6 ms·

MITx Differential Equations starts May 31

57 points by drhodes 3y ago

drhodes 3y ago
Hey everyone, if you would like to get a grip on differential equations and are willing to put in the work, then you should know that an instructor paced run starts on May 31st. If you know single variable calculus then you're set to jet! Please sign up here: https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+18.03.1x/ https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+18.03.1x/ Incidentally, the prerequisite: 18.01x, also starts on May 31. https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+18.01.1x/ https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+18.01.1x/
- ianai 3y ago
  In this sort of situation is the homework graded and the usual? Or is the sign up just so someone can watch the video?
  - drhodes 3y ago
    There are homeworks as well as lecture exercises, recitations and a final exam. As far as grading, there is an auto grader that uses sympy on the backend.
- EddieEngineers 3y ago
  Thanks, signing up! :)
naillo 3y ago
It's funny how differential equations just boil down to plain linear algebra when you restrict yourself to the discrete time domain setting. I feel like courses like this should lead with that to save time for people who will primarily handle them inside computers.
- kstrauser 3y ago
  “Just”. I suspect that an MIT course would be more interesting than “here’s the class in one sentence. See you next semester!”
  - ok123456 3y ago
    He's not wrong. It just takes a semester or two to get there.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      As I recall from a (very) long ago differential equations course at MIT, the intro DiffEQ course was very cookbook and, while necessary for some things like system dynamics, weren't super-interesting. (Not that I was ever very good at math.) I did always think it was cool though that you had "imaginary" i terms and they eventually disappeared and you had a real-world result. Never took linear algebra but I gather it was embedded in other courses in various guises largely pre-computer.
- iamcreasy 3y ago
  I took a traditional differential equation course, and a separate linear algebra course. Loved both of them. Do you know any course/book to connect this two courses?
  - selimthegrim 3y ago
    Strang has one although it kind of buried the lede on the linear algebra in my opinion. Try some of the older DE texts (Coddington) or an older Schaum’s outline
- zeroonetwothree 3y ago
  In my college linear algebra was a prereq for diff eq for this reason
the__alchemist 3y ago
Hey, unrelated: Does anyone know why it seems MITx stopped offering new courses ~5 years ago? I'm still bummed out and check their page a few times a year. (I can vouch for this class and the 2x2 one btw; great stuff; I'd recommend any of their math and science courses. The QM ones are especially good)
- drhodes 3y ago
  Well, the multivariable calculus series was released more recently. Work is ongoing for the 3rd part of that series.
analognoise 3y ago
Are we signing up as a group and going to form a discussion somewhere? I've wanted to redo differential equations so I could buy an Analog Thing...
- drhodes 3y ago
  Hi, there is a integrated discussion forum with latex support.
stackedinserter 3y ago
I guess it's $100 for a bunch of videos of lecturer scratching on a whiteboard something that you can learn yourself with interactive demos, sympy and a jupiter notebook.
- falcor84 3y ago
  Any recommendations about a good set of tutorial notebooks based on sympy? I found a couple of tutorials, but they're about using sympy rather than the theory, and they aren't actually notebooks: https://www.sympy.org/scipy-2017-codegen-tutorial/notebooks/20-ordinary-differential-equations.html https://www.sympy.org/scipy-2017-codegen-tutorial/notebooks/... https://www.cfm.brown.edu/people/dobrush/am33/SymPy/index.html https://www.cfm.brown.edu/people/dobrush/am33/SymPy/index.ht...
- paulpauper 3y ago
  lol isn't that any course? sure cheaper than full tuition
- drhodes 3y ago
  The difference is that there are also a bunch of other people learning the same thing at the same time. Peer pressure as well as due dates helps people stay on track, and there is support on the forum in case you get stuck, or just want to talk about something cool you found related to differential equations or math.
qumpis 3y ago
Are there any interesting modern applications of diff. equations in computer science outside physics simulators, and 3d vision? Or some adjacent areas that would benefit from skillset of working with diff. equations?
- pumanoir 3y ago
  Optimization by gradient descent is used to do the learning in deep learning. For example, diff eqs are used to create optimizers that improve upon the classic 'adam' say, such as the new 'sophia' [1]. 1. https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.14342 https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.14342
osigurdson 3y ago
I always thought that math was super well curated…right up until differential equations. Beautiful calculus and linear algebra, followed by a bag of tricks to solve DEs.
- paulpauper 3y ago
  Differential equations are way more involved and broad.
- dimatura 3y ago
  As someone who is better at coding than pen & paper math, I definitely enjoyed seeing a lot more cases where the only practical solution was numerical.
oh_sigh 3y ago
This seems like an ad. I assumed the course would be free, but it is $100.
- ayhanfuat 3y ago
  You can sign up for free. The paid option offers a certificate. That seems to be the only difference.

