Administrative and Logistical Details

Office-hour Schedule

Name	Office Location	Office Hours*
	TAY 5.138	see schedule*
	TAY 5.106 TAY 5.106	Tue 10 May 4–5pm Mon 16 May 12–2pm
	PAI 5.40C TAY 5.106	Thu 12 May 5–6pm Mon 16 May 12–2pm

* Check the announcements page for temporary changes in office-hour schedules. ** My scheduled office hours are reserved for consultations with students on a "drop-in" basis. If these hours don't work for you, please make an appointment with me for some other time, in person after class, by telephone, or by electronic mail. You may also simply take a chance on finding me in my office and available (check my daily schedule, which is also posted on my office door).

Lecture Schedule

52870	MWF	1:00–2:00 pm	GEO 2.102
52875	MWF	3:00–4:00 pm	TAY 2.006

Test Schedule

Test	Time and Place	Coverage (details subject to change)
Midterm 1	Tue 22 Feb 7:30-9:00 pm UTC 2.102A	Slides 1–90 Homework assignments: 1, 2, 3 Sethi: Chapters 1, 2 Davie: Chapter 1; Sections 2.(1–12, 14), 3.(1–5, 10.(1,2), 11) Gentle Intro: Sections 2.(0,1,3,4), 3.(1,2,3,5), 4.(1-6)
Midterm 2	Tue 29 Mar 7:30-9:00 pm UTC 2.102A	Slides 91–167 Homework assignments: 4, 5, 6 Sethi: Chapter 3; Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.9 Davie: Sections 2.8, 2.9, 3.4, 3.10, 4.7 Gentle Intro: Sections 3.4, 7.1, 7.2, 7.5
Midterm 3	Tue 26 Apr 7:30-9:00 pm WEL 1.316	Slides 168–291 Homework assignments: 7, 8, 9 Sethi: Sections 4.3–4.7, 5.1–5.6, 12.(0,1,2,3,5,6),            12.7 (omit subsection on Monitors)) Davie: Sections 4.4, 4.7, 4.8 Gentle Intro: Section 2.2, Chapter 5, Section 10.3
Final Exam	52870: Sat 14 May 9:00 – 12:00 n UTC 3.102 52875: Wed 11 May 7:00 – 10:00 pm WEL 2.304	Slides 1–355 Homework assignments: 1–10 All previous reading assignments plus:    Sethi, Sections 12.3,5,6,7;                                6.1,2,5,6,7,8;                                7.1-6.    Gentle Intro: Chapter 11

Switching final exams If you wish to take the exam of a section for which you are not officially registered, you may do so provided that you have cleared it with first. If you were to show up at the "wrong" exam without clearance, you might not be allowed to take it.

Grade calculations

Component  Weight  Homework 10%  Midterm 1*  25%  Midterm 2*  25%  Midterm 3*  25% Final  40% * Each student’s lowest   midterm grade is dropped.

The university requires the final course grade to be expressed as one of the letters ABCDF. In translating numerical averages to letter grades, I observe the traditional correspondences, i.e., 90 ~ A, 80 ~ B, etc., except that the letter-grade thresholds may be lowered (never raised). This means that, for example, a course average of 80 is guaranteed to earn a B, even if it's the lowest average in the class.

Semester scores are computed using the following formula (all scores are expressed as percentages):

s = 0.1 * h + 0.25 * (sum[m1', m2', m3'] - min[m1', m2', m3']) + 0.4 * f      where      s = semester score      h = homework average      m1', m2', m3' = adjusted midterm-exam scores      f = final-exam score

Adjustment of exam scores When the averages of the three midterm exams differ significantly (as they often do), a student who misses a high-average exam is at a disadvantage relative to a student who misses a low-average exam. To minimize this effect, the midterm-exam scores used in computing semester averages are adjusted. The adjustment puts the three exams on an equal footing, by adjusting the scores of the exams so that all three midterms have the same average score. For a below-average midterm, a score of 100% gets no adjustment, and an average score gets an adjustment equal to the difference between the test's average and the three-midterm average. Those two points determine a straight line, which in turn determines the adjustment for all other scores. For an above-average midterm, a score of zero gets no adjustment, and an average score gets an adjustment equal to the difference between the test's average and the three-midterm average. Those two points determine a straight line, which in turn determines the adjustment for all other scores. A similar adjustment is applied to final-exam scores, to minimize the effects of differences between the averages of the two sections' final exams. The adjustments use the following formulas (all scores are expressed as percentages) For an upward adjustment:  m' = m + (a' - a) * (100 - m) / (100 - a)      where      m' = adjusted score      m = original score      a' = adjusted average      a = original average For a downward adjustment:  m' = m + (a' - a) * m / a      where      m' = adjusted score      m = original score      a' = adjusted average      a = original average

This page was last revised on Mon, May 9, 2005.

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