uwloo

ME 203Ordinary Differential Equations

Units
0.50
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
Mechanical Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 5 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Solution of ordinary differential equations. First and higher order differential equations. Nonlinear equations. Linear equations with constant and variable coefficients. Systems of linear equations. Applications involving simple dynamical systems and principles of mass, momentum and heat conservation will emphasize the role of ordinary differential equations in understanding the behaviour of physical systems. Introduction to the Laplace transform method for solving ordinary differential equations.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following

Antirequisites

  • Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in any of the following:
    • MTE202 - Ordinary Differential Equations (0.50)

Leads to

Fall 2026 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 001459780 / 98MWF 11:30–12:20
TUT 101459880 / 98W 15:30–16:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

64% liked it33% easy86% useful

From 58 ratings and 16 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Every semester, the students voice their concerns over how impractical, nebulous, and over-complicated the project for this course is. And every year, the professors of this course and the MME department fail to listen. It makes no sense to have a second-year project that requires third-year knowledge (ME 321 or ME 353, depending on your topic), with no actual solving of ODEs. Not to mention that the marking for said project was overly stringent. However, apart from the abysmal project, the midterm was very easy (88% median). The final is slightly harder, yet still manageable. You are allowed to bring a cheat sheet into the midterm, and final, which was to be submitted and marked…

    Aug 2024 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Course was good, pretty straightforward. Midterm was fair and the final was a little iffy, around 40% of the exam was purely pre-midterm content, which sucked cause we got no heads up. Aside the from that the PROJECT absolutely SUCKED, idk why nothing has been done to change it, it has been brought to attention multiple times and yet no change occurs. While the tron equivalent had clear and doable assignments/projects the Mechanical equivalent got absolutely shafted, we had to model either heat transfer, linkage dynamics or vibrational analysis. All of which required much more time and knowledge (like an extra 10-20 hours just to understand what was being asked because the projects…

    Aug 2024 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • The course itself is not too bad, with a concept map you can almost solve most of the questions if you follow the procedure. My biggest issue with this course is the course project. There are three optional projects: Dead lift challenge where you model the deadlift mechanism with ODEs, Tower challenge where you model the mass damper of the Taipei 101 using ODEs, and Vegetable challenge where 1. you determine the heat transfer coefficient of a vegetable of your choice, then 2. using given experimental data from instructor, determine what vegetable the instructor used for the experiment. Unfortunately, my group probably picked the hardest one, the vegetable challenge. Heat transfer includes…

    Aug 2024 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • BAD.... The final project was a nightmare to say the least. Kind of hilarious at the same time, considering it was worth 35%, and had no overlap whatsoever with the techniques learned in class

    Oct 2021 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Extremely easy and straightforward class overall. One of the very best courses in the entire program as its very interesting too.

    Sep 2017 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

5 posts and comments in 5 threads mention ME 203, March 2017 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Winter 2023

Spring 2021

Fall 2017

Any way to disable UWCourseLinker from posting? 16 points, 26 comments

“posting a reply to my comment I find the bot annoying.”

u/Jackhofmann: “PSYCH 483 PSYCH 484 PSYCH 485 PSYCH 486 PSYCH 490R PSYCH 499A PSYCH 499B PSYCH 499C PSYCH 621 PSYCH 630 PSYCH 677A PSYCH 704A PSYCH 704B PSYCH 707 PSYCH 710 PSYCH 714 PSYCH 717 PSYCH 720A PSYCH 721A …”

u/Jackhofmann: “… MATH 600 MATH 640 MATH 650 MATH 674 MATH 692 MATH 97 ME 100 ME 200A ME 200B ME 201 ME 202 ME 203 ME 212 ME 219 ME 220 ME 230 ME 235 ME 250 ME 262 ME 269 ME 300B ME 322 ME 351 ME 353 ME 360 ME 362 ME 380 ME 400A ME 401 ME 423 ME 435 ME 436 ME 456 ME 459 ME 481 ME 482 ME 548 ME …”

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Spring 2017

Winter 2017

UW made me hate math.. 21 points, 48 comments

“I am a 1B computer science student and I have been having trouble adjusting to the way math at UW is and the way it is taught. …”

u/ehhhk: “A lot of people are generalizing "university math" vs "high school math", but some programs that don't need the abstract understanding of the proofs etc. …”

u/ehhhk: “… When you take ME201,202 and 203, you'll probably notice that the courses are geared more towards solving the problems, less towards understanding the underlying mathematics. The math also becomes a bit more interesting and applied in second year. …”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar