Home | Schedule and Lecture Notes | Prerequisites | Grading
A fair degree of competence in algebra will be needed; you should be able to solve basic algebraic equations by hand. Some prior exposure to linear algebra, calculus, and vector calculus will be helpful.
Some computer literacy is also needed; you should be able to e-mail, surf the web, install programs on your computer, work with a spreadsheet or other analysis package to manipulate and plot data. Prior exposure to any programming language will be helpful.
This course requires access to a computer to complete. You will need to be able to install and run Matlab (with selected toolboxes) and R, access the internet, print, etc.
There is no textbook for this class; readings will be provided when appropriate. References to books worth owning if you are particularly interested in a certain topic will be provided throughout the class.
If you do not already have access to Matlab, you may wish to purchase a student license. This license includes MATLAB, and the following toolboxes: Control Systems, Signal Processing, Statistics, Optimization, Image Processing, and Symbolic math. It also includes Simulink and the Signal Processing blockset. This package costs about $100. You may also want to get the Curve Fitting and Partial Differential Equation toolboxes ($60 each). Our use of Matlab will start in mid-to-late March, so you have some time to obtain this program.
We will also be using a statistical package called R (see http://www.r-project.org). This program is free, but you will need a computer to run it on.