Sharp Lab 224. Enter Sharp Lab from the mall,
come up the stairs, go right, and go to the last office on the right
before the jog in the hall. If the door is open, I am in the building
somewhere. Check for notes.
Office hours:
Any time I am in the office. My schedule
is frequently updated. To get a promise that I will be present at
a given time, see me after class or send me
E-MAIL .
Work in groups.
However, the final paper you hand in you should write up yourself.
If you can't finish a problem, give me your scrap work rather than
nothing and you will get most of the credit for the problem. You
may hand in your paper at the end of the discussion section so that
you can take notes on the paper. Your notes must be in a different
color from your work so that I know which is which. If after the
discussion section you still do not understand what you did wrong
on a problem, mark that problem for me (or perhaps a grader) to read
carefully and comment on.
Exam rules:
Do your own work.
No notes, books, etc. are allowed. If you bring a calculator, it
must have nothing stored in memory at the beginning of the test. (I
will give you any numerical constants that you need.) Calculators
will be allowed only for exams which have at least one numerical
problem.
Honesty:
Very important. You are preparing to be scientists and engineers,
and both science and engineering would collapse if their
practitioners were not rigorously honest.
Grading system:
There will be three one-hour exams, and the lowest grade will be
weighted half what the other two are. I do this by calculating the
average all three possible ways and taking the best final result.
I will give you a specific grade scale for each exam, so you will
know exactly where you stand at all times. The grade weights are
Lab
15% (but attendance at lab is required
for a passing grade.)
2 Higher Exams
24% each
Lowest exam
12%
Final/project
20%
Homework
5%
Reading the text:
Please skim each chapter before we take it up in class.
What is different about the Honors section:
I use the appropriate mathematics for a given topic, even if you
haven't gotten to it in math classes [rare, happily]. If I use any
math that you haven't seen, tell me immediately,
and I will go over it until everyone is satisfied that they understand
it.
We will go into much of the physics at greater depth than I would
attempt in a regular class.
I will spend an average of half a lecture a week talking about
topics in current science, as often as possible something which has
become known within the last few months. You will not be held
responsible for this material on exams. If you would like for me to
talk about something in particular, ask me; if your question is not
in a field I know I will do my best to learn enough about it to
explain it. Occasionally I may ask other people from the Department
to talk about things of special interest to them.
If you do reasonably well in your hour exams, you will have an
opportunity, if you wish, to work on a project
rather than taking a final exam.