Graded material in this course will consist of problems of three different types:
Homework Problems,
Quiz Problems, and Project Problems.
They will be weighted as follows:
| Homework | 10 points each
|
| Quiz | 30 points each
|
| Project | 60 points each
|
Problem sets will be assigned weekly, and
each assignment
may contain
problems of each type.
Homework Problems
Homework Problems
are intended
to give you an opportunity to
practice working with new topics
as they
are introduced.
These will generally be
straightforward
problems where you are given a well defined
situation
and asked to
compute
a quantitative
answer
or show that a particular
result
is correct.
You may (and in fact are encouraged to)
work together on homework,
but you
should
prepare the work you hand in on your own.
Quiz Problems
Quiz Problems are intended to test the knowledge you have gained from
reading, lectures, and homework.
While some of them may be similar to Homework Problems,
most will be more realistic and application oriented.
Project Problems
Project Problems give you a chance to practice
your knowledge on more substantial problems.
These will typically involve a mixture of
analysis, computation, research, and work in the laboratory.
You may work on Project problems in groups of 1 to 3 people.
You may discuss Project problems with other groups, but should not share
your work.
Due Dates
All problems are due in class on the date specified in the assignment.
Homework and quiz problems turned in after the end of class, but before 5 PM
the same day,
will be accepted with a 10% penalty.
Problems turned in after 5 PM, but within one week of the due date,
will be accepted with a 50% penalty.
Problems received more than one week late will not be accepted.
No problems will be accepted after the last day of class.
Redemption
In computing your grade, the problems
will be ordered by score and only the
upper 90% will be used,
i.e. the lower 10%
will be discarded.
Writing up Problems
Homework and Quiz Problems should be submitted separately.
All Homework Problems for a single assignment should be collected
together in a single document.
Quiz Problems may be submitted individually or together, but each
problem should begin on a separate page.
Your documents may be word processed or handwritten, whichever you prefer,
as long as they are legible
and gramatically correct.
Note that although this is an Engineering, rather than an English, course,
you will be expected to provide at least a basic narative structure to your answers.
In the case of Homework Problems, this may take the form of an occasional brief
phrase
(e.g. "It follows that")
guiding the way through your reasoning.
Your Real Problems should have a higher level of organization,
e.g. there should be sentences and the occasional paragraph interspersed among
the equations, numbers, and drawings.