PHYS2061 Basic Computational Physics
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PHYS2061 Basic Computational Physics

This course provides students with the basic knowledge of computer programming and some basic numerical methods commonly used to solve problems in physics. Topics include: basic programming skills, interpolation, numerical integration of functions, solution of ordinary differential equations. There are computational laboratories for practice, demonstration and illustration of the subject matter. This course, together with PHYS3061 (Introduction to simulations of physical systems) and PHYS4061 (Computational Physics) provide basic, intermediate and advanced training on the important branch of computational physics. This fundamental course assumes no prior knowledge in programing. Pre-requisite/Co-requisite: MATH1010 or 1018 or 1520 or its equivalents, or permission of instructor.
Blackboard

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Lecturer

Prof. Yi Wang
Office: SC 208, Tel: 3943-6355, Email: yiwang@cuhk.edu.hk
Office hour: Tuesday 10:30-12am.

Teaching Assistant(s)

Ziqi Wang
Office: SC315 , Email: zqwang@phy.cuhk.edu.hk
Consultation hour: TBA

Yajing Qi
Office: SC313 , Email: yjqi@phy.cuhk.edu.hk
Consultation hour: TBA

Wai Ho SZE, Reo
Office: SC313 , Email: whsze@phy.cuhk.edu.hk
Consultation hour: TBA

Yitao Gou
Office: TBA, Email: TBA
Consultation hour: TBA


Lecture Class

  • Tue 9:30AM - 10:15AM Science Center L4
  • Thr 9:30AM - 11:15AM Lady Shaw Bldg LT2

    • Exercise Class

    Note: Exercise classes start on the 2nd week.
  • Mon 1:30PM - 2:15PM Science Centre 326
  • Fri 9:30AM - 10:15AM Science Centre 326

    • Lab

    Note: Labs start on the 2nd week.
  • Tue 1:30PM - 4:15PM Science Centre 326
  • Wed 1:30PM - 4:15PM Science Centre 326

    • Reference Books

  • B.W. Kernighan and D. M. Ritchie, The C programming language, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, 2005.
  • C Tutorial at www.cprogramming.com
  • W.H. Press, et al., Numerical recipes in C: the art of scientific computing, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  • P.L. DeVries, A first course in computational physics, John Wiley & Sons, 1994.
  • J.H. Mathews, Numerical methods for mathematics, science, and engineering, Prentice Hall, 1992.
  • Rubin H. Landau, et al., A survey of computational physics: introductory computational science, Princeton University Press, 2008.

    • Assessment Scheme

    Homework 20%
    Lab 25%
    Project 15%
    Final Exam. 40%

    Course Outline

  • Chapter 0: Introduction
  • Chapter 1: C: Basic concepts
  • Chapter 2: C: Control logic and iteration
  • Chapter 3: C: Functions and program structure
  • Chapter 4: C: Arrays, pointers and structures
  • Chapter 5: Numerical methods: Root finding
  • Chapter 6: Numerical methods: Interpolation
  • Chapter 7: Numerical methods: Integration of functions
  • Chapter 8: Numerical methods: Ordinary differential equations
  • Matlab introduction