Laboratory | | 1-11 | | 15:00 - 17:00 | | | or 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 |
|
copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh -
31 January 2011 8:13 am
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