Syllabus
Course objectives
Along with these (and every bit as importantly, in my view), I would
like to see you grow as mathematics students. Here are some
thoughts on that subject.
Class sessions. Class is scheduled for five days a week. While this schedule allows us more class time to discuss relevant concepts in the course, assignments will be made with 4 nights of work in mind. In a typical week we will cover 2-4 sections of the text. You are expected to come to class on time, with book, calculator and notes in hand.
Grading.
Your grade will be determined as a weighted average with the
following weights
Exams.
There will be 4 exams given during the term. The dates are
Sept. 27,
Oct. 19,
Nov. 13,
and
Dec. 6.
Rather than trying to sift through the various reasons why an exam
must be missed to decide which ones are excused, I have adopted a
policy of allowing the final exam to replace your worst exam if,
indeed, the grade on the final is better. No make-up exams will
be given, and exams may not be taken early.
The final exam is cumulative, and will take place on
Monday, Dec. 10, at 6:30 pm.
The college requires that I give you the exam at this time, so
schedule your travel plans accordingly.
Homework.
Most weeks homework will be assigned on 4 days, generally
in the form of problems from the text. Problem sets will be collected
twice per week, in general, and must be submitted by 3 pm.
Once the grader has taken the class' set, no new submissions
will be accepted. Problems will be scored for correctness.
Answers to odd-numbered problems are provided in the back of the book,
and it may be the case that, when assigned, the odd-numbered ones
are not graded at all. Nevertheless, it will be assumed that you
have endeavored to understand all assigned work.
Your write-ups for all assignments must be in your own hand and words,
except when otherwise noted. This, however, does not mean you are
to work in isolation. Quite to the contrary, I encourage you to come
together with other members of the class to form a study group, and
schedule regular meetings. I strongly believe that students can
earn as much as one letter grade higher by building one another up
in this fashion. Read
this page for more on why I think participating in a study group
is important, my vision of how it might function in order to be of
most benefit to all who participate, and what pitfalls one should
avoid when working with others so as to maintain personal
accountability for the material.
Give as much attention to presenting your solutions in a coherent
manner (using mathematical symbols as part of your sentence
structure) as you give to actually solving problems, as it is the
explanation of each problem that is graded (not simply the answer
itself). Submission of work that incorporates another's writeup,
even on homework, will be considered
academic dishonesty. (See
Section 4.2.8 of the Faculty Handbook.)
You may borrow someone's idea for solving a problem.
When it is the case that this borrowing represents a significant step
in your answer, indicate this on your write-up (i.e., give the person's
name if a member of the class, the url of the pertinent website, etc.).
Contacting me.
My office is NH 281. If you are having trouble in the course —
if you do not understand something important or have some special
circumstance that impedes your performance — see me about it
right away. Do not put things off. The hours
I am intentionally in my office for
meeting with students are posted on my
homepage, as they are subject to change during the semester.
If we cannot hook up at one of these times, feel free to
talk with me about an appointed time to meet, or swing
by my office and see if I am available to help.
I may be reached by phone at x66856, but a better way
to reach me for a non-technical question is by email.
If you require my approval for something, do
not consider having left a message for me
as equivalent to having obtained that approval.
Accomodations.
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Homework
15%
Exams
60%
Final Exam
25%
Thomas L. Scofield
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Calvin College