Math 632, Spring 2007

Professor Minicozzi

Office Hours: 3:00-4:00 on Mondays.

Overview:    The goal of the course is to give an introduction to nonlinear geometric PDE.  We will start by finishing Chapter 6 of Evans and then do a series of topics:

    1. The Plateau problem.

    2. The existence of minimal spheres.

    3. TBA.

                      There will be written homework assignments every few weeks.

Homework assignments:

HW1 (due 2/7/07):   Evans 6.6 (starting on page 345) problems 6, 7, and 9.   Two additional problems:

    1. Show that if u and v are smooth solutions of the minimal surface equation on a ball in R^n and the maximum of (u-v) is achieved in the interior of the ball, then (u-v) is constant.

    2. Prove that a symmetric n by n real matrix has only real eigenvalues.

HW2 (due 4/18/07): pdf here.

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Violations can include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments without permission, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition. Ignorance of these rules is not an excuse.

In this course collaboration is encouraged on homework, but every student must write up and turn in their own assignments.  If you have questions about this policy, please ask the instructor.

For more information, see the guide on “Academic Ethics for Undergraduates” and the Ethics Board web site (http://ethics.jhu.edu).