Site last updated September 28, 2013.
September 2013
Richard Ellis
Because solving problems is the best way to understand the material, you should attempt to solve problems first on your own. You may consult books and published papers, but not old homework solutions from this class. After that, discussion of the problems with other students in this class to improve your understanding of the underlying physics is permitted and encouraged, but not solutions to the problems themselves.
In addition, because looking at your solutions is one way for us to know how well you've learned the material, you should work out your own solutions without using or referring to the solutions of others.
Thus on problem sets, the formal policy for this class (Ay 123) is that the students can freely discuss the problems, but need to work out solutions on their own and not refer to others' solutions.
Homework will be posted on Thursday of each week, and is due at 5:00 PM on Monday of the second following week (11 days later). Please hand the homework in to the TAs either in person or in their mailboxes (MC 249-17).
Ay 123 will have a midterm oral examination conducted by R Ellis, and a final written exam, in addition to the weekly homework assignments.
The midterm oral will replace the homework assignment of week 5 and will assess the student's knowledge of the first 5 weeks of the course.
The written exam will cover the entire course and be scheduled during the period Dec 11-13. Unlike on homework assignments, no collaboration will be permitted.
Your grade will be based 40% on the final exam, 30% on the midterm oral and 30% on the homework.
Site last updated September 28, 2013.