You will receive scores for the various assignments and examinations, which will be weighted as follows:

10% homework
10% quizzes
15% midterm I
15% midterm II
10% research paper
40% final examination

Your raw score when these numbers are added will determine your grade as follows:

91-100%: A-, A
81-90%: B-, B, B+
71-80%: C-, C, C+
61-70%: D-, D, D+

These grades are a guaranteed minimum. If I later decide that the class as a whole has demonstrated better mastery of the subject than is reflected in the raw scores, I may adjust the grading scale in a way which slightly improves the final grades.

Participation

Your preparation for lecture does affect your grade, even if only indirectly. We have a great amount of material to cover in a short amount of time, and it will be very hard to follow if you are hearing it for the first time. In fact, there will be some things I will not have time to discuss at all. Unlike in high school, you will still be tested on all of the assigned reading whether I have covered it myself or not.

From time to time we may ask you to record how consistent you have been in your reading. This will not affect your grade directly, but it gives you a chance to be accountable for your own preparation and gives us an idea of how effective we have been in encouraging you.

Attending Lecture

Attending Section

Office Hours

Sarah Carr's office hours are 11:10-12:00 and 1:10-2:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 12:10 to 1:00 on Wednesdays, in 854 Evans. Elizabeth Cepeda holds office hours from 9:10 to 10:00 in 1015 Evans on Tuesdays, and from 3:10 to 4:00 in 862 Evans on Wednesdays.

Study Groups

Although I expect each of you to work each homework problem and hand in your own work, it is entirely appropriate for you to work with other people in trying to understand the right approach to a problem. Go ahead and work the problems together, or have someone explain the problem to you, but everything you actually hand in should be your own work.

You get imaginary bonus points every time you find yourself saying, "Not then, that's when my Math 32 study group meets."

Homework may be turned in before it is officially collected with no penalty. Late homework is not graded. To make allowance for the emergencies which will inevitably arise, the lowest two homework scores will be dropped (but remember that you will typically be turning in two assignments on Thursdays). It is to your advantage to reserve this allowance for genuine (unpredictable) emergencies, and to turn your homework in early when you are aware of a possible conflict.

Extra Credit

The subject of your paper is mostly up to you, although I will try to provide some suggestions to get you started. Your writing should show evidence of the following things:

• Your own ideas, reasoning, and writing skills.
• Careful research, in depth, into some mathematical technique or idea beyond the assigned readings in our textbook.
• An application of this idea to a problem or idea which is of personal interest to you. Find some connection between mathematical ideas and the person you are or wish to become.
• Clear exposition, careful use of language, and a logical and natural progression of ideas.

The research paper is worth 10% of your grade. It will be graded out of 100 possible points, broken down into four sub-assignments. We will start off with an

(10 points) initial consultation, which means little more than showing up for my office hours during the first few weeks of class, introducing yourself, and chatting. We will try to find the interesting mathematics which may be hiding in some of your favorite subjects. In a broad sense, mathematics is just the attempt to recover additional information from limited data, or to see a deeper structure arising from limited assumptions. That leaves a lot of room for discovering mathematics in places you may not have expected. Based on our conversation, your own musings, and possibly input from other sources which you will seek out yourself, you will write a one-page

(10 points) research proposal detailing exactly what it is you hope to find out. The proposal is due on Friday, 16 February, so try to come in for the initial consultation as soon as possible. Your favorite professors in other subjects are also an excellent source of ideas for your proposal, as are people who are already working in your chosen career or who are skillful or advanced in one of your hobbies. In fact, this writing assignment should serve as a good excuse to get to know people who may someday be writing letters of recommendation for you. Once your proposal is approved, you will then carry out the actual research and write the

(20 points) paper itself, or technically a first draft of the paper, but one which will be graded on its own merits. The paper will be collected in lecture on Wednesday, 21 March. I am a stickler on all points of style, grammar, spelling, logical flow, etc., and you will want to finish all of your research and write a complete paper the first time around. That gives us a chance to catch as many problems as possible at this stage rather than in the

(60 points) final draft, which will be collected in lecture on Friday, 27 April. It will be easier to gain a sense of exactly what I expect if you produce your best work the first time around.

As the various deadlines approach, there may be handouts explaining the assignments in further detail.

The final will be comprehensive, but with slightly more emphasis on material which was not covered by either midterm (such as sections 12.2-12.6 and 13.1-13.5). It counts for 40% of your final grade.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Schedule of Lectures