Supplementary class on Monday Feb 25 (week 7), 4pm

There is a supplementary class scheduled for Monday of week 7 (Feb 25th) starting at 4pm in DHSR2 (seminar room 2 in Dartington House; it's labeled as room 18 --- it's right across from my office). I'll spend a little bit of time going through the big picture on distributions and then we'll go through some of the problems on sheet 1. (Note that we probably will not have time to go through all of them.)

Update to Solution Sheet 1

I made a small update to problem (2a) in the solution sheet 1. Namely, it now includes a precise statement of weak convergence, as I think that will help you understand the solution better. (Weak convergence means that it converges in inner product for all test functions. In the context of this course, this can be expressed in integral form. The solution set shows both of these.)

Solution Sheet 1 posted

The solution sheet for the first problem sheet has been posted. Only 4 people submitted their work on this sheet. That's not a particularly optimal way to get potentially very useful feedback.

I am still awaiting more feedback for when to have the extra class to go over the big picture a bit and also to spend some time on the first homework sheet (though we won't have time to go over everything). Four people have expressed opinions about that. I will wait a little bit more time for others to indicate when they're available, and then I will figure out a day and time from this input.

Supplementary class for distributions

I have received an e-mail requesting an extra lecture to review some of the big picture from the unit on distributions.

That sounds like a good idea to me, though the format will be slightly different. I can spend a little bit of time reviewing distributions (beyond the 15 minutes from today's lecture) and then I would also like to spend some time going through the first problem sheet. We can't have this until after the first sheet gets marked, but I'm certainly happy to do this.

I need you to tell me when you are available and then I'll need to get a room. Please provide comments about time constraints in the comments in this spot, and I'll use that to help figure out a time that hopefully everybody can make.

Problem Sheet 2 available

Problem sheet 2 (due Friday of week 8 at 4pm) is now available.

Note that there is a box in the basement of the Mathematical Institute where you should turn in problem sheet 1 (due Friday of week 4 at 4pm).

Solutions will eventually be posted for problem sheet 4, and I'd also like to have a class to discuss these problems. I have the MSc lecture schedule, so I will try to schedule something around that. Hopefully we can find a time that everybody can make. Tentatively, I'd like to do this during week 6. (Note that the class for the second problem sheet will need to be early in Trinity term.)

Note that the 6th problem in problem sheet 2 is quite long. It is meant to guide you to the original analytical derivation of solitons and various things (including insights into shock phenomena) that occurred along the way. It will also be extremely illuminating conceptually, so I hope you'll take the time to go through it to a decent extent. Anyway, while doing it fully will take some time, it's something that will be educational and I am certainly open towards turning that into one of the proverbial class project things you're supposed to be doing.