AE2440 Introduction to Scientific Programming

This course offers an introduction to computer system operations and program development using NPS computer facilities. The main goal of the course is to provide an overview of different structured programming techniques, along with introduction to MATLAB/Simulink/GUIDE and to use modeling as a tool for scientific and engineering applications. The course discusses the accuracy of digital computations, ways to incorporate symbolic computations, and presents numerical methods in MATLAB functions. AE2440, EC2440, and SE2440 are the same course.

Prerequisite

Knowledge of single variable calculus and matrix algebra.

Lecture Hours

3

Lab Hours

2

Course Learning Outcomes

At the completion of the course students will be able to: 

• Perform matrix analysis 
• Formulate algorithms to solve problems numerically 
• Recognize engineering applications of the various numerical methods;
• Solve numerical problems in 
  • identifying roots of equations 
  • finding solutions of linear simultaneous equations 
  • interpolating values of a dependent variable given a set of discrete measurements 
  • approximating the differential or integral of an unknown function given a set of discrete measurements from the function 
  • finding solutions to differential equations 
  • describing data graphically and computing important characteristics of sample measurements 
  • making basic statistical computations, and 
  • fitting a curve or a model to data 
• Understand the limitations of each numerical method, especially the conditions under which they may fail to converge to a solution 
• Model simple systems by differential equations, block diagrams, and transfer functions 
• Develop and run continuous and discrete Simulink models 
• Use MATLAB proficiently for scientific and engineering applications including writing script and function files, 2-D and 3-D plotting, programming (flow control), and producing meaningful and readable solutions (reports)