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Dark­ness, shad­ows, and light as they play across pages and screens.

Darkness, shadows, and light as they play across pages and screens.

A dif­fer­en­tial equa­tion is an equa­tion that re­lates a func­tion to one or more of its de­riv­a­tives. – The above rather bor­ing de­scrip­tion does lit­tle to con­vey just how fun­da­men­tal, wide­spread, and amaz­ingly ef­fec­tive dif­fer­en­tial equa­tions are in de­scrib­ing the world around us. – Ex­am­ples: Any­thing in mo­tion. Also, many things that are not in mo­tion. Also, many ad­di­tional things to which the word “mo­tion” does not re­ally apply. – Fur­ther ex­am­ples: space­ships in orbit, pop­u­la­tions grow­ing and shrink­ing, a cup of cof­fee slowly cool­ing, springs bounc­ing, fi­nan­cial mar­kets ris­ing and falling, elec­tri­cal cur­rent flow­ing through a cir­cuit, ocean waves, sound waves, light waves, vi­bra­tions in mu­si­cal in­stru­ments and air­plane wings and sus­pen­sion bridges, – More ex­am­ples: Pretty much every­thing. Top­ics in­clude meth­ods of solv­ing or­di­nary dif­fer­en­tial equa­tions and ap­pli­ca­tions to var­i­ous prob­lems. Course Avatar and Site Header from a photo by Flickr user dark­den­ver (Steven Brat­man): https://​www.​flickr.​com/​photos/​darkdenver/

A differential equation is an equation that relates a function to one or more of its derivatives. – The above rather boring description does little to convey just how fundamental, widespread, and amazingly effective differential equations are in describing the world around us. – Examples: Anything in motion. Also, many things that are not in motion. Also, many additional things to which the word “motion” does not really apply. – Further examples: spaceships in orbit, populations growing and shrinking, a cup of coffee slowly cooling, springs bouncing, financial markets rising and falling, electrical current flowing through a circuit, ocean waves, sound waves, light waves, vibrations in musical instruments and airplane wings and suspension bridges, – More examples: Pretty much everything. Topics include methods of solving ordinary differential equations and applications to various problems. Course Avatar and Site Header from a photo by Flickr user darkdenver (Steven Bratman): https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkdenver/

This basic de­sign and color the­ory course ex­plores graphic com­mu­ni­ca­tion through the un­der­stand­ing of the el­e­ments and prin­ci­ples of de­sign, as well as the de­sign process, in­clud­ing idea de­vel­op­ment through final ex­e­cu­tion. Stu­dents de­velop basic skills in two-di­men­sional de­sign, color and con­tent cre­ation while em­ploy­ing the de­sign process of re­search, sketch­ing and ex­per­i­men­ta­tion. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion de­sign­ers use the con­cepts ex­plored in this course in dis­ci­plines such as ad­ver­tis­ing, graphic de­sign, web de­sign, il­lus­tra­tion, broad­cast de­sign, pho­tog­ra­phy, and game de­sign.

This basic design and color theory course explores graphic communication through the understanding of the elements and principles of design, as well as the design process, including idea development through final execution. Students develop basic skills in two-dimensional design, color and content creation while employing the design process of research, sketching and experimentation. Communication designers use the concepts explored in this course in disciplines such as advertising, graphic design, web design, illustration, broadcast design, photography, and game design.