The best way to understand what is this class about, is to take a look of the book "The Nature of Mathematical Modeling" wirtten by Neil Gershenfeld (he is the teacher of the class, what a coincidence!). The class deals primarily with the techniques that are used for the modeing of natural systems (and the not so natural ones). It is highly concerned with the implementation and efficiency on computers of digital systems.
My personal thought is that the class make me regret about not having payed enough attention to the math and physics in my undergrad; but at the same time gives a second chance of having "the best of" the interesting things in this two realms. Is very fast and a lot of brain cells will die during the class (just the weak ones), but it worth the effort!!  (this class has the --rago approval (TM)--).