MATH 134
Linear and Nonlinear Systems of Differential Equations
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: course 33B. Dynamical systems analysis of nonlinear systems of differential equations. One- and two- dimensional flows. Fixed points, limit cycles, and stability analysis. Bifurcations and normal forms. Elementary geometrical and topological results. Applications to problems in biology, chemistry, physics, and other fields. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
4 of 5
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2017 - Taking this class with Professor Petersen was a very positive experience. Math 134 is a relatively easy upper division math course due to the fact that qualitative behavior is emphasized instead of pure mathematical rigor. As for Professor Petersen himself, you can already tell how easygoing and casual he is with the way he dresses and with the way he teaches the course. Though he does have a bit of a European accent, his lectures are still very clear and understandable. His weekly homeworks come straight from the book and do not take too long to finish. In fact, the two lowest out of five homework scores are dropped, so it is not too difficult to get the full 20% of the total grade. His exams are definitely on the easier side, and there is plenty of time since there are 5-6 questions for two hours. He gives sufficient study materials, including past/sample exams; plus he gives a review including solutions to practice exams before the exam. Discussions are probably not necessary, as the content is not too difficult and there are plenty of other resources such as office hours and the textbook. All in all, I would recommend Professor Petersen for this class.
Summer 2017 - Taking this class with Professor Petersen was a very positive experience. Math 134 is a relatively easy upper division math course due to the fact that qualitative behavior is emphasized instead of pure mathematical rigor. As for Professor Petersen himself, you can already tell how easygoing and casual he is with the way he dresses and with the way he teaches the course. Though he does have a bit of a European accent, his lectures are still very clear and understandable. His weekly homeworks come straight from the book and do not take too long to finish. In fact, the two lowest out of five homework scores are dropped, so it is not too difficult to get the full 20% of the total grade. His exams are definitely on the easier side, and there is plenty of time since there are 5-6 questions for two hours. He gives sufficient study materials, including past/sample exams; plus he gives a review including solutions to practice exams before the exam. Discussions are probably not necessary, as the content is not too difficult and there are plenty of other resources such as office hours and the textbook. All in all, I would recommend Professor Petersen for this class.
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2020 - I don't think the comments in bruinwalk truly represent Professor Salazar. He is really really nice and warm. He cares his students a lot. He explains things carefully and slowly in lecture. He has two quizzes every week but it is very easy as long as you do all your homework. Exams are easy and are based on homework.
Summer 2020 - I don't think the comments in bruinwalk truly represent Professor Salazar. He is really really nice and warm. He cares his students a lot. He explains things carefully and slowly in lecture. He has two quizzes every week but it is very easy as long as you do all your homework. Exams are easy and are based on homework.
Most Helpful Review
Great Class, very effective and efficient professor. If you are taking this level of Math you should know what your going into. Calculus is a given in this course,esp. differential equations, you need it and you are expected to know it. The midterms aren't bad at all, it is very similar to the sample midterms he gives, average for first midterm was about 70 and 80 for the second, final was tricky but overall do-able. Study the sample tests he gives, and read the book! (the book is awesome, very clear) Also this class is very interesting real world applications. goodluck! Also the homework is free points, he grades by completion not by correctness.
Great Class, very effective and efficient professor. If you are taking this level of Math you should know what your going into. Calculus is a given in this course,esp. differential equations, you need it and you are expected to know it. The midterms aren't bad at all, it is very similar to the sample midterms he gives, average for first midterm was about 70 and 80 for the second, final was tricky but overall do-able. Study the sample tests he gives, and read the book! (the book is awesome, very clear) Also this class is very interesting real world applications. goodluck! Also the homework is free points, he grades by completion not by correctness.
