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A Tutor Program for a Numerical Methods Course for Engineers

Cuneyt Sert

Department of Mechanical Engineering Middle East Technical University 06531 Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

A software is developed to serve as a learning and practice tool for the students of an undergraduate numerical methods course. It can also be used by the teachers of such a course in preparing class notes and exam questions. It consists of several modules, each covering a separate topic such as finding roots of nonlinear equations, solving systems of linear algebraic equations, optimization, curve fitting, differentiation, integration, and solving ordinary differential equations. The user can run typical numerical methods problems and get detailed numerical and visual output of the solution. The software has a graphical user interface for user interaction. It is an active software that allows to run problems that are designed by the user, instead of running pre-solved problems.

1. Introduction

Numerical methods are used to solve algebraic representations of physical problems. They are based on simple, well-defined algorithms, but contain rigorous algebraic operations, suitable for computer implementation. Based on this fact, one can idetify two typical properties of an undergraduate level numerical methods course: 1. Their underlying mathematics is usually straightforward. 2. They should be accompanied with some sort of a computer tool. The selection of the proper computer tool is important in the success of a numerical methods course. Typical choices are:

- Computer languages such as Fortran, Pascal, C, etc1,2. - Computer Algebra Systems such as Matlab, Maple, Mathcad, Mathematica, etc3. - Course specific softwares such as the ones that come with numerical methods textbooks.

The software described in this paper is of the third kind. Its capabilities will be described in the following sections.

“Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Sert, C. (2005, June), A Tutor Program For A Numerical Methods Course For Engineers Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15259