Contact information: Office: Krieger 421; Phone: 6-7413; E-mail: wsw@math.jhu.edu; Course web site: http://www.math.jhu.edu/~ wsw/F04.
When and where: The lecture is MTW from 3 to 3:50. At the time I am writing this I don't know what the room is.
Text: Linear Algebra with Applications, Third Edition, Otto Bretscher. (This is new, last year we used the second edition. I suspect the material hasn't changed substantially but the problems will probably have different numbers. I'll use the new book all the time.) The book is required reading. In fact, you are technically required to read the book before I lecture on the material. That way I can feel free to cover the material, or not, in lecture, since I know you have already read it. At any rate, if it is in the reading assignment then you are responsible for it whether I mention it in lecture or not. From the syllabus you can usually tell what I am about to lecture on so you'll know what to read. Actually, there is too much stuff in the book for me to lecture, in detail, on all of it anyway. Thus you should read the material both before and after the lecture. If you don't, then don't expect to do well. In particular, on the second day or so of the material there are about 20 definitions and I will not do them all in class but expect you to have read them already. Another very special assignment: You must read appendix A on vectors on your own outside of class. We will use that material all the time and I will assume it starting day two. There is a small note about how to read a math textbook on the web page for the course.
Homework: Homework will be posted on the course web site sometime on Fridays or earlier. Homework will be due at the beginning of the next week's section meeting (Fri). The homework will normally cover the material in the lectures for the week the homework is due. This could create a bit of a scramble, but since you know the homework on Friday and you read the book before the lectures, it shouldn't be a problem. I want you working hard in the course and I want it in the `here and now'. I don't want you working `now' on last week's material. There is no perfect way to time homework. You are allowed, even encouraged, to do your homework in groups. Everyone must hand in their own homework though. Homework will only be used to help decide borderline grades. Of course, with 12 grades (don't forget the plus and minus grades) there are a lot of borderline cases. The way this in implemented is I find an approximate place to draw the line between two grades (say B and B-). I then look at everyone above and below, but near, that fuzzy line. If they didn't do the homework regularly then they end up below the line (whether they started above it or below it) and if they did the homework then they might end up above it (or below it). The only sure thing is that if you don't do the homework regularly then you'll be below the line. However, homework is THE essential educational part of the course. You will be graded mostly on your ability to work problems on exams. You cannot work problems on exams if you have not worked lots of problems before the exam, thus: homework. If you misuse homework by not doing it yourself, or not checking that you can solve a problem on your own after having been shown how to do it, then your exam scores and corresponding grade will be disappointingly low. My experience with homework is that students with slightly lower than average scores on homework tend to have higher grades on exams. Both are because they did the homework on their own. Late homework is not acceptable. Work something out with your Teaching Assistant about how to turn in a homework if you cannot go to class. DO NOT GIVE IT TO ME. The TAs deal with the homework.
Old Exams: Old exams are posted on the web. My old exams are linked from my web site and the department also has an archive from previous versions of the course. As with homework, I encourage you to work in groups on these old exams. They are very good study materials and solutions are not always available. However, as with homework, you must use the groups carefully or they will work against you rather than for you. So, some suggestions for study groups. All members should work all problems before the study group meets. At the meeting, the group should hash out differences and help those who couldn't work certain problems. The day after the group each student should work those problems they couldn't work before. A student who goes to a study group and ``learns by watching'' is not likely to do well in the course. I do not grade on the basis of how well you can watch others do problems.
Sections: You must be very careful to physically
go to the section you are officially signed up for since that TA
will be the one who gives you your grades.
There will be quizzes every week in section and they will count
a lot towards your grade.
Quiz scores cannot move from one section to another.
Neither I nor the TAs can move you from one section to another.
You should go to the math dept office and read what is posted
there about how to switch sections (or get into one if that
is the problem). If you still have a problem then you should
talk to people in the math office. Do not bring this problem
to either me or a TA as we are not authorized to do anything
about it.
Exams: I traditionally assign seating for exams.
