Additional course policies (in addition to what Prof. Michael Temkin has already mentioned at http://www.math.upenn.edu/~temkin/teach/math240/m240.html)

Recitations:
Recitations are for you to ask questions and to help clarify material that is confusing. I will have some material prepared, but recitation works best when you take the initiative to ask questions, clarify doubts and verify answers. Please do not think that any question is too basic to ask in recitation, after all we are all here to learn. Also, if I am not doing something in the same fashion as Prof. Temkin and it confuses you, please feel free to stop me then and there and get it clarified.

Homework:
Homework will be assigned every week (on Wednesday) based on topics covered in the past week but you will not need to hand them back. This does not mean that homework is not to be done. The homework will be posted by Prof. Temkin on the course homepage. Doing the homework regularly and completely is a key to doing well in this course. Also, the quizzes (please see below) will be taken every week from the assigned homework in the previous week, so doing the homework promptly gives you an advantage in the quizzes. You are free to discuss solutions to your homework problems with anybody, including me. In particular, you can ask me solutions to homework questions during recitation. (Please note that I do not have any answers/solutions other than the ones given in the book. However, if you have worked out a problem, you can show it to me and I can look it and try to tell you whether or not your method/ answer is correct.)

Quizzes:
There will be a quiz every week i.e. every recitation. It will be based on material covered earlier and will be selected from the homework problems assigned on the Wednesday of the previous week. (In particular, the quiz Sections 211/212 and Sections 213/214 will have on Tuesday (16/1) and Thursday (18/1) respectively will be based on the homework which was assigned on Wednesday (10/1) and "due" on 17/1.) The quiz will be held during the last 10 to 15 minutes of the recitation. Each student can make-up a maximum of one quiz during the entire semester. The make-up quiz is mainly to take care of issues like illness, religious ceremonies, unseen and unfortunate incidents in the family as well as trips out of town. So, how the make-up works is that you have to inform me at least a week in advance and we shall fix up an alternative time when you can write the quiz. If you miss a quiz without informing me in advance (except in the case of illness, in which case, you should inform me as soon as possible and also be prepared to show me adequate proof in writing), you shall get no credit for it and also not have a chance to make it up. (You should also not try to use your make-up for some avoidable reason but instead keep it for some "rainy day".)
Two quiz scores (typically, the lowest two) will be dropped when totalling up the marks for your final course grade. The quizzes account for 20% of your final grade, as per the break-up proposed by Prof. Temkin.
Please note that you are expected to show detailed step-by-step working and also justify your steps if you want the full credit for the quizzes. Slipshod and vague solutions will get very less credit, if not altogether zero, even if you have the correct answer.

Scores:
You can find your scores on quizzes and midterms by logging onto the Blackboard website with your Penn ID.

Maple:
Maple is an optional tool but it is helpful. Maple is a very good way to check your answers. (For best results, you should work out the problem on your own and then use Maple to verify your answer.)

Exams and course grades:
All questions regarding exam policy should be addressed to Prof. Temkin, not to me. If you mail me, I might forward it to Prof. Temkin but you will get a quicker answer if you mail him directly. Any questions with regard to your final grade should also be addressed to Prof. Temkin.

Resources:
Other than the resources already mentioned, you may feel free to come and ask me questions during office hours and during recitations.

About me:
I am in my second year of the graduate program in mathematics here. As I am a student (just like you), it is possible that I will make mistakes and I look forward to being corrected, interrupted, questioned (and even interrogated) during the recitations. PLEASE do correct me whenever you think I am wrong (however trivial the slip may be, because someone else might not have noticed it), that way we all get to learn. You may or may not be correct all the time but I am sure our understanding will improve at the end of it. Also, I'm not a native speaker of english and so you might have trouble understanding me. Please feel free to stop me and make me repeat something which I have not been clear about or something which you don't understand. I look forward to a very rewarding semester for all of us. Best of Luck!

Page last updated: 15th March 2007
Maintained by: Shuvra Gupta.