Touching complex analysis

Prof. Mattuck is in top form in lecture 6 when he talks about Euler and the beauty of complex numbers. Although it is a lecture in the DE series it can be watched as a stand-alone lecture. So if you are doing MST121, MS221 or M208 it is great fun to watch this lecture. He even touches the field of Complex Analysis when he explains differentiating $e^{i\theta}$. He notes ( jokes ) that time is always a real variable but he isn't so sure when the next Einstein comes around: he may very well decide we need complex time! Anyway, how would you integrate $\int{e^{x}}\cos{x}\ dx$ ? Prof. Mattuck says these integrals are easy if you switch to the complex domain. Finally he solves the beautiful equation $x^n+1=0$ ( as we have seen in MS221, M208 ).



Hopefully, after or during MST209, I will be able to analyze the synchronization of metronomes problem using differential equations some day.

MST121 - Overall Course Result ( Final )

I have received the marked MST121 TMA04 and now also all data have been updated in my student record.

Assignment Score
CMA 41 83
CMA 42 84
TMA 01 82
TMA 02 88
TMA 03 95
TMA 04 90

TMA 01 82 has been substituted to 87.7 giving a final score of 88.84 rounded to 89.

An 89 for this is course is much more than I deserve. Especially in the beginning of MST121 I did not study enough ( november and december last year ). During this period I also had a last minute approach towards TMA's. I definitely lost points there.

Anyway, I learned that in order to get high marks much more is expected of the student. TMA01 and TMA02 were quick and dirty jobs using pen and pencil. As from TMA03 I changed to LaTeX including several QA reviews using Mathematica ( if possible ).                                          

MST121 overall course result

See your MST121 course website 
Overall course result

PassOverall continuous assessment score (OCAS) : 89
Overall assessment score (OAS) : 89

Substitution applied at : 87.7

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Feedback Delay on MST121 CMA42

Earlier today I checked if the results of CMA42 were available. There was a notice 'Feedback Delay'. Now why would that be??! There were 28 questions and all computer-marked, isn't it simply every correct question adds 3+4/7 = 3.57 marks to the total?

Maybe some questions were too simple / difficult and are cancelled, leaving 24 questions which count just as in CMA41.

I wonder when the results do come in.

MST121:DONE

Just submitted CMA42. All I have to do now is wait for the marks on TMA04 and CMA42. In the resultsplanner I estimated 35% for TMA04 and 60% for CMA42. The 35% for TMA04 is way below what I got for the previous TMA's but I don't feel confident at all about the results. I am only 'sure' about 35 or so. Anyway, I suppose I get a pass for MST121.

By doing MST121 I primarily learned what it is like to study at the OU. I haven't seen any entirely new mathematics but that wasn't to be expected from a level 1 course. I am already busy with MS221 and I suppose it will be M208 and / or MST209 after that. All in all I have enjoyed the course.

MST121 - TMA04 ( 3 )

All exercises are in TeX, MathCad and OUStats work captured with SnagIT and saved to PDF. Most of the work is done, one or two QA sessions before I send the work the tutor. MST121 TMA04 is the most difficult TMA / CMA I had to do sofar. I am however confident that I will pass the required 40% score. - I did not particularly enjoy working on the TMA. I have postponed working on it several times. Instead I worked on other areas of math I am (self-)studying like combinatorics. Currently I am giving Concrete Mathematics by Graham, Knuth and Patashnik another try. When the TMA is out the door, I'll focus on CMA41 though. And I am extremely tight on my MS221 TMA02 schedule, but that -is- a fun topic!

MST121 - TMA04 ( 2 )

I completed questions 1 and 2 today. I am fairly sure now that I have virtually passed the exams of the course. - I got the results back from CMA41 for which I scored 83/100 ( 20/24, all 4 errors on book D2 stuff ) which means that I have more than 60% already for the entire course. The only requirement left is completion of TMA04 with a score of at least 40%. I think the three questions which I already did are enough.

MST121 - TMA04

TMA04 is the TMA covering the entire course. Question 3 ( of 4 ), which I completed today, is on calculus. All four questions are valued at 25 marks. Question 3 basicly covers all subjects of Book C, differentiation, integration and differential equations.

Layed the foundation for new TMA's

Layed foundation for MS221-TMA02, MST121-TMA04. That is I prepared two latex docs in Texlipse and added all chapters, headings, toc stuff. All I have to do now is do the math. May is an busy month in all areas.

Submitted MST121 - CMA41

Just choosing the answer out of a list of six possible answers takes considerably less time than explaining everything you did to find the answer. Math though, is more about writing than number crunching, I would say now. I used to find the writing part less important. Maybe because writing was something I wasn't very good at. I could procrastinate for days on a piece of white paper. - Things changed. I like the writing part now, maybe because I have neat tools like Texlipse.

To the point, today I submitted MST121 - CMA41. The cut-off date for that one is set on the 13th of May ( next wednesday ).

May will be tough! By the first of June, next month already: time flies!, I have to finish MST121 - TMA04, MST121 - CMA42 and MS221 - TMA02. I need 40 out of 100 for MST121 - TMA04, that is what I have to focus on.

