A course in Computational Physics

This course, taught at UConn, has several objectives: 1) To make the students comfortable in using MATLAB; 2) To reveal the existence of unavoidable inaccuracies due to numerical roundoff errors and algorithm inaccuracies; 3) to introduce modern spectral expansion methods [1], and compare them with conventional finite difference methods. Some of the projects assigned in the course will be described, such as the motion of a falling parachute, and the vibrations of an inhomogeneous vibrating string [2]. \\[4pt] [1] Lloyd N. Trefethen, ``Spectral Methods in MATLAB (SIAM, Philadelphia, PA, 2000)''; John P. Boyd, ``Chebyshev and Fourier Spectral Methods,'' (Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola, New York, Second revised edition, 2001). \newline [2] G. Rawitscher and J. Liss, ``The vibrating inhomogeneous string,'' Am. J. of Phys., to be published; and arXiv:1006,1913v1 [physics.comp-ph]