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2024 - Been here for a couple of years and this guy is easily one of the worst professors I've ever had. I have never in my life taken a course where attendance is mandated and there are punishments for not doing so on your grade, including the threat of not receiving the recorded lectures (it was on zoom). in other words, you can not work/intern (which almost everyone does) during the summer, he even says NO accommodations for internships in the syllabus which I found to be unnecessary. There are polls, clickers, etc to make sure you are there haha. There are also 3 exams and no alternative grading schemes for a low exam score/missed exam, so If you have an emergency, you are out of luck as missing an exam is worth 23% of your grade. Taken from the syllabus, "No makeups will be given on a different day, unless negotiated at least ONE WEEK in advance, no matter what the reason." So only if you know you'll have an emergency a week in advance is when you'll be able to reschedule an exam haha. He also says in the syllabus "Please do not try to negotiate, make deals, or get me to promise anything in private that is not on the syllabus." Who says please don't negotiate with me or try to make deals but then says only negotiate with me if it is a week in advance. Just sounds incredibly lazy and a weird use of the word negotiate in a school setting, its not a business. Maybe say in cases of DOCUMENTED emergencies we can reschedule a test, some common sense. Giving people an out a week in advance if they just plan it accordingly lets people with other plans outside of the course get their own way rather than accommodating for those with real documented emergency situations, doesn't make sense to me. This is also a 6 week course, so it is very short, but 20+ questions every week is insane. Most of these questions have very many parts to them and include drawing up many graphs/heavy computations as well so it takes essentially the whole week to complete them. I don't see how he can say that because it is 6 weeks you have to write up 50+ pages of work every week, I get that its condensed but its still insane. He also warns to only take this course and nothing else at the same time (should've noticed this red flag) because I assume he knows you'll be glued to a desk. Also no solutions which makes the experience so much more fun! maybe make a solution set for all future 134 courses? it would help the students solidify the HW material AFTER they have already turned it in and will only be reviewing it at that point. I would complete the HW and did not know if I was correct at all since the HW was usually graded after the correlated exam was completed, so I essentially went in blind most of the time. I get that we can go to office hours but he is not reviewing the 50+ pages of work to ensure it is correct. so awesome His lecturing is okay, but to complete the HW you'll have to read the textbook regardless or seek other sources as much of the HW can't be completed with just the lectures, but you'll still have to sit through the meeting and make sure there aren't any polls to answer. You'll get that he tries to come off as a no BS guy but he isn't a very good one. you can be strict with students (as every professor should be) but also offer an alternative grading scheme for missed exams/one poor performance and a regular amount of HW problems that include solutions to verify correctness of all the work. At the end of the day, he offered a slightly altered grading scheme for the course where a missed or poor performance on an exam would be worth around half of the usual 23% per exam (still crazy to me but whatever). Not sure why he did this, maybe lots of students did poorly/complained or just trying to score points with students but this could've just been applied to the syllabus from the start. I imagine this is how most of his classes go: he pulls out this grading scheme out of thin air and (slightly) saves the day. The class size by end of the course was around half or less than half of the original size but why would anyone want to leave this wonderful course? I would just take it during the year as I believe he only teaches during the summer and works at a different school during the year. There are other amazing 134 instructors that offer some leeway, attendance freedom, and regular sized HW assignments which are all conducive to a good learning experience. I did not get this from this class unfortunately. Just take someone else.
Summer 2024 - Been here for a couple of years and this guy is easily one of the worst professors I've ever had. I have never in my life taken a course where attendance is mandated and there are punishments for not doing so on your grade, including the threat of not receiving the recorded lectures (it was on zoom). in other words, you can not work/intern (which almost everyone does) during the summer, he even says NO accommodations for internships in the syllabus which I found to be unnecessary. There are polls, clickers, etc to make sure you are there haha. There are also 3 exams and no alternative grading schemes for a low exam score/missed exam, so If you have an emergency, you are out of luck as missing an exam is worth 23% of your grade. Taken from the syllabus, "No makeups will be given on a different day, unless negotiated at least ONE WEEK in advance, no matter what the reason." So only if you know you'll have an emergency a week in advance is when you'll be able to reschedule an exam haha. He also says in the syllabus "Please do not try to negotiate, make deals, or get me to promise anything in private that is not on the syllabus." Who says please don't negotiate with me or try to make deals but then says only negotiate with me if it is a week in advance. Just sounds incredibly lazy and a weird use of the word negotiate in a school setting, its not a business. Maybe say in cases of DOCUMENTED emergencies we can reschedule a test, some common sense. Giving people an out a week in advance if they just plan it accordingly lets people with other plans outside of the course get their own way rather than accommodating for those with real documented emergency situations, doesn't make sense to me. This is also a 6 week course, so it is very short, but 20+ questions every week is insane. Most of these questions have very many parts to them and include drawing up many graphs/heavy computations as well so it takes essentially the whole week to complete them. I don't see how he can say that because it is 6 weeks you have to write up 50+ pages of work every week, I get that its condensed but its still insane. He also warns to only take this course and nothing else at the same time (should've noticed this red flag) because I assume he knows you'll be glued to a desk. Also no solutions which makes the experience so much more fun! maybe make a solution set for all future 134 courses? it would help the students solidify the HW material AFTER they have already turned it in and will only be reviewing it at that point. I would complete the HW and did not know if I was correct at all since the HW was usually graded after the correlated exam was completed, so I essentially went in blind most of the time. I get that we can go to office hours but he is not reviewing the 50+ pages of work to ensure it is correct. so awesome His lecturing is okay, but to complete the HW you'll have to read the textbook regardless or seek other sources as much of the HW can't be completed with just the lectures, but you'll still have to sit through the meeting and make sure there aren't any polls to answer. You'll get that he tries to come off as a no BS guy but he isn't a very good one. you can be strict with students (as every professor should be) but also offer an alternative grading scheme for missed exams/one poor performance and a regular amount of HW problems that include solutions to verify correctness of all the work. At the end of the day, he offered a slightly altered grading scheme for the course where a missed or poor performance on an exam would be worth around half of the usual 23% per exam (still crazy to me but whatever). Not sure why he did this, maybe lots of students did poorly/complained or just trying to score points with students but this could've just been applied to the syllabus from the start. I imagine this is how most of his classes go: he pulls out this grading scheme out of thin air and (slightly) saves the day. The class size by end of the course was around half or less than half of the original size but why would anyone want to leave this wonderful course? I would just take it during the year as I believe he only teaches during the summer and works at a different school during the year. There are other amazing 134 instructors that offer some leeway, attendance freedom, and regular sized HW assignments which are all conducive to a good learning experience. I did not get this from this class unfortunately. Just take someone else.
4 of 5
