ME472 - Non-Linear dynamics & Chaos
Instructor
Prof. Dnyanesh Pawaskar
Section
Single section
Semester
Every year, Autumn Semester
Course Difficulty
The course difficulty is medium. This course is mathematical and logical. It involves a lot of partial differential equations and graph plotting of functions.
Time Commitment Required
Attend all lectures and study well before exams. This will take care of everything.
Grading
With decent efforts, a grade >= BB (or even AB) is for sure. Roughly 12 students take the course and about 6-7 get AA or AB.
Attendance Policy
80 % mandatory
Pre-requisites
No Pre-Requisites
Evaluation Scheme and Weightage
2 quizzes (10% each), project (15%), midsem (25%), endsem (40%)
Topics Covered in the Course
- One dimensional flows: Flows on the line, Flows on the circle, Bifurcations
- Two dimensional flows: Linear Systems, Phase Planes, Limit Cycles, Bifurcations
- Chaos (Was not included for any exam)
Mechanism of Instruction and Teaching Style
Everything is taught on the blackboard and the projector is used only for the visualization of some plots. The teaching style of the professor is excellent and he answers all our doubts, even outside classroom hours.
Assignments and projects in the Course
For the 15% project, the division is 5% for the presentation of project proposal, 5% for the presentation of the results you obtain in MATLAB (or any other software), and 5% for the final report.
Exams
All the exams are moderate. But questions are lengthy (30 min per question roughly). You have to be alert at all times in the exam. Even a silly mistake will cost you the entire question.
Reference Material
Nonlinear dynamics and chaos by Steven Strogatz is the bible for this course. All the questions done in class/tutorials will be from this book. Some questions in the exams are directly from the book’s exercises. Other than this, all the lectures by Steven Strogatz are available on YouTube. The professor follows these lectures in a similar fashion.
Importance of Course
Usefulness for future core courses/electives/research opportunities etc. This course has a wide range of applications from biology, finance to engineering. It is definitely an asset in this sense.
Other Interesting Links
Anything else relevant to the course
A lot of learning will depend on how you do the project. Do it sincerely, generate, and visualize the results. They will be worth your efforts.