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Syllabus (preliminary)

Tentative schedule

AST-51 Survey

Python Tutorial

    Jupyter Notebook file

    README file

    Data file “random3.txt”

Lectures:

    Lecture #3

    Lecture #5

    Lecture #6

    Lecture #7

    Lecture #8

    Lecture #9

    Lecture #11 (Dark Matter Presentation), (Statistics, Error Analysis)

    Lecture #14

Extracts from “Numerical Recipes”, 3rd Ed.:

    Root Finding

    Interpolation & Extrapolation

    Integration of Functions

    Random Numbers

Assignments:

    Exercise Sheet #1a+b

    Exercise Sheet #2

    Exercise Sheet #3

    Exercise Sheet #4

    Exercise Sheet #5, Assignment5.zip

    Exercise Sheet #6, data (.zip), data (.tar.gz)

    Exercise Sheet #7

    Exercise Sheet #8

Brief description:

AST-51/151 is a course intended for students with a background in physics and/or astronomy and mathematics and a strong interest in astronomy. Through lectures and projects, the students will 1) learn practical tools and error analysis, 2) develop and/or strengthen computer coding skills, 3) develop and strengthen a critical thinking attitude, 4) perform actual measurements on real astronomy datasets to derive properties of stars, galaxies, dark matter, and dark energy, and 5) strengthen ability to work as part of a group. Most assignments involve the use of computers.

This course may be used to satisfy the concentration requirements for major and minors in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY

Prerequisites:

PHY 11 and 12, or by instructor consent. Basic knowledge of Python (or other coding languages) is highly welcomed.