Apr 26: My office hours this week are Fri 1:30-2:20+, Sat 2:00-3:00+, Sun 2:00-3:00+. The "+" denotes that I will stay later, potentially much later, if there are students needing help. The final exam is Monday, May 1, 2-5 PM, in room 047 of Physics/Math. I will not be available to meet on the day of the final.
Apr 25: The third exam has been graded; I have added data on it below.
Apr 24: I have added the third exam below.
Apr 17: The last midterm exam will take place on Monday April 24 in class. I will have extra office hours Thu 12:30-1:30 and Fri 1:30-4:00.
Apr 12: The last midterm exam will take place on Friday Apr 21 or Mon Apr 24 (depending on how fast we get through Chapter 15).
Mar 28: I have posted the exam results below.
Mar 17: Your second exam takes place in class on Wed Mar 22. It covers material up through Lecture 22 on the syllabus. As always, the homework assigned during the preceding week is also due on that Wednesday. I will have extended office hours in the two days before the exam: Mon 1:30-4:00, Tue 1:00-4:00.
Mar 9: I have posted a list of sample problems. This is not a comprehensive review or study guide; it just shows how book problems could be rephrased on an exam. Warning: The "answers" are on the second page.
Mar 8: The homework assigned last week will be collected this Friday. The homework assigned this week will be collected the Wednesday after Spring Break. Our second exam also takes place on that day. It will cover the course material up through Lecture 22 (the one on 14.4, delivered yesterday). The exam is not specifically cumulative, but of course you will need to use many skills learned for the previous exam anyway.
Feb 10: The first exam has been posted below.
Jan 30: The first exam will take place 9 days from now, on Wednesday Feb 8, in class. It will cover all of the class material up through this week (that is, 13.5).
Jan 14: The first homework assignment (sections 12.1 and 12.2) is due this Friday, not this Wednesday, due to the holiday.
Jan 11: Office hours have been set; see below. Also, I have indicated roughly when the exams will occur.
Office: 033 Physics/Math (on west campus, directly behind the chapel, at the end of Science Dr.)
Office phone: 660-2823
Office hours: Tue 3:05-3:55, Wed 3:05-3:55, Fri 1:30-2:20, and by appointment; to make an appointment, pick a free time from my weekly schedule and e-mail me
Here are the key web pages:
Blackboard: lets you view your grades and the old tests, including those of other professors
In borderline cases, class participation and progress made throughout the semester are also considered. The final exam is uniform across all sections of Math 103. Your semester letter grade (A, B, C, etc.) is assigned after the final, according to an approximate curving process.
Calculators are not permitted on any exams. You may use them while studying or doing your homework, but do not become dependent on them. Also, unless otherwise specified, we are always interested in exact answers (simplified as much as possible), and calculators rarely give the correct exact answers, so use them with care.
Attend class, with your textbook, ready to participate in discussions and group work.
Read the textbook before and/or after class to get another perspective on the material. Math 103 moves too quickly for us to cover everything in class.
Have the homework problems from the previous class (as listed on the syllabus) worked out; be ready to ask questions and answer them at the start of class.
If it's Wednesday, have the problems from the previous week ready to hand in formally. See the homework guidelines below.
If you cannot make it to class, then you should check with a classmate or with me to see what was missed. If your absence is due to a serious, incapacitating illness, and you are willing to vouch for this under the Duke Community Standard, then you may do so at Short-Term Illness Notification; for then the absence is excused, and I won't penalize you for missing a class activity, such as handing in homework or taking a test.
On each Wednesday you submit the previous week's homework for grading. For example, on Wed Jan 18 you submit the homework assigned during the week of Mon Jan 9 - Fri Jan 13. This gives you a chance to ask questions on the homework in the period immediately after it is assigned, and then to work for two more days on it.
Your homework should be neat and complete, with the problems done in the order they were assigned, and clearly marked. Staple your assignment into a single packet to be graded. If your paper is messy from revisions, erasures, etc., then you may need to recopy it. Show your work, and give simplified, exact answers. If a classmate were to read one of your solutions, she or he should be able to understand what the problem was and how you solved it. In other words, your solution should be well-written and self-explanatory. At the top of the first page of your assignment, write your name and write and sign the short pledge: "I have adhered to the Duke Community Standard."
Keep in mind that, while you are encouraged to work with others on homework and when preparing for tests, the written work that you submit must be your own. In particular, you may not copy someone else's work or allow them to copy yours.
Depending on time constraints, perhaps only a subset of your homework problems may be graded. In order to ensure full credit, do all of the assigned problems. Also, if the grader cannot easily understand your paper, for example because it is messy or the problems are out of order, then you may lose credit.
I want all of my students to work hard, learn a lot of math, and earn a good grade. Here are my recommendations:
Do all of the homework problems. If some concept is still unclear to you, do more problems on it. Once you truly understand it, you will be able to make up your own problems and solve them. Unfortunately, doing problems is the best way to learn math.
Work with other students as much as possible. This is more fun than solitary work, and explaining math to others really helps you understand it better yourself.
Well, that's it. But if you find yourself needing more help, here are some resources, in roughly the order you should try them.
Talk to your classmates, and talk to me in office hours. Every student is expected to visit me at least once in office hours this semester.
Visit the Math 103 Help Room in the Carr Building. No appointment is necessary.
Try some other options, as suggested by the Math Department.
Exams
Here are the exams we've taken, both with and without answers, and some data about how the students performed. I want to stress that the letter grades here are approximate only. Letter grades are not really assigned until after the final exam, when all sections of Math 103 are compared against each other. Grades are listed here only to give you some idea of how you're performing; they do not constitute any guarantee of how your final grade might end up.