Announcements
Dec 18
Final exam scores with the additional 2 points included are now posted to E-Learning. The final exam solution is linked from the schedule page. The average for the exam was 82.6 with a standard deviation of 11, which is quite similar to the first two exams.

The letter grades are posted to E-Learning as numerical equivalents under the heading of "GPA" (A is 4.0, A- is 3.67, B+ is 3.33, etc.). A few students have 4.33 indicating that they deserved an A+ even though the UF system does not allow me to give such a grade.

Have a Happy Holiday.
Dec 14
Scaled grades for homework, participation, and quizzes are now posted to E-Learning. There is a short study guide with information on the Final posted as the Dec. 7 lecture notes. I will be having a review session on Thursday from 2-4PM in NPB 1101 (not NPB 1002). Remember, the final is Friday from 10AM-12PM in NPB 1002.
Oct 11
As promised in the syllabus, I am giving you a grading scale after the first exam. This grading scale is for your total score expressed out of 100. Distribution of Scores for Exam 1
score letter grade
90-100 A
85-90 A-
80-85 B+
70-80 B
65-70 B-
60-65 C+
55-60 C
50-55 C-
45-50 D+
40-45 D
35-40 D-
0-35 E
Sept 28
I have read all of your responses on gaming in education. Thank you very much. The concensus seems to be that while gaming will not replace traditional teaching, there might be a place for games to help in visualization and developing intuition. As such, gaming might be placed in a larger set of tools that includes simulations and visualization software. Several students also mentioned the role of competition in gaming, and the ability to accumulate rewards over time.
Sept 24
The HW4 due date has been extended from Wednesday to Friday, September 30. On Friday there will be a take-home quiz due the following Monday, October 3.
Sept 21
There will be a quiz on Friday on the harmonic oscillator. For the quiz you will need to remember the effect of a+ and a- on a general state psi n. I will give you the expressions for x and p in terms of the raising and lowering operators.
Next Monday I will again have a study hall session starting at 2PM; however, I need to leave for a conference call by 3PM.
Sept 19
In HW3 the correct form for the potential energy in 2(i) is (1/2)m omega^2 x^2. This has been corrected on the assignment posted to the website. The grader has asked that you please box your answers on the homework. Please do that if you are not already doing so.
Sept 14
HW3 is posted on the schedule web page. There will be a quiz again this Friday. On a trial basis I will have a "study hall" on Monday from 2-4PM for this week's HW. You can work on the homework with other students, and I will be present to answer any questions that come up.
Sept. 13
I have found another free matlab alternative, Freemat. FreeMat is available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. The program leftside.m from Sept. 2 now works fine with Freemat and Octave. (I changed an "endfor" to "end".) The syntax for SciLab is slightly different.
Sept. 12
For both problems in the present homework assignment psin(x) = sqrt(2 /a) sin( n pi x/a). In problem 2 we set a = 1. Also, for help in programing the second problem see the link to code on Sept. 2 under Schedule. The file leftside.m is very nearly what you will need. (You will need to change the coefficients, c.)
Sept. 7
There will be a quiz on Friday (Sept. 9) relating to HW1. The HW1 solutions are posted on schedule page. The new homework assignment is posted to the web site. Also, there is a participation question due on Friday at 8AM.
Sept. 2
I have decided to just post homework help directly to this web site. For HW1, in problem 3 the function should include a normalization factor: C x (x -a) not x (x -a). Also, in computing the expectation values for problems 2 and 3, the integral is from 0 to a because the functions are only non-zero in that range. Finally, (sigma x)2 = <x2> - <x>2 and similarly for the momentum.
Aug. 27
A matlab file and set of plots illustrating the uncertainty principle are linked from the schedule page. Supplementary material will always be linked from the schedule page.
Aug. 21
The first of the "participation" quiz/surveys has been posted to E-Learning. It is due on Wednesday by 8AM. To access it, go into E-Learning and select Tests & Quizzes on the left hand side.