Physics 210: Intro Computational Physics: Course Notes & Resources

This document will be updated throughout the course. Note: "PDF" denotes Adobe Portable Document Format.

Also note that I will sometimes lecture using the blackboard, and then you will be expected to take your own notes. (i.e. not all notes for the course will be posted electronically.)

  • Course Web Pages Hard Copy  [PDF 26 pages] &  Intitial Survey  [PDF 1 page] (Sep 6)
  • Unix / Linux [PDF 44 pages - Last update Aug 31] (Sep 6 - Sep 13)
  • Overview of Programming [PDF 16 pages] (Sep 18)
  • Maple (Sep 18 - Oct 4)
  • Term Project Information
    • Animations from representative term projects
      • Gravitational N-body dynamics: N = 6 [MPEG 2.8 MB]
      • A more interesting N-body example: N = 3 [MPEG 1.3 MB]
      • N Charges on a sphere:  N = 60 [MPEG 4.9 MB]
      • 1-dimensional time dependent Schrodinger equation (particle in a box, illustrating tunneling)
        • Free particle (no potential) [MPEG 16 MB]
        • Free particle, moderate & large potential barrier (superimposed evolution) [MPEG 29 MB]
      • KdV equation
        • Single solition [MPEG 7.5 MB]
        • Three solitons [MPEG 12 MB]
      • Game of Life (not available as term project!) [MPEG 15 MB]
    • Sample term project proposal (from 2009): [PDF 9 pages]
  • Octave (MATLAB) (Oct 9 - )
  • Finite Difference Approximation [Oct 9 -  ]
    • Overview of Finite Difference Approximation [PDF 11 pages]
    • Nonlinear pendulum [PDF 8 pages]
    • N-body Notes [PDF 8 pages]
      • Animation of sample 3-body calculation (masses: 9, 1, .001) [MPEG]

Maintained by choptuik@physics.ubc.ca.