Homework Policy and Suggestions
It's essential that you try to do as many problems as possible, because
Some of the problems assigned each day are routine "drill" exercises. There are certain basic techniques in linear algebra that should become complely mechanical procedures for you: procedures you can do "with your spine" rather than your brain. Other problems require more thought. Sometimes you'll think that you can do a problem but get stuck if you actually try to write down the details. It's important to write out neat careful solutions for yourself, even in sections where homework is not collected. It's good to organize these in a separate notebook or file folder. You'll appreciate having them in one place when you want to review, especially if you can read them easily and don't have to work to decipher later what you did a few weeks earlier.
- Math is not a "spectator sport", and you can't learn linear algebra just by watching your instructor or others solve problems.
- Doing problems is the best way to test whether you understand the material and to find areas where you need more work.
- Some (not all) quiz questions and exam questions will be very similar to assigned homework problems and textbook examples. Not understanding these problems simply guarantees that you'll throw away quiz and exam points.
After you finish and write up a solution, go back and talk to yourself (or others) about the problem. For example, ask "What are the main ideas involved?", "What's involved with this problem that puts it in this section of the book?", "Why couldn't I have done this problem last week?", "Is there some other way to solve the same problem?" You can learn much more by solving the same problem in a different way, if possible, than by solving several problems all in more or less the same way.
In the same vein: if a problem seems hard, don't give up and turn immediately to the answer or a friend's solution. You can often learn a lot more by spending hours (perhaps not all at once!) grappling with a hard problem than by working many simpler problems in the same amount of time.
A schedule of Daily Reading and Lessons is part of the syllabus. We will try to follow it fairly closely. You will probably find the lectures more valuable if you read the assigned material and attempt some of the problems before coming to class. There may be modifications to the assignment list as the course moves along, so you might want to print out a new copy of it immediately after each exam.
Homework will be assigned daily and collected twice a week. The assignments from Monday and Tuesday will be collected on Friday, while the assignments from Thursday and Friday will be collected on Tuesday.
There will thus be 18 collected assignments (most often over two days of material) throughout the quarter. Each will be worth a possible ten points. From each collected assignment I will grade two problems on a scale of 0-5 points.
Incomplete homework assignments will really drag your homework scores down, so be diligent! At the end of the quarter your total out of 180 points possible will be scaled out of 80 and applied to your grand total (see grading).
Please write neatly in complete sentences. Show all work to receive full credit; unsupported answers will receive no credit. There is an art to presenting mathematics clearly and concisely, aim to hone this skill!