57 points by drhodes 3y ago

Hey everyone, if you would like to get a grip on differential equations and are willing to put in the work, then you should know that an instructor paced run starts on May 31st. If you know single variable calculus then you're set to jet! Please sign up here: https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+18.03.1x/ https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+18.03.1x/ Incidentally, the prerequisite: 18.01x, also starts on May 31. https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+18.01.1x/ https://mitxonline.mit.edu/courses/course-v1:MITxT+18.01.1x/

ianai 3y ago
In this sort of situation is the homework graded and the usual? Or is the sign up just so someone can watch the video?
- drhodes 3y ago
  There are homeworks as well as lecture exercises, recitations and a final exam. As far as grading, there is an auto grader that uses sympy on the backend.
EddieEngineers 3y ago
Thanks, signing up! :)

naillo 3y ago

It's funny how differential equations just boil down to plain linear algebra when you restrict yourself to the discrete time domain setting. I feel like courses like this should lead with that to save time for people who will primarily handle them inside computers.

kstrauser 3y ago
“Just”. I suspect that an MIT course would be more interesting than “here’s the class in one sentence. See you next semester!”
- ok123456 3y ago
  He's not wrong. It just takes a semester or two to get there.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    As I recall from a (very) long ago differential equations course at MIT, the intro DiffEQ course was very cookbook and, while necessary for some things like system dynamics, weren't super-interesting. (Not that I was ever very good at math.) I did always think it was cool though that you had "imaginary" i terms and they eventually disappeared and you had a real-world result. Never took linear algebra but I gather it was embedded in other courses in various guises largely pre-computer.
iamcreasy 3y ago
I took a traditional differential equation course, and a separate linear algebra course. Loved both of them. Do you know any course/book to connect this two courses?
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  Strang has one although it kind of buried the lede on the linear algebra in my opinion. Try some of the older DE texts (Coddington) or an older Schaum’s outline
zeroonetwothree 3y ago
In my college linear algebra was a prereq for diff eq for this reason

the__alchemist 3y ago

Hey, unrelated: Does anyone know why it seems MITx stopped offering new courses ~5 years ago? I'm still bummed out and check their page a few times a year. (I can vouch for this class and the 2x2 one btw; great stuff; I'd recommend any of their math and science courses. The QM ones are especially good)

drhodes 3y ago
Well, the multivariable calculus series was released more recently. Work is ongoing for the 3rd part of that series.

analognoise 3y ago

Are we signing up as a group and going to form a discussion somewhere? I've wanted to redo differential equations so I could buy an Analog Thing...

drhodes 3y ago
Hi, there is a integrated discussion forum with latex support.

stackedinserter 3y ago

I guess it's $100 for a bunch of videos of lecturer scratching on a whiteboard something that you can learn yourself with interactive demos, sympy and a jupiter notebook.

falcor84 3y ago
Any recommendations about a good set of tutorial notebooks based on sympy? I found a couple of tutorials, but they're about using sympy rather than the theory, and they aren't actually notebooks: https://www.sympy.org/scipy-2017-codegen-tutorial/notebooks/20-ordinary-differential-equations.html https://www.sympy.org/scipy-2017-codegen-tutorial/notebooks/... https://www.cfm.brown.edu/people/dobrush/am33/SymPy/index.html https://www.cfm.brown.edu/people/dobrush/am33/SymPy/index.ht...
paulpauper 3y ago
lol isn't that any course? sure cheaper than full tuition
drhodes 3y ago
The difference is that there are also a bunch of other people learning the same thing at the same time. Peer pressure as well as due dates helps people stay on track, and there is support on the forum in case you get stuck, or just want to talk about something cool you found related to differential equations or math.

qumpis 3y ago

Are there any interesting modern applications of diff. equations in computer science outside physics simulators, and 3d vision? Or some adjacent areas that would benefit from skillset of working with diff. equations?

pumanoir 3y ago
Optimization by gradient descent is used to do the learning in deep learning. For example, diff eqs are used to create optimizers that improve upon the classic 'adam' say, such as the new 'sophia' [1]. 1. https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.14342 https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.14342

osigurdson 3y ago

I always thought that math was super well curated…right up until differential equations. Beautiful calculus and linear algebra, followed by a bag of tricks to solve DEs.

paulpauper 3y ago
Differential equations are way more involved and broad.
dimatura 3y ago
As someone who is better at coding than pen & paper math, I definitely enjoyed seeing a lot more cases where the only practical solution was numerical.

oh_sigh 3y ago

This seems like an ad. I assumed the course would be free, but it is $100.

ayhanfuat 3y ago
You can sign up for free. The paid option offers a certificate. That seems to be the only difference.