PHY 315 Introduction to Computational Methods in Physics

Course Description

An introduction to computational and numerical methods in physics. Includes an introduction to version control, documentation, collaborative code writing, and creating scientific quality plots. Numerical methods for differentiation, integration, curve fitting and optimization. Introduction to random variables and Monte Carlo methods. Examples are taken from problems in physics which cannot be solved using analytic methods only.

Course Topic Outline

1. Introduction (Programming, Version Control and Documentation)
2. Symbolic Tools and Plotting
3. Numerical Methods for Differentiation
4. Numerical Methods for Integration
5. Random numbers and Monte-carlo integration
6. Differential Equations
7. Fourier Transform