Each homework set has a due date that is strictly enforced except for unavoidable cause affecting the whole class.  If class on the due date is canceled for any reason, the next class meeting becomes the due date.   If you have a well-documented excuse for unforseeable absence on a due date—for example, serious illness or arrest—then your homework set gets only 75% credit if handed in at the next available opportunity. (That only the best 80% of homework sets are counted is designed, in part, to allow for such emergency contingencies.)

Homework set format: For each homework set:

• Use 8.5-by-11" paper and write with a pen or dark pencil.
• Arrange your work in the order in which the problems were assigned and number them in the same order as assigned (1, 2, 3, etc.).
• Start each problem on a new page.
• Intermix any computer printouts with the written work on each question—do not collect the printouts for all questions at the end or beginning.  You may include written work on the computer printouts themselves or include appropriate text cells.
• Put your name at the top right of every page.
• If possible, staple the pages together in their upper left corner only; don't use any cover or folder.

Computer use: Many problem sets will require you to use the course software.

Collaboration and plagiarism

You are encouraged to work in a group of two or three.  However, you must turn in a separate paper of your own, on which you name any collaborators.  Representing somebody else’s work as your own is plagiarism, for which there can be severe penalties under University policy.

Homework grading

Many problems in homework sets will be completely graded.  Since I do not use a grader but want to return papers as soon as possible, some problems you turn in will not be graded at all, while others will merely get a “checkoff” as to whether you made an honest attempt to solve them.  Of course, all papers will be treated alike in this regard.