Computing in Geosciences
Winter Term 2017/18
Announcements
The written test will take place on Feb. 5 at 10.15 a.m.
As it constributes only 25 % to the total score, the duration
will be only 35 minutes. You may bring a sheet with your own notes
(DIN A4, double-sided if you want). The usage of pocket calculators,
phones etc. is not allowed.
Teachers and Tutors
- Stefan Hergarten
-
lecture, assignments
- Alexa Pietrek
-
assignments, support in programming
- Marie Gärtner
-
support in programming (beginners)
- Tim Krüger
-
mathematics tutorial class
Mail addresses, office numbers and phone numbers are available at
Our Team in the navigation bar.
Mails to the address
[email protected]
will be forwarded to all persons listed above.
Appointments
- Monday 10–12 a.m., CIP classroom (01 001)
- Thursday 8–10 a.m., CIP classroom (only until the Christmas holidays)
- Thursday 10–12 a.m., seminar room in the basement (00 012),
mathematics tutorial class (voluntary and only as long is it is needed)
- Monday 4 p.m., CIP classroom (01 001), beginners' tutorial class
in programming (voluntary and only as long is it is needed)
Main Topics
Numerical modeling of geo-processes
-
Time-dependent systems and ordinary differential equations
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Explicit and implicit methods for solving ordinary differential equations
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Basic concepts of partial differential equations
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The most important partial differential equations occurring in earth sciences
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Finite difference methods for solving partial differential equations
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Some basics of programming
-
Usage of MATLAB
Warning: Although you may learn something about MATLAB, this is not
the focus of this class.
Examination
Your marks will be derived according to the following scheme (portfolio exam):
| Component |
Contribution |
| assignments |
54 % |
| written test at the end of the semester |
25 % |
| exercises in the class |
10 % |
| helping your classmates in solving the assignments or solving your assignments
on your own |
11 %* |
*
also depending on your own score, e.g., 20 % of your own score if you
solve all on your own
-
A total score of 50 % is required to pass the class. There are no further constaints,
i.e., no minimum scores required for any of the components.
-
In case anyone fails, there will be a second exam. However, this
would be not easy for you as you would have to solve new assignments
without or with little support by your classmates, and it would be a
considerable amount of additional work for me. So please do not try!
Assignments
-
The assignments are designed individually for each student
using the enrollment number (7 digits). Solutions not corresponding to
your assignment sheet will not be marked without the chance of resubmission.
-
Criteria of evaluation are the correctness of the solution, interpretations
being consistent and understandable, and the quality of the figures
(e.g., axis labels and units).
-
At least the main components of your MATLAB
codes must be included in the solution (details of submission given below).
-
You may either submit your solutions alone or in groups of two students.
If you want to submit as a group, you must already fill in both enrollment
numbers when downloading your assigment sheet.
-
Beyond being allowed to submit your solution in a group of two students,
you are encouraged to solve the assignments together. You are even allowed to adopt
significant ideas from your classmates.
According to the general ethics of scientific work,
collaboration must be acknowledged when submitting an assignment
(details given during the submission procedure).
Copying MATLAB codes, figures or parts of the text is, however, not allowed.
Any solutions violating this rule will not be considered without the chance of resubmission.
-
As the assignments accompany the progress of the class,
the deadlines announced on the assignment sheets must be obeyed. A tolerance
of 20 days is given for all assignments in sum. You may, e.g., be late by 5 days at one
assignment, 7 days at another, and 8 days by a third one. Late submissions exceeding
this limit will not be considered. Please keep in mind that
the rule concerns individual assignments, not entire assignment sheets.
Assignment Sheets
Assignment sheets
Submission of Solutions
Solutions can only be submitted as PDF files using the form below. A submission of printouts
or by e-mail is not possible. Details are given during the submission procedure.
Submission of Solutions
Solutions can only be submitted as PDF files using the form below. A submission of printouts
or by e-mail is not possible. Please pay attention to the following points:
-
As there is no official list of participants, you have to register before you
can upload any files. Registrations made for previous classes or for the
fieldtrip registration system are valid here, too.
If you are not sure whether you are already registered, please use the following
form to test your registration or to register.
-
PDF is the only accepted file format. Submissions must be either one file
per assignment sheet or one file per assignment (preferred).
-
The file size must not exceed 64 MB.
-
Special characters ("Umlaute" etc.) and white spaces in the
filename are not allowed.
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Paper size must be similar to DIN A4 portrait (US letter or similar formats
are also acceptable, but not much larger), and the font size should be at least 11 pt.
-
If appropriate for the respective assignment, scanned hand-written solutions are also accepted,
provided that the technical quality is ok (no smartphone photos etc.).
The
photocopier close to the entrance of the CIP classroom offers scans of
good quality for free.
-
Short MATLAB code sequences that you executed step by step
in the command window should be included in your main PDF file.
Larger codes that you saved in a MATLAB file (.m) must be attached as
individual code attachments.
However, all relevant information (figures, interpretations)
must still be contained in your main PDF file.
-
If your solution requires data not included in your code (e.g., results
of previous assignments), you must upload them as data supplements (MATLAB workspace,
.mat).
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If you use other programming languages, please ask for the details about uploading
your codes.
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After uploading your file you receive a mail with page images (at
reduced resolution). Please check whether these page images are consistent with
the submitted document and whether you submited your file for the correct
class. Keep this mail as it is the proof of your submission.
-
If you receive an error message, your solution has not been submitted.
Methods and Teaching Materials
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Most of the teaching stuff will be presented and discussed at the whiteboard.
Some additional material can be downloaded (see the list below).
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In this class we will use the software
MATLAB
that has become some kind of standard programming tool for "non-programmers".
- ☹
MATLAB is somewhat more complicated than spreadsheet programs (e.g.,
Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Calc),
- ☺
but simpler than low-level programming languages
such as FORTRAN, C++ or Java or other scripting languages such as Python and R.
- ☺
More and more recent textbooks in geoscience contain supplementary MATLAB files.
- ☹
MATLAB is commercial software,
- ☺
but the federal state Baden-Württemberg negotiated a
license agreement with MathWorks.
This contract includes almost all available extensions of MATLAB
and allows students to install the full MATLAB software on private computers
free of charge.
Beyond the form you only need an enrollment certification,
and you can fill your own signature into the stamp/signature
field and do not need an official stamp.
-
This course focuses on the basics of modeling more than on the technical
details of MATLAB. So we will only discuss these things which we immediately
need.
You will probably have to look for more specific features in tutorials or
in the rather comprehensive original documentation
Getting Started with MATLAB from the
MathWorks tutorials page. You will also find more introductory material
there.
Downloads
Further Reading
T. Gerya: Introduction to Geodynamic Modelling (Cambridge University Press)
Exercises for the Class
