COURSE SPECIFICATION FORM,

approved by the Academic Council 17.06.2015 (#39)  

SECTION A:DEFINITIVE
Items in this section may be reviewed and developed within Schools as part of the Annual Program
Monitoring Process and in line with the Guidelines to Modifications to Programs and Courses.

1. General course information

1.1 School: Engineering and Digital Sciences 1.6 Credits (ECTS): 6
1.2 Course Title: Numerical Methods in Engineering 1.7 Course Code: ENG 202
Pre-requisites: Engineering Mathematics Effective from: Spring 2020
1.3
(Differential Equations & Linear Algebra) 1.8 (year)
1.4 Co-requisites:
Programs: BENG MAE, CE, ChE, ECE
1.5 (in which the course ______________________________________
is offered) Core Elective

2. Course description (max.150 words)

The objectives of this course is to present the fundamental formulation, methodology and
techniques for numerical solution of practical engineering problems. The subject is initiated with
fundamental principles and the implications for algorithm accuracy and stability. Error propagation
and stability analysis is introduced from first principles. The solution of systems of linear
equations, (comprising 90% of numerical effort in science and engineering). The error and stability
issues associated with solving linear systems will be covered extensively. The concept of
interpolation and its role as foundation for numerical differentiation and integration is introduced,
emphasizing classical (Lagrange, Newton) polynomial interpolation. Numerical differentiation and
integration is covered in depth, with particular emphasis on the error and convergence analysis.
The final part of the course introduces the fundamentals of finite-difference solutions to ordinary
differential equations (ODEs), again with emphasis on error and convergence analysis.

3. Summative assessment methods(tick if applicable):

3.1 Examination 3.5 Presentation
3.2 Term paper 3.6 Peer-assessment
3.3 Project 3.7 Essay
3.4 Laboratory Practicum 3.8 Other (specify) Quizzes &
Assignments
4. Course aims
The course will cover:
1. Comprehensive understanding of numerical methods and their usage in engineering.
2. Give an understanding of the reasons for using numerical methods.
3. Integrate linear algebra techniques when appropriate for a particular method.
4. Show how numerical methods can be applied correctly to various areas of approximate
mathematics and, in particular, to the solution of ODEs.
5. Use existing knowledge of computer programming to help find solutions using numerical
methods.

1
 
 COURSE SPECIFICATION FORM,
approved by the Academic Council 17.06.2015 (#39)  
5. Course learning outcomes (CLOs)

By the end of the course the student will be expected to be able to:

PLO 1
PLO 2 
PLO 3 
PLO 4 
PLO 5 
PLO 6 
PLO 7 
Course Learning Outcome (CLO)

CLO 1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of

3
numerical methods to solve systems of linear equations
CLO 2: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of
numerical methods to interpolate and to compute 2 2
quadratures.
CLO 3: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of
2 2
numerical methods to solve ordinary differential equations
CLO 4: Analyze a mathematical problem and determine
2 3 1
which numerical technique to use to solve it.
CLO 5: Show logic in coding a mathematical problem in
2 1 1 2
algorithmic form.
CLO 6: Incorporate simulation packages. 1 2 3 1 2
(1=Objective addressed, 2=moderately, 3=substantially)

The description of various PLOs is as given below:

ABET Program learning Outcomes (PLOs):

PLO 1. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by
applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
PLO 2. An ability to apply the engineering design process to produce solutions that meet
specified needs with consideration for public health and safety, and global, cultural,
social, environmental, economic, and other factors as appropriate to the discipline
PLO 3. An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and
interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
PLO 4. An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
PLO 5. An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering
situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of
engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
PLO 6. An ability to recognize the ongoing need to acquire new knowledge, to choose
appropriate learning strategies, and to apply this knowledge
PLO 7. An ability to function effectively as a member or leader of a team that establishes
goals, plans tasks, meets deadlines, and creates a collaborative and inclusive
environment

2
 
 COURSE SPECIFICATION FORM,
approved by the Academic Council 17.06.2015 (#39)  
Mapping of the eight NU graduate attributes to the new program learning outcomes (this table is
fixed so no need to change):

PLO 1
PLO 2 
PLO 3 
PLO 4 
PLO 5 
PLO 6 
PLO 7 
NU Graduate Attributes

1. Possess an in-depth and sophisticated understanding of

X X
their domain of study.
2. Be intellectually agile, curious, creative and open-minded
X X
3. Be thoughtful decision makers who know how to involve
others X
4. Be entrepreneurial. Self-propelling and able to create new
X X
opportunities.
5. Be fluent and nuanced communicator across languages
X X
and cultures
6. Be cultured and tolerant citizen of the world X X

7. Demonstrate personal integrity X X X

8. Be prepared to take a leading role in the development of
X X X X
their country

   

3
 
 COURSE SPECIFICATION FORM,
approved by the Academic Council 17.06.2015 (#39)  

SECTION B: NON-DEFINITIVE
Course Syllabus Template
Details of teaching, learning and assessment
Items in this Section should be considered annually (or each time a course is delivered) and amended
as appropriate, in conjunction with the Annual Program Monitoring Process. The template can be
adapted by Schools to meet the necessary accreditation requirements.
 
