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Messages to foreign students

Messages to foreign students who want to join Laboratory of Physical Oceanography and Climate.

The contents below are basically for foreign undergraduate students who want to enter Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University.

Ways to join us.

  • A) Japanese Government scholarship,
  • B) Privately financed and
  • C) Foreign-government sponsored.

If you fall into the category A, go to the webpage in Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, Science, and Technology.

mail: minobe(a)mail.sci.hokudai.ac.jp) or Dr. Masaru Inatsu (E-mail: inaz(a)mail.sci.hokudai.ac.jp), with (a) changing to @ (the commercial at) in our e-mail addresses?

Required skill to join us.

We ask foreign students who want to join our laboratory and want to enter Graduate School of Science to master some skill on mathematics, physics, and English. On mathematics, it is necessary to take some undergraduate courses of linear algebra, calculus, vector analysis, and ordinary and partial differential equation. In order to check your skill quickly, you may use the questions below. If one solved five questions below without any textbooks within 1 hour, he/she would attain a permissible level for the research in our laboratory. Of course this does not assure that you always pass the entrance procedure at the moment when you solve the questions. Question 1 on linear algebra, 2 on calculus, 3 on vector analysis, 4 on ordinary differential equation, and 5 on partial differential equation.

  • 1) Find the eigenvalues and the eigenvectors of the matrix of
  • 2) What is the Taylor series for ƒ (x) = exp (x) around x = 0.
  • 3) Three dimensional vector is given. Calculate ∇ · P and ∇ × P, respectively.
  • 4) Provided that function x = x(t), solve the initial-value problem of with the initial conditions of x(0) = 1 and .
  • 5) Provided that function u = u(x,t) for 0 ≤ x ≤ π and 0 ≤ t, solve the initial-boundary value problem of with an initial condition of u(x,0) = sin x and boundary conditions u(0,t) = u(π,t) = 0.

On physics, we desire that you have already taken classes of classical dynamics and thermodynamics. Better is to take classes on electro-magnetics, quantum dynamics, statistical dynamics, and fluid dynamics.

On English, it is necessary to read scientific papers in English just after you enter Graduate School and to write them in English in Doctorate Course almost after the 3rd year of Graduate School Program.