Math 251 Course Procedures, Spring 2000

Read the following material. It describes how this course will be run. You will be expected to be aware of everything on this document and to act accordingly.

Homework Assignment Marking

We only have the resources to mark a subset of your homework assignment problems. However, you won't know ahead of time which problems will be marked. Some marks will also be given for completion.

Late Homework Assignments

Homework assignments will be posted on the Class Web Site and will, in general, be due weekly at the beginning of each Wednesday's class. During non-exam weeks, late assignments can be handed-in under my office door, and will treated as follows:

During exam weeks, no late assignments will be accepted because solutions will be posted on the Web immediately.

  • NO EXCEPTIONS

    Homework Assignment Format

    Homework assignments must conform to the following format: Marks will be lost for improper format or sloppiness. Problems in the wrong order will not be marked.

    Make-up Mid-Term Exams

    Make-up Mid-Term Exams will not be given for any reason whatsoever. If you are too ill to write a Mid-Term Exam, you should discuss the situation with me as soon as you can, and I will explain what will be done instead of giving you a make-up exam. Medical documentation will be required.

    Course Letter Grades

    Marks will be based on the marking scheme stated in the course outline. Homework is important. There will be no 100% final. The course letter grades are relative and will be assigned according to the distribution. For more information see the "Math 251 FAQ - How are the marks curved?" which is posted on the class web site.

    Course Goals

    The assignment problems posted on the class web site are required. You are also advised to do some of the odd-numbered exercises that are not assigned, and check your answers against those printed in the text, before attempting to do the ones to be handed in. The ones assigned to be handed in are often harder to do than some of the others, and it is wise to start with easier ones first. The goal of the course is to master the introductory material on the differential and integral calculus of functions of more than one real variable, and thereby to prepare for MATH 252 and for those other courses in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, or Engineering which use this material. It is assumed that you know everything covered in MATH 151 and MATH 152, and know it well. It helps if you know some linear algebra too - if you are taking MATH 232 now, that is good, and if you've already had MATH 232, that is even better. In this course you are expected to understand what you are doing, not just to obtain correct numerical answers. As a corollary to this, you will be expected to be able to figure out for yourself what to do if circumstances are somewhat different from those discussed in class or treated in the textbook. Of course this means you have to understand the ideas, not just memorize formulas. There is no way to accomplish this without doing a lot of homework, and I will give you that opportunity. If you do all the homework, understand what you are doing, and make proper use of the tutorials, you will be well on your way to obtaining a good understanding of the ideas covered in the course and to obtaining a good grade in it. But this is very much a do-it-yourself project. I cannot understand the material for you; you must do that yourself.

    Tutorials

    The Teaching Assistant (Paul) will post regular office hours, as well as being available at tutorials. You should consider tutorials to be a regular part of the course, not just something to attend if you are having trouble understanding the material. Homework exercises may be discussed there, but far more important things can and should happen at tutorials. At the tutorial you will have an opportunity to get a different explanation of material already covered in class, or to explore things you may have thought about since the material was first covered. A tutorial should be a real learning experience, not just a way to get homework solutions explained. You will not get any more out of a tutorial than you yourself put into it.

    Maple

    Maple is an all-purpose symbolic math / computer algebra / graphing / animating tool. As such, it is an essential part of this course. Although it will not be on the exams, Maple will be required on some of the assignments and will be used to illustrate concepts covered in class. Any Maple examples presented in class will be posted on the class web site for your reference. I will announce a Maple tutorial early in the semester for those who need help getting started with Maple.

    SFU / Math & Stats / ~hebron / math251 / procedures.html
    Revised 09 January 2000 by John Hebron.