General advices and additional information  (Last updated: 12/18/06)

Structure of the course: Reading, reading quizzes, lectures, problem sets, midterms, final, labs, discussion sections.

For each lecture, there will be a reading assignment which you should read BEFORE the lecture. At the beginning of each class, there will be a brief, close book quiz on the reading, so it's important that you come to class on time. You need to use the PRS clicker to answer the quizzes. The reading quizzes will not involve difficult calculations, but are simple questions to make sure that you did the reading before the lecture. The reading quizzes count 14% of your final grade.

Lectures deal with conceptual questions and problem solving. The goal is to help you to understand the material covered in the text. It's not possible to cover everything in the lectures given the limited time. You will be required to study some material on your own. If you have questions or conceptual problems. You are strongly encouraged to ask or discuss with me in the class or during office hours. TA's and your fellow students are also good resources for you to explore. During the lectures, I'll pose questions for you to think, discuss with a neighbor, and answer with the clickers. It is a good tool to test your understanding and to get feedback. Wrong answers will not affect your grade, but some bonus points will be given based on the participation, i.e., number of questions you answered. You are not required to take extensive notes during the lectures, as all the necessary formulae are in the text. It's more important that you focus your attention on understanding the material during the lectures. However, some people may find it helpful by taking some notes. Everybody is different and it's up to you to find the best way for you to learn.

There will be about 8 problem sets. The due dates are posed on the homework page. You have to turn them in on time. No late homework will be accepted, as I'll try to give out solutions quickly. Due to the limited number of graders, not all homework problems will be graded. Typically only one or two problems from each set will be graded. Some credits will be given for attempting all the problems. You should check the solutions to see whether you did them correctly, and if you made mistakes you should try to understand why to improve your understanding.  You are encouraged to discuss the problems with me, your TA, or your classmates. However, the solutions you turn in must be written by you alone, based on your own understanding of the problem. It's a violation of the Code of Academic Conduct if you include on your work information that you got from others but do not understand yourself.

You should not expect to see immediately the answer after reading the problem. It's normal to spend some time thinking and trying different approaches. You will learn more and understand better if you think hard and struggle through the problem, than simply getting some numbers by plugging in some formulae without thinking about them. To get credits for your answers for both problem sets and exams, you should show your derivations and reasoning, not just the final answer. You should make your presentations clear and organized and don't expect your graders to be great decoders. The ability to present your work or idea in such a way that people can understand and appreciate is also an important skill you need to acquire in order to succeed in life no matter what you do. Note that the assigned problem sets are just a minimal requirement. There are many more good exercises and problems in the text and you are strongly encouraged to try them on your own to test and improve your understanding.

Discussion sections: Problem solving skills are emphasized in the discussion section. You are required to attend and actively participate in the discussion section. Each time there will be one or a couple problems discussed. You will be asked to form groups to solve the problems and present the solutions. More details will be given by your TA.