MAS 4105, fall 1998, section 3247
MTWF 7th period

Professor David Groisser
418 Little Hall
392-0281 extension 261
groisser@math.ufl.edu
http://www.math.ufl.edu/~groisser

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Office Hours : Tentatively Tuesday 4th period, Wednesday 3rd period, Friday 4th period. Please come early in the period or let me know to expect you later. See my schedule for updates. You can also see me by appointment any weekday except Thursday.

Text: Friedberg, Insel, and Spence, Linear Algebra, 3rd edition(1997). We will cover chapters 1-6 with some omissions.

Grading: Your final grade will be determined by

• Two midterms (hour exams), each counting 20% of final grade. The midterms will occur after we have finished chapters 2 and 4. Dates will be announced later.
• Homework, totalling 30% of final grade. For purposes of working on and handing in homework, the class will be divided up into groups of 3-4 students. For details on this "cooperative learning" system for homework, click here .
• cumulative final exam, counting 30% of final grade. This will be given in this room on Wed., Dec. 16, beginning at 7:30 a.m.
• attendance bonus (click for explanation)

I reserve the right to adjust the percentages above in individual cases if I feel that circumstances warrant. See more about grading below for additional information.

Miscellaneous:

• Unless I say otherwise, you are responsible for knowing any material I cover in class, any subject covered in homework, and all the material in the textbook chapters we are studying.

• There will be no make-up exams. If you have a valid reason for missing an exam, I will re-adjust the weights of your other exams.

• If you miss class the day I return an exam, you'll have to pick your exam up from my office within a week, after which I may discard it. This policy also applies to quizzes and handouts.

• Class will meet the day before Thanksgiving. Make your travel plans early.

More about grading

I don't have a predetermined grade curve or predetermined percentages for letter grades. I decide the grade scale for each exam and homework according to the philosophy A = excellent, B = good, C = satisfactory, D = unsatisfactory but passing. At the end of the semester, I use the cutoffs from the exams and homework and to determine the final grade cutoffs on a 1000-point scale. For example if the cutoff for a B is 80% on the homework, 72% on the first hour exam, 69% on the second hour exam, 76% on the third hour exam, and 74% on the final, to get a B for the course you'd need (.16 x 80% ) + .17 x (72%+69%+76%) + (.33 x 74%) = 74.1% of the total number of points in the course, i.e. 741/1000. Since I don't determine the exam-grade cutoffs ahead of time, I can't tell you in advance exactly how many points you'll need to get a particular grade for the course.