Checkout this page for an example program that compares Runge-Kutta methods. There are some good examples here to help you with your tasks.
Taking deriviatives for the ODE.
f = 'cos(t)-sin(y(t))+t^2'; diff(f,t); % or fp = 'cos(t)-sin(y)+t^2'; f2p = diff(f,t)+diff(f,y)*f; % y'' f3p = diff(f2p,t)+diff(f2p,y)*f; % y'''
For hw9, this search http://books.google.com/books?id=dDIMnAntgUsC&pg=PA395&lpg=PA395&dq=linear+programming+absolute+value+in+objective+function&source=bl&ots=5-ry2eHjZr&sig=DJNXVQphs5TX1zs3lqdWby0o8sI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result netted me the Linear Programming book vy Saul Gass, that talked about absolute values. There we many other references.