To receive extra credit up to a letter grade, e.g., C+ to B+, you can do a project. There are several criteria. As a starting point, the project must use material from the course, but it must go beyond the course as well. Create a written report as well as a presentation in the form of PowerPoint slides. While the general theory will be too long for a small project, you may be able to find examples which have simple solutions.
An example: extend the RLC circuit or the mass-spring system so that there are more components. Section 7.1 and its problems is a good start. You might also look at the notes from Prof McKenna at Uconn. Mckenna’s material on multi-mass systems pp 16-18 could be a basis for a project. You could also try to do something similar for one of the circuits in 7.1.
An important part of your project will be to use technology such as MATLAB or MAPLE to graph and analyze the solution(s) for your example. You might even consider creating an animation to show say the movement over time of the 2 masses using several different initial conditions.
