Assignments
Math 2984 - Fall 2017
Intro to Mathematical Problem Solving

• Assignment 0: due Friday, 01 September:
  
  • Get a copy of MATLAB installed on your computer.
• Assignment 1: due Friday, 08 September:
  
  • hw002: Compute the area of three circles, and report which is closest to the area of a square;
  • hw004: Wvaluate a formula estimating the weight of children from their age;
  • hw006: Report the number of distinct values in three numbers x, y, and z;
• Assignment 2: due Friday, 15 September:
  
  • hw0091: Using a FOR loop and the RAND function, estimate the average distance between two random points in the unit square.
  • hw016: Print greatest common divisor tables using nested FOR loops.
  • hw023: Estimate the area under the curve y=humps(x), for x between 0 and 1.;
• Assignment 3: due Friday, 22 September:
  
  • hw012: Rewrite a positive number in scientific notation, using two WHILE statements.
  • hw027: Estimate an infinite alternating decreasing infinite series, using a WHILE statement.
  • hw028: Pay your grocery bill at an automatic checkout, using WHILE.
• Assignment 4: due Friday, October 6:
  
  • hw029: Approximate the golden ratio, by computing entries in a sequence, until the difference between two consecutive entries is small enough.
  • hw030: If a penny is dropped down a well that reaches the center of the earth, when will it hit the bottom?
  • hw032: When will a typical child weigh more than 1000 pounds, according to the Theron formula?
• Assignment 5: due Friday, October 13:
  
  • hw034: Plot several Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind on one graph;
  • hw035: Plot the letters "V" and "T" as filled polygons.
  • hw037: Plot a face using a function that creates filled ellipses.
• Assignment 6: due Friday, due October 20:
  
  • hw038: Write a function which computes the perimeter of a triangle.
  • hw039: Write a function which shrinks a triangle.
  • hw040: Write a function which computes the area of a quadrilateral, by using a function for the area of a triangle.
• Assignment 7: due Friday, October 27:
  
  • hw041: use the bisection method to find a zero of the function x^3-2x-5.
  • hw042: Use bisection to find three zeros of a cubic function.
  • hw043: Use bisection to solve for the value of the golden ratio, phi.
• Assignment 8: due Friday, November 3:
  
  • hw044: Use MATLAB's logical vectors and the find() command to analyze a vector.
  • hw045: What is the average number of times a random walk will visit the square labeled 0?
  • hw046: Write a function which makes a bin plot of the results of tossing n dice m times.
• Assignment 9: due Friday, November 10:
  
  • hw047: Read a PNG file containing a grayscale image of Saturn, change to white all the pixels in a wide strip along the border of the image, and save the modified image to a JPG file.
  • hw048: Read a PNG file containing a grayscale image of a scene from the movie "Casablanca"; copy Ingrid Bergman's head and use it to replace the heads of Humphrey Bogart and Dooley Wilson; save the image as "bergman3.jpg".
  • hw049: Read a JPG file which is a photograph of a person. Make a new JPG file which only displays pixels that closely match a particular shade of the person's face.
• Assignment 10: due Friday, November 17:
  
  • hw050: Create a contour plot of a function that represents a "valley".
  • hw051: Create a surface plot of a function that exhibits four deep depressions.
  • hw052: Use the contour() function to draw a family of ellipses.
• Assignment 11: due Friday, December 1:
  
  • hw053: Compute the cumulative probabilities for an event with outcomes that have unequal likelihoods.
  • hw054: Use a transition model to simulate how 800 students shift between three dormitories.
  • hw055: Use a transition model to simulate how 1000 customers switch car insurance policies each year.
• Assignment 12: due Friday, December 8:
  
  • hw056: Read a list of edges describing a graph and create a corresponding adjacency matrix.
  • hw057: Using the RISK adjacency matrix, determine the maximum distance from Western Australia to any region on the game board.
  • hw058: Fill out the SPOT survey (Student Perception of Teaching) and provide evidence (a screen short, or a short text file) that you have done so.
• Final Project: due Tuesday, December 12:
  
  • P1: Recreate an image of a minion.
  • P2: Compute SIGMA(N), the sum of the divisors of an integer N;
  • P3: Write a function that determines the probability that a random quadratic polynomial q(x)=ax^2+bx+c will have real roots. Do this calculation WITHOUT using a FOR loop!
  • P4: Determine the day of the week for a given date.
  • P5: At a random party of N people, will at least two people share a birthday?