Day to day comments on the course will be posted here.
Instructor: Sigurd Angenent, 609 Van Vleck Hall
Topics and approximate lecture schedule: Below is an approximate list of topics covered in each lecture. Topics might change during the semester. It is the responsibility of the student to keep track of any updates.
Midterms and Finals: There will be two evening midterm exams and one final exam. MARK THESE DATES IN YOUR CALENDAR! There will be no “make-up or alternate exams” except in case of severe emergencies.
First midterm - Tuesday October 7 at 7pm, place to be announced. (See the Natural Blog.)
Second midterm - Monday November 17 at 7pm, place to be announced. (See the Natural Blog.)
Final - as reported in the time table, Monday, December 15 at 5:05pm place to be announced by the UW.
Distribution of grades: Each midterm will be worth 100 points, the homework 75 points and the Final 175 points, for a total of 450 points. The class will be graded on a curve, but the curve will be decided after each exam depending on topics and circumstances.
Homework: Homework will be assigned after each lecture and discussed and evaluated by the TAs. The TAs might choose to give quizzes or collect assignments. We will occasionally have webbased homework.
Calculators and computers: You can use calculators and/or computer while working on your homework (to double check answers, investigate further, etc). But you will NOT be allowed to have a calculator or computer during the exams, so you might want to minimize their use. All exams will be written so that you will not need a calculator to solve the problems. You should always show your work and your understanding of the material.
Lecture Notes: Our lecture will not follow a textbook. Instead we will use notes especially written for the course. It is an essential part of the course, and we hope that by the end you will be able to independently read and understand them. The notes can be obtained from Bob's Copy Shop. (Click here for directions.) If you ever find any typos/misprints in the notes, please report them to me directly, using e-mail if you wish. I will be sure they are corrected and announced in class, if necessary. You DO NOT need to buy any textbook.
The lecture notes do not contain answers to the problems. During the semester answers to many of the problems will be posted on-line. We try to provide enough answers to make you comfortable with your performance, but we will NOT provide complete answers to ALL problems. If you are unsure about whether or not you are doing the problems correctly, please ask your TA. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO WORK IN GROUPS. That way you can compare answers, and it is a lot more fun! If you are having trouble finding a group, tell the TA or myself and we will ask around to see if there are groups that you can join.
Communication between Students and Professor: The best way to communicate with me is to come to my office hours. If you cannot make it to these, try your TA office hours. If you would rather talk to me, please let me know after the lecture and I will try to set up an appointment.
Using e-mail is not advisable in general and I discourage it. E-mail leads to many misunderstandings and in large lectures it can be very overwhelming for me. I might not be able to answer them if the numbers are too large. The only way I will be able to answer e-mail is if everyone uses them only for emergencies, that is, when you REALLY need to reach me and can't do it by phone or in person. Use your common sense here.
Further help: There are several ways students can get further help.
The math department has a drop-in tutorial service, the Math lab. It runs afternoon/evening, Monday through Thursday. It will help with small questions in your homework, etc, but it will not tutor extensively (link to the mathlab page.)
The Math Tutorial service does more extensive tutoring, but you need to commit several hours a week. If you do not attend, they will stop your tutoring. You need a referral from your TA to enter the Tutorial service.
Finally, if you feel you are in real trouble in the class, you can ask your TA to refer you to the Early Alert System during the third week of classes. The system will have an adviser review your background and issue a recommendations on what else you can do to improve your situation.
All these services are free of charge.