Math 636 - Computer Information

This page has been developed to give you information on Computer Resources for you and what is expected of the graphics for the HW problems.

GMCS Computer Lab Availability: The GMCS 425/422 Computer Labs will be open most of the semester for the hours M-Th 9 AM-10 PM. Friday, GMCS 422 should be available 11 AM-4 PM. Saturday, the labs are available 10 AM-4 PM. When closed because classes or exams, then one can do most of the Computer Lab work at the library though you would need to ask their Help desk to access Maple on rohan.

Maple at SDSU: If you have a PC laptop, then you can contact either Mahaffy for installation of Maple on your computer. If you have Linux on your home computer, then you can directly link to the rohan Maple by logging onto rohan through your student account (freely available) and typing xmaple in a terminal window. Students with Mac laptops need to email Mahaffy to determine what arrangements can be worked out. You can access Maple on your home computer using an X-Window platform (simulating Linux) with a rohan account. The details for this setup are given by the hyperlink to Maple on rohan. This access can be quite slow.

Maple Help: If you are a little rusty on your Maple commands (or haven't been exposed to Maple), then there are a number of good learning tools. Maple in the Lab has a self-guided tutorial, which is very extensive and probably has too much information. My website has a special Maple Help page for Math 121/122. Another alternative is to explore the early part of my Math 241 course notes, specifically the material in the Introduction. The San Diego State University Computing Center has produced an excellent guide with numerous hyperlinks to give you the basics for using Maple and accessing it through rohan.

Graph Expectations:

All graphs should be created in some computer graphics program with MatLab and Excel being my preferred programs. Below are some comments about graphing with Excel, but similar expectations are made of graphs made in MatLab.

1. Your graphs should be a minimum of 3 inches in height and 4 inches in width (the actual graphs, not the window), i.e., do not use the default size in Excel. The graphs should be clear and readable to demonstrate the results being exhibited in the problem.
2. You will almost always need to adjust the interval of the domain on your graph. When an interval is specified for a particular graph, then adjust the axes to match the requested interval. For example, when I ask for x in the interval [-5,5], then Excel will usually default to either [-6,6] or [-10,10]. You will have to override the default by scaling the x -axis to [-5,5]. (Double clicking on either axis gives you lots of options for editing, with which you should become familiar.)
3. Always use points or markers (diamonds, circles, triangles, etc.) to represent actual data. (If points alone are insufficiently clear, then you can use points connected by lines.) For theoretical curves and standard graphs of functions, you should only use lines (with only a few exceptions such as discrete dynamical systems, which we will be studying).
4. When graphing a continuous function, you should use about 50 points from the spreadsheet. An obvious exception is when you are graphing straight lines.
5. You should never have the label "Series 1" appear on the graph. Either you remove the label, such as when there is only a single graph on the sheet (which will be covered in the title), or you adjust the labels to describe the graphs they are labeling. All graphs with multiple entries need to have each entry labeled using either the legend or a title next to the appropiate graph.
6. Label your axes and give your graph a title. Be sure that the labels match the variables and descriptions of the problem.
7. Grid your graphs with both horizontal and vertical grids, so that you have good references with which to compare.
8. When using the Trendline function, you will always want to use the option of putting the equation on the chart, but we do not want to see the R² value for this course. Most of the time you will need to edit the equation after Excel has put it on your graph. Most of the time you will need to convert the coefficients in front of the variables to scientific notation with 4-5 decimal places of accuracy. (Excel likes to round off the most significant digits found for the mathematical models.) In addition, you will want to change the default x and y to the variables that are in your problem.
9. If you are uncertain of what is being requested, then be sure to ask! One guideline of how your graphs should appear is for you to try to get them to look like the ones in my lecture notes.