Status CMA41

Answered 19 questions today, covering books D1-D3, left one difficult question open, that's one for later if there is time. One week ( two weekends ) left for studying book D4 and answering the remaining 4 ( + 1 ) question. With the points I already have I don't have to worry. Book D4 is about differencing testing, an interesting topic.

OU MST121 / MS221 software

Some minor out-points for the Open University.

Included are among others MathCad 2000i and OUStats. MathCad 2000i is as old as the name implies and as can be predicted does NOT work with Vista. The buglist errata which comes with the package is impressive. Why MathCad while other software is powers of ten times better? Think of Mathematica, Maple or even the free Open Source SAGE? I suppose it is because MathCad is 'British'. Well, I borrowed a copy of MathCad 14 which at least does work with Vista so that I could make the required printouts for the TMAs. No need to say I do all calculations with Mathematica.

Next piece of software is OUStats. And this program does not work outside the Britisch isles. At least not in countries where they use a comma for the 'decimal point'. Well, at least there are no mandatory printouts required. More than enough alternatives to do some simple stats. My advice would be to drop MathCad and switch to SAGE or to the Student Edition of Mathematica. The OUStats package is ok, but it should be fixed so that it will work in Europe as well. Well, they drive left too and carry pounds instead of euros. At least their Open University has a mathematics department.

Results MST121 - TMA03

95 /100. I did my best on this one.

MST121 - TMA03 done

Today I finished MST121 - TMA03, the calculus stuff of MST121, books C1,C2 and C3. The algebraic workout videos for this book are excellent. There are three of them and in these videos they show all the tricks required for doing the TMA03 exercises.

I prepared TMA01 and TMA02 with pen and paper. For this TMA I have used LaTeX. It's a tool with a rather steep learning curve and several required software packages but it's all free and there are zillions of tutorials on internet as well as a lot of examples. LaTeX is what the publishers use for typesetting mathematics books. LaTeX is based on TeX, which started as a one-man project by Don Knuth, one of the great mathematicians born in the previous century. I used TeXnic centre a free IDE for LaTeX. On the TeXnic website you'll find stuff to get started.

At least preparing TMA03 wasn't a last-minute job. That's a major, major ( epic ) win for me. Actually finishing something on time. A self-confidence booster. I have learned that having a good place to do studywork is an important resource. I went beyond that and have been experimenting with brainwave entrainment which is a technique to stimulate concentration and focus. It requires a good headphone and the right software. I currently use Atmosphere de Luxe in which you can 'hide' the brainwaves in nice atmospheric sounds. I use a sennheiser headphone with Active Noise reduction to cancel out noise elsewhere in the room.

I'll work this month on MS221 book A.

One more issue, although the Open University materials are excellent I wasn't really happy with MathCad. I am sure it cost me points already. At least with Vista it is a buggy mess. I upgraded to MathCad 14 which is a different experience altogether. Sufficient for coursework. It is still far from Mathematica which is now at version 7. Besides using Mathematica for my own research I use it as a final check on my TMA work before I send it in.

MST121 - TMA02

Score: 88. Much better than expected.

Next Saturday, the 14th of february I am starting on the MS221 course: 'Exploring Mathematics'.

A book I am reading at the moment is Naive Lie Theory. It's an introduction to Lie Theory at the undergraduate level. NLT starts with a chapter on quaternions and how they can be utilized in the calculation of rotations in R3.

MST121 TMA02

Shipped to tutor. And with a fair chance of a satisfactory score. What a relief. I have been entirely focused on this assignment for the last six days. I have to change my study habits a bit. It is possible to make the assignmnents right after a studying a course unit and an assignment is usually about three or four course units. The next deadline, cut-off date is on the 18th of march. Topic: calculus and differential equations applied to modelling. - The first I have to do now is make a detailed studyplan for the next two months, and start studying asap. It is essential to study every day, in that respect is math like playing a musical instrument: practice is mandatory, every day.

Scores MST121

Received my work with the tutor's remarks today. I scored 82/100. This assignment counts for 20% of the exam so I now have 16/100 with 80 to go in five assignments.

Feedback MST121 TMA 01 - 1

Yesterday I received an e-mail from my math tutor with the score for a tutor marked assignment.

You got 33 out of the 40 for TMA01 part 1. Well done.
Some remarks,

Try to give your answers as a conclusion.
Q1 (c) Look for an easy factorisation.
Make sure that the answers satisfy that x is not 0 and 2x-1 is not 0 so that both are solutions.
Mathcad,

The course supports the use of the floating "symbolic toolbar"
The solution sould look like:
42 x^3 + 301x^2 + 154 x -840 factor ___ (7(2x+5)(3x-4)(x+6)

Q2
Make sure that you get used to the decimal point and notthe comma.

Always give the range,.
Check the difference between decimal points and significant figures,

MST121

Today I received the first and second shipment of MST121 ( Using Mathematics ) study materials. Looks good, have a lot of reading and planning to do. ( For the last two months or so I focused on learning ADF/Struts that's a web framework (partially) from Oracle. But that's off-topic here! ) I feel relieved that I am now following a well tested study path.