6. Detailed course information
6.1 Academic Year: 2020 6.3 Schedule(class days, time):
Lectures:  Mon, Wed, Fri, 10:00 am - 10:50 am
Lab: Fri, 12:30 pm - 13:45 pm
6.2 Semester: Spring 6.4 Location (building, room):
Lectures: 3E.220
Lab: 3.323
7. Course leader and teaching staff
Position Name Office Contact information Office hours/or
# by appointment
Course Leader Aresh Dadlani 3.502 aresh.dadlani@nu.edu.kz by appointment
Course Instructor(s) Farzad Salmasi 3e565 farzad.salmasi@nu.edu.kz by appointment
Md. Hazrat Ali 3.427 md.ali@nu.edu.kz by appointment
Boris Golman 3.423 boris.golman@nu.edu.kz by appointment
Aresh Dadlani 3.502 aresh.dadlani@nu.edu.kz by appointment
Teaching Assistant(s) Zhazira 3.202 zhazira.berkinova@nu.edu.kz by appointment
Berkinova

8. Course Outline
Session Date Topics and Assignments Course Aims CLOs
(tentative)  (ref. # only, see item 4)
1 hrs × 3 Week 1 Mathematical preliminaries; Approximation 1, 2 1, 3, 5
and Round-Off Errors; Truncation Errors and
Taylor Series
Introduction to Python
1 hrs × 3 Week 2 Bracketing Methods: Graphical Methods, 3 1, 3, 4,
Bisection Method, False-Position Method; 5
Incremental Searches
1 hrs × 3 Week 3 Open Methods: Fixed-Point Iteration, 3 1, 3, 4,
Newton-Raphson Method, Secant Method, 5
Brent’s Method, Multiple Roots, Non-linear
Equations
2.5 hrs × 1 LAB01: Discipline-specific exercises 2 3, 6
1 hrs × 3 Week 4 Roots of Polynomials: Conventional 1 1, 4
Methods, Muller’s Method; Case Study I
1 hrs × 3 Week 5 Gauss Elimination: Naïve Elimination and 1, 2 1, 3, 4,
Pitfalls, Gauss-Jordan 5
1 hrs × 3 Week 6 LU Decomposition and Matrix Inversion; 1, 2 3, 4, 5
Case Study II

4
 
 COURSE SPECIFICATION FORM,
approved by the Academic Council 17.06.2015 (#39)  
2.5 hrs × 1 LAB02: Discipline-specific exercises 2 3, 6
1 hrs × 3 Week 7 One-dimensional and Multi-dimensional 1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3,
Unconstrained Optimization; 4, 5
Mid-term Exam
1 hrs × 3 Week 8 Constrained Optimization: Linear 1, 3 1, 3, 5
Programming, Nonlinear Constrained
Optimization; Case Study III
1 hrs × 3 Week 9 Least-Squares Regression: Linear, 1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3,
Polynomial, Multiple Linear and Nonlinear 4
Regression
2.5 hrs × 1 LAB03: Discipline-specific exercises 2 3, 6
1 hrs × 3 Week 10 Interpolation: Newton’s and Lagrange 1, 3 2, 4, 5,
Interpolating Polynomials, Inverse 7
Interpolation, Spline Interpolation,
Multidimensional Interpolation
1 hrs × 3 Spring Break (March 23 – March 27)
1 hrs × 3 Week 11 Integration Formulas: Trapezoidal Rule, 1, 3 1, 2, 3,
Simpson’s Rule, Unequal Segments, Open 5
Integration, and Multiple Integrals
2.5 hrs × 1 LAB04: Discipline-specific exercises 2 3, 6
1 hrs × 3 Week 12 Integration of Equations: Newton-Cotes 1, 3 1, 3, 5
Algorithms, Romberg, Adaptive and Gauss
Quadrature
1 hrs × 3 Week 13 Runge-Kutta Methods: Euler’s Method and 3, 4, 5 3, 4, 5,
Improvements, Runge-Kutta Methods and 7
Adaptive Runge-Kutta Methods
1 hrs × 3 Week 14 Boundary-Value; Case Study IV 3, 4, 5 3, 4, 5,
7
2.5 hrs × 1 LAB05: Discipline-specific exercises 2 3, 6