Come early enough so you can find your seat
if I do. Bring your I.D. Do not have any math books or
papers anywhere near you. Official grading policy gives you
a zero for the exam if you break rules. If you miss an
exam with a good excuse then see me as soon as possible.
There will be no makeup exams. For excused absences, the
grade for a missed exam will be a weighted average of subsequent
exam grades.
The TA will hand out the exams in section when they are
graded.
We sometimes make mistakes when we grade exams.
Check yours over carefully to see that it was graded
properly and
the score was added correctly. Do this before you take
it out of the room.
If you take an exam out of the room we assume that you accept
the grade and it will not be changed after that under
any circumstances. If you are not sure, return it to the TA
and look at it later with the TA.
Personal Problems:
If you anticipate, or actually experience, serious
problems with an exam because you have physical, mental
or psychological problems, then come and talk to me,
preferably before the exam, but better late than never.
Exams are for the purpose of finding out if you know the
material, not to see if you can function when your mother
just ran off with a Hitler clone, your girl/boy-friend
just ran off with your roommate or any of the other
natural and unnatural disasters which happen to students
every year.
If you need some sort of special consideration because of
a disability or other reason then you should let me know
in a timely fashion.
If you freak or freeze during an exam then tell me then, during
the exam, don't wait
to tell me the next day.
Read that last sentence again and remember it so that it floats
to the surface if all other mental functions fail you.
Grades: Roughly speaking, depending on how the class goes, you can sort of expect that the middle grade might be about a B- and about 30% of the class might get As. However, if you all learn the material really well then I would be delighted to give you all As. I like to give hard exams because I don't think the best students should be cheated out of their tuition; they should have something to do too. So, don't get demoralized if the average is 50%, I grade on the proverbial `curve'. I will give two midterm exams, each worth 20%. All of the weekly section quizzes combined will also count 20%. We will drop the 3 lowest (or missed) weekly quizzes before we figure this grade so there will be no makeup quizzes unless you have a major medical excuse for 4 quizzes. In the unfortunate event that you are in this bad a shape then you are probably not doing well in anything you are taking and your semester is doomed, however, we will make allowances if this does happen. The final will count 40%. I adjust the lowest of the 3 20% grades up to the middle one. This is done after I have adjusted the grades so they can be compared. If you do better on the final than you have during the term (after I have adjusted the numbers so I can compare them) then I will give a fudge factor for that equivalent to counting the final 60%. Only about 1/3 of the class gets this fudge factor because people already have a fudge factor for their pre-final grade making it harder to do better on the final than before the final. I reserve the right to count in-class participation towards (or against) the grade but should point out that I have never done it. Each section will be graded on the homework and quizzes by their TA. Grading will not be consistent from section to section. However, I will adjust the grades of each section so that they are comparable and no section will be hurt because of a `tough' grader or helped because of an `easy' grader. The TA does not actually carefully grade the homework. The TA will just tell me if the homework has been done faithfully or not and comment on a few problems. The best way to be sure you are doing the homework correctly is to join a study group. You can ask your TA to help set up study groups.
Every semester there are a number of students who are unhappy with their course grade. Only one or two of these students push very hard for a grade change. These students are usually ones who neglected some important part of the course like doing the homework, or they missed more than 3 quizzes and want some sort of special consideration. Special consideration is patently unfair to all of the other students. I will not do something for one student that I would not do for all. I will not be unfair to the many students who would like a better grade but who do not bug me daily for a week or two. Students who do push hard for a grade change will experience my insistence on fairness for all students as personal brutal abuse. I will be able to defend any grade I give and my chairman and my dean will back me up. The point of this little tirade is two-fold. First, I would really like to save the incredible amount of time these one or two students cost me each semester, and, second, I want to reassure all of the other students that I will not unfairly change someone else's grade just because they made a pest of themselves. I take grades seriously because I know most students do too. That means that they should be fair.
HELP! The department runs a help room, Krieger 213, which is open most of the day; check door for times. This is the easiest, most convenient way to get help if you need it. It is there right when you want it. My office hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 2:00-2:50. I am also available by appointment and you can always send me an email at any time. Also, feel free to grab me after class as I am almost always available right then.
