About once a week you will turn in a problem set for evaluation. The assignment will be made at one class and be due on a specific due date.

Usually the due date will be on a class day, in which case the set is due at the start of class. (If class on the due date is canceled for any reason, the next class meeting becomes the due date.) In case a set is due on a day when the class does not meet, then the set will be due at 2:30 p.m. that day.

Problem sets turned in after the due date get no credit (except in the most unusual of circumstances). However, I count only the best 80% of your problem sets' grades. Please resist the temptation to skip some sets entirely; what you learn by doing the problem sets should also help you prepare for exams.

Some problems will require you to use the course software and/or your calculator.

Problem set format: If you write your work by hand, use a pen or dark pencil and write clearly. You may use Mathematica, MathCad, LaTeX, or other software as a mathematical word processor.

Very important:

• Use 8.5-by-11" paper.
• There should be no "frizzies" along an edge due to tearing pages out of a notebook (but punched holes are OK).
• Number the problems the same way I do in the assignment: 1, 2, 3, etc. (However, for problems from the textbook, you do not need to cite the page or textbook problem number).
• Begin each problem on a new page (you may use both sides of the paper).
• Do not do different problems side-by-side in two or more columns on a page.
• Arrange your solutions in order—the same order in which the problems appear in the assignment.
• Put your name—Last name, First name—at the top right of every page.
• Collate any computer hardcopy with your written work (not all gathered at the beginning or end).
• Fasten the pages together by stapling them in the upper left corner only; don't use any kind of cover or folder.
• On the top right of the first page, just below your name, write the Problem Set number: Set 1, Set 2, Set 3, etc.

Papers not meeting these format requirements will be rejected. This policy is necessary in order to facilitate handling and reading the papers in an efficient and timely manner.

Where possible and appropriate, do your written work for a problem directly on any relevant computer hardcopy.

Collaboration: You are encouraged to work in a small group  However, you must turn in a separate paper of your own, on which you name any collaborators and indicate the nature and extent of their contribution.

Plagiarism: Whether working collaboratively or alone, you must turn in your own write-up of the work and not copy somebody else's solution. Representing somebody else's work as your own is plagiarism, for which there can be severe penalties under University policy.

Calculator and computer use

For some problems you may need to, or want to, use your calculator.

Other problems will require you to use course software. Whenever you do so, you must include a corresponding hardcopy—printout or printed screenshot.

The hardcopy for each problem should be placed with any paper-and-pencil work for that problem (and not collected separately at the beginning or end of your problem set papers).

Homework grading

Since I want to return papers as soon as possible, some problems you turn in may not be graded at all, while others may 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.

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Copyright © 2005 Murray Eisenberg