ENGR 17
FINAL PROJECT
DUE: Last Class
This activity is worth 10% of your grade.
For most of the class we’ve been developing solutions to problems in the book using different tools in
MATLAB. For this last assignment you get to consolidate your understanding of MATLAB by developing a
solution to a problem of your own choosing. This is a great opportunity to shift your focus from meeting
the needs of the course to meeting the needs of your own personal career or technical objectives.
The choice of topic for the project is relatively open. I ask that you choose something of moderate
difficulty, that will take perhaps 25 to 50 lines of MATLAB code to solve. You can also tackle a very
difficult problem by breaking it into a simpler form and solving a simpler version for this assignment.
If you are short of ideas you can (although it would be better to pick something in your area of interest)
choose from many of the more challenging problems in our textbook. Some of the extra credit problems
are suitable for extended study, or can be deepened by small enhancements to the problem statement.
Be aware that some of the best matlab ideas are yet to come, so you may include in your list of ideas
applications in probability and statistics, calculus, and/or differential equations. One student drew on a
challenging problem from his Statics textbook. You might look through examples in your other
textbooks.
To help get started, please list five possible project ideas below and turn in this form by Tuesday 4/21. A
list of example projects from a past semester are shown below on the right.
IDEAS
EXAMPLES
___________________________________
1) Bridge Analysis
___________________________________
2) Pendulum Animation
___________________________________
3) Solar System Chart
___________________________________
4) Katrina Wave Height
___________________________________
5) Thermal Behavior
Total number of points for Final Project: 50
5 pts Project Idea (this page) due 4/21
35 pts Commented Matlab source code, with figures and explanatory writing, in a .doc file (due 5/26)
10 pts Oral Presentation on last class (5/26)
Remember the work you turn in must represent your own efforts! Thank you.