9. Learning and Teaching Methods(briefly describe the approaches to teaching and learning to be employed in
the course)
1 Laboratory exercises
2 Discipline-specific problem-solving assignments and simulations
3 Moodle is used as online learning management platform mainly to post teaching materials and
collect assignments.
4 Tutorials

10. Summative Assessments

# Activity Date Weighting (%) CLOs
(tentative)
1 Pop-Up Quizzes Weeks 1 – 14 15 % 1,2
2 Assignments Weeks 3, 6, 9, 11, 13 10 % 1,2
(tentative)
3 Lab Sessions Weeks 3, 6, 9, 11, 14 15 % 3
4 Mid Term Exam Week 7 20 % 1
5 Final Exam TBA 40 % 1,2

5
 
 COURSE SPECIFICATION FORM,
approved by the Academic Council 17.06.2015 (#39)  

11. Grading
Letter Grade Percent Grade description (where applicable)
range
A 95-100 Excellent, exceeds the highest standards in the assignment of course
A- 90-94.9 Excellent, meets the highest standards for the assignment or course
B+ 85-89.9 Very good, meets the high standards for the assignment or course
B 80-84.9 Good, meets most of the standards for the assignment or course
B- 75-79.9 More than adequate; shows some reasonable command of the material
C+ 70-74.9 Acceptable; meets basic standards for the assignment or course
C 65-69.9 Acceptable; meets some of the basic standards for the assignment or
course
C- 60-64.9 Acceptable; while falling short of meeting basic standards in several areas
D+ 55-59.9 Minimally acceptable; falling short of meeting many basic standards
D 50-54.9 Minimally acceptable; lowest passing grade
F 0-49.9 Failing; very poor performance

12. Learning resources (use a full citation and where the texts/materials can be accessed)
E-resources, including, Moodle
but not limited to:
databases, animations,
simulations, professional
blogs, websites, other e-
reference materials (e.g.
video, audio, digests)
E-textbooks N/A
Laboratory physical Computer labs
resources
Special software programs Python
https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/ (Python 3.7)
Journals (inc. e-journals) N/A
Text books 1. S. C. Chapra and R. P. Canale, Numerical Methods for Engineers,
7th ed., McGraw Hill, 2015.
2. S. Linge, H.P. Langtangen, Programming for Computations -
Python, 2nd ed., Springer, 2020,
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-16877-3
13. Course expectations
List the expectations of students for the course regarding the course attendance, class participation,
group work, late/missed submission of assignments.

The students are responsible to submit their assignments within the deadlines.

Participation to Final Exam: In order to participate to the final exam, students must fulfill the
requirements of paragraph 36, section 8 of the SEng Undergraduate Student Handbook, as in force.

6
 
 COURSE SPECIFICATION FORM,
approved by the Academic Council 17.06.2015 (#39)  
Passing Rules: For passing the course, students must obtain an aggregate mark of at least 50% with at
least 30% of the marks in the final exam and at least 50% of the marks in all the assessments, in
conformity to the provisions of paragraph 19, section 6 of the SEng Undergraduate Student Handbook,
as in force.

Attendance Policy: In accordance with paragraph 24 of the SEng Undergraduate Student Handbook
and paragraph 7 of the NU Undergraduate Attendance Policy and Procedures, all students are
expected to attend all classes at the University. If attendance falls below 80% of scheduled classes, then
as authorized by paragraphs 8, 15, and 17 of the NU Undergraduate Attendance Policy and
Procedures, the aggregate mark of all assessments except from the final exam is reduced as following:

Attendance Penalty
80% - 70% 5%
70% - 60% 10%
60% - 50% 20%

In case of an attendance lower than 50%, the student is not allowed to participate in the final exam,
which in combination with passing rules means that he/she cannot pass the course.
14. Academic Integrity Statement
Provide a statement requiring the students taking this course to abide by the University policies on
academic integrity.
You may refer to the Student Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (approved by the AC on
05.02.2014), specifically, paragraphs 13-16 (plagiarism and cheating).
15. E-Learning
If the content of the course and instruction will be delivered (or partially delivered) via digital and
online media, consult with the Head of Instructional Technology to complete this section and/or
provide a separate document complementary to this Template.
16. Approval and review
Date of Approval: Minutes #: Committee:
Date(s) of Approved Change: Minutes #: Committee:

7