Intro

• §1. Welcome and Warning
• §2. What's here
• §3. What's not
• §4. Important Policy Reminders

§1. Welcome and Warning

Welcome. Although I am flattered by the attention of anyone who cares to browse here, this site is designed expressly for students in the classes that I am currently teaching. Moreover, even for this target audience the site has a very limited scope. It is an electronic archive for class related material, like solutions to homework exercises. This limitation is intentional. There are no shortcuts for mastering the fundamentals of a mathematics course, no golden words that will make all simple and easy. It is certainly true that there are many fine mathematical resources available online. However, the most efficient use of time and effort for someone studying mathematics does not lie with the internet. Rather it lies with the unglamorous, low-tech strategies that I fondly call the four basic "do" groups:

1. Do come to class.
2. Do read the textbook.
3. Do work diligently on the homework.
4. Do come to see me for help.

§2. What's Here

This site comprises a mere six distinct web pages whose titles are listed on the buttons to the left. To go to a given page, simply click on the corresponding button. The button with the orange background indicates which page you are viewing, currently Intro. Here's what you'll find on the other five pages:

• Contact Me
  • My office number, home and office phone numbers, and email address.
  • My schedule for the week.
• Grades
  • A calculator that lets you
    1. type in your scores and see your current grade.
    2. play the "what if" game with future scores.
    3. see your current scores (requires emailing me a password).
• Solutions
  • Solutions to homework exercises (posted at the end of the grace period).
• Syllabi
  • html versions of current course syllabi.
  • pdf versions of current course syllabi.
• Lin Prog Tool
  • A tool for MTH 120 to ease the burden of applying the simplex algorithm to solve linear programming problems.

§3. What's Not

As suggested by the first section above, you will not find:

• lecture notes (except for courses with no textbook).
• interactive materials (except for the grade calculator and the linear programming tool).
• study guides.
• review sheets.
• help for using specific course software (e.g. Mintab, SPSS, Maple).

I am certainly willing to consider expanding this site, but only in ways that will support the four "Do's" listed in the first section. For instance, I will not post lecture notes for courses with textbooks because I think that this would act as a disincentive for reading the text, coming to class, and seeing me during office hours.

§4. Important Policy Reminder

The following policies apply in all classes that I teach:

• Homework

1. Homework assigned is due at the beginning of the next class period.
2. I will accept homework after the due date if and only if it reaches me by the beginning of the very next class period.
3. I will not accept homework later than the beginning of the class period after it was due regardless of the reason.
4. You can be excused from homework if and only if you make arrangements before the due date.

• Absences

1. If you do not notify me as soon as is reasonably possible, your absence will be unexcused regardless of the reason.
2. You lose 0.2 points from your attendance grade for each unexcused absence.
3. If you have an unexcused absence on a test day, then you receive a 0 for the test.

• Make ups

1. There are no make up exams for any reason.
2. If you have an excused absence on a test day, then I replace the missing test score with your average from the other tests.

• Academic Honesty

1. If I catch you copying on homework, then I neither accept your homework nor allow it to count toward your course grade.
2. If I catch you cheating on an exam, then you will fail the course.
3. When there is copying/cheating, I do not distinguish between copy-er and copy-ee; both share the above fate.
4. This is your only warning; the penalties described apply the first time you are caught.