110.201 Linear Algebra - Spring 2005

Prerequisite:

Calculus I

Instructor:

Katia Consani

Office:

Krieger 216 - Office hours: We. 11:00am-1:00pm and by appointment.

Text:

O. Bretscher, Linear Algebra with Applications, 3rd ed.*

Exams:

There will be two midterm exams in class; the first one will be on Wednesday, March 9 and the second one will be on Wednesday, April 27 in Shaffer 3 (last names starting with A through K) and Shaffer 101. Both these exams will be held in class time. EXAMS SHOULD BE WRITTEN WITH PEN (NOT PENCIL). The final exam is scheduled for Thursday May 12: 9-12noon in Shaffer 3 and 101 (last names starting with A through K) and it will be comprehensive. There will be no make-up exams. If a midterm exam is missed with a valid excuse, the grade for the exam will be a weighted average of the grades obtained on subsequent exams. The grade for an unexcused absence from a midterm exam will be zero. Documentation of reasons for absence must be obtained from the Office of Academic Advising. Anyone needing special arrangements for exams must notify me by the second week of classes. The TAs will hand out the exams in section, when they are graded. No math. books and/or papers and calculators are allowed during the exams.

Quizzes:

There will be bi-weekly section quizzes. Quizzes will usually cover the material in the lectures for the week and the one before the quiz is assigned.

Homework:

There will be weekly assignments, posted on this course website usually on Thursdays and they will be collected on the next week's section meeting. Talk to your Teaching Assistant on how to turn in a homework if you cannot go to class, but do not give it to me. The TAs deal with the homework. On this web-page you will find the sections from the text that you should be reading before to come to class. I will try to observe this pre-determined schedule, but I might slow down or speed up if necessary. So it is important that you check regularly this course webpage. Late homework will not be accepted. Homework will be used to help decide borderline grades, but rememeber that homework is the essential educational part of this course. You cannot expect to work problems on exams and on quizzes if you have not worked lots of homework problems. Therefore, I encourage you to spend an adequate time on homework regularly, each week. You can work together on the homework, in fact I encourage you to do so, but you should always write up your own homework solutions in your own words. The TA does not actually carefully grade the homework instead he/she will just tell me if the homework has been done faithfully or not and comment on a few problems. The best way to be sure you are doing the homework correctly is to join a study group. You can ask your TA to help set up study groups.

Grading:

Your final grade will depend on your performance on the quizzes and exams and on your completing the homework. The relative weights I will use are: Quizzes = 10%, Midterm Exams = 25% each, Final exam = 40%.

Overall Performance:

112 Students. 27 A's (inclusive A+, A, A-); 34 B's (inclusive B+, B, B-); 25 C's (inclusive); 19 D's (inclusive); 6 F's; 1 I's.