Application deadline

Applicants from countries within EU/EEA: June 1st for the autumn semester and December 1st for the spring semester.

Exchange students and Fulbright students: 1 October for the spring semester and 15 April for the autumn semester.

Type of course

Admission requirements

A relevant undergraduate Bachelor Engineering program with minimum 25 credits mathematics, 5 credits statistics, 7,5 credits physics

Application code: 9371

Recommended:

- Master-level course in Numerical Methods

- Master-level course in Linear Algebra 2

- Master-level course in Partial Differential Equations and the Finite Element Method

- Master-level course in Geometric Modelling

Course content

Diverse concepts and methods of applied mathematics, numerical analysis and approximation theory, including aspects of optimal control, game theory, Monte Carlo methods, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), finite and boundary element methods (FEM/BEM), etc.

Argument-based selection of a best approach for modelling and simulation in a given context among several alternatives.

Recommended prerequisites

Objectives of the course

After passing the course, students will have the following learning outcomes: 

Knowledge and understanding:

• Well systematized knowledge of fundamental terminology, definitions, concepts, ideas, methods and results needed to formulate mathematical models, to develop symbolic implementations and/or numerical approximations of these models that can be simulated numerically, with respective verification and, if necessary, tuning and upgrading.
• Getting acquainted with a rich diversity of concrete case of modelling and simulating mechanisms and processed from various fields of natural and engineering sciences, on macro and micro (including nano-) level.
• Main emphasis is on modelling with boundary-value problems for linear and non-linear partial differential equations of elliptic, parabolic, hyperbolic and mixed type, and their numerical solutions, together with analysis of the performance of these models in simulation (stability, order of accuracy, compexity, etc.)

Skills:

• Ability to use the acquired knowledge to perform mathematical modelling and computer simulation of mechanisms and processes.
• Ability to assess the performance and verify the fidelity of the results of computer simulations.
• Acquiring mathematical modelling and algorithmic implementation skills using the tutorials, methods, algorithms and software of SageMath (http://www.sagemath.org/) .
• Ability to represent simulation results via scientific visualization, using SageMath.

Competence:

• A holistic understanding of the iterative nature and main components of the
• entire process of mathematical modelling and numerical simulation, with verification and scientific visualization of the results, and incorporating these results within larger cooperation projects.
• Versatility in cooperation in joint projects of research and development teams.
• Versatility in communication of concepts, ideas and methods of mathematical modelling and numerical simulations.
• Some of the best students in this course, who later choose a topic in computer simulations for their master diploma thesis project, will be expected to communicate their results at international conferences.

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

• Classroom lectures
• Classroom exercises
• Computer-session lectures using SageMath (http://www.sagemath.org/).
• Computer-session exercises using SageMath.
• Computer-session simulations using SageMath, without and with parallelization.

Teaching and Examination Language: The language of the written exam can be English or Norwegian.

Assessment

Course work requirement: 

• 10 homework assignments, 1 per teaching day, given at the end of the teaching day, and due the following teaching day.
• For the first 9 homework assignments, the solution of an assignment for a given teaching day is discussed in class at the beginning of the next teaching day.
• The last, 10th, homework assignment is, as follows: a set of "model exam" problems, several days prior to the actual exam, is posted at the course website at the end of the second self-study week, for the purpose of the students' self-assessment of their level of preparedness (the solution of the "model exam" is posted on the course website approximately 24 hours after the posting of the formulations of the model problems).
• The only compulsory test, the outcome of which is to be delivered to the  exam office and which fully determines the course grade, is the final actual exam.

Examination and assessment: Written academic exam, 5 hours; assessment grades are A-F, where F is not passed.

Continuation is granted for students who have not passed the last regular exam in this subject; a re-sit exam for this course will be arranged for these students.