HOURS YOU OWE:
This is a 4 credit course.
I assume that you take 15 credits and you work 45 hours a week.
That means you owe this course
hours, minus the 4 in class
if you come, to get 8.
If you are not working 8 hours outside class
then don't be surprised if you're not doing
well.
Work harder before you complain or even before you ask for
too much help.
You are not working hard in this course until you put over 12 hours
a week into it outside of class if you come to class, 16 if
you don't.
If you are taking more credits then you have chosen to work more
hours.
BOSS: I'm the boss for the course. If the TA tells you something that contradicts what I said, get it straightened out. This could be quite serious. If they tell you quizzes don't count and so you don't bother to take them then you lose. We have very good TAs so I do not anticipate any problems, but if you have problems with your TA then you must bring it to my attention as quickly as possible if you want the problem to end.
Study Habits: I should give you a little speech here about study habits. All of you are good enough to get an A in the course. What will determine the grade is a combination of motivation and study skills. Motivation shouldn't be a problem since the material is great and you are paying a fortune to get it (although I have met students who were unaffected by these motivational tools). Study skills are harder to come by. There are various things around to read like the little pamphlet, How to Study Calculus, by Larry Joel Goldstein. Also, on my personal web site there is something called the Mathematics Survival Guide that is well worth reading. In a nutshell though, the point is, you learn math by doing. You can watch people do math all day and not get much of an education. Do it. Work problems. Memorize every theorem and definition in the book. You need to know them all anyway, why make it up when you need it? Just learn it and remember it. Then work every problem you can find. If you get help from someone, then go back and work it again by yourself the next day. I cannot emphasize enough how important that last statement is. Read it again. Do it.
Linear Algebra: Linear algebra is everywhere. You've been using it for years without naming it. The integral is linear, the derivative is linear. Most applications of mathematics to the `real' world only work when you only look at the linear part. It is great material which will be with you always.
From the Course Catalogue:
110.201 (Q) Linear Algebra
Vector spaces, matrices, and linear transformations. Solutions of systems of linear
equations. Eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and diagonalization of matrices. Applications to
differential equations. Prerequisite: Calculus I.
4 credits
Calculus: Calculus I is a prerequisite for this course. Technically, you can certainly do linear algebra without calculus, but calculus supplies us with lots of examples so we use it. Even though there are few real prerequisites, there is an abstraction about linear algebra that makes it more difficult to grasp for some people. This is why many of you find yourself taking it after Calculus III or differential equations. The more mathematical sophistication you have, the easier it is to learn linear algebra. There are two distinct new levels of abstraction in this course. The intellectual transition for each of these is quite difficult so if you find yourself having a hard time with the material it might not be your imagination. The best way to make these transitions is, as usual, to work lots of problems. Although these transitions can be difficult, they are well worth the investment. Successfully making these transitions opens up a whole new type of thought process which will remain available to you even if you never do math again. As great as the material is and as ever present as linear algebra will be for those who continue to use mathematics, this ability to understand a new level of abstraction may well be the most important thing in the course, should you manage it. Go for it!
Final Exam: The final exam for the course is Saturday, December 11, from 9am to noon.
Attendance: Not all students come to class every day. There are a couple of reasons why this can adversely affect a student's grade in the course. One type of student isn't really interested and doesn't really care. The consequences are obvious. Some just sleep better in a bed than in a class; I can sympathize with this. Another type of student learns better by reading and seldom gets much out of a lecture and so they don't go. There is a problem with this too. During the lectures I let students know what I think is important in the course and it turns out that I make up the exams and I tend to put what I think is important on the exams. A student who doesn't pay any attention to what happens in class might miss this important connection. So, if you are among those who regularly cut class, I advise you to stay in close contact with someone who does go so that you will know what I am doing in class and what I think is important. You will not get that from the book. The point of this paragraph is that there are good students who don't come to class but who study very hard and then find that their decisions about what was most important to study were wrong. There are also those students who get the day of the exams wrong. A little contact with the class can help avoid those embarrassing situations.
Calculators: You will not be allowed to use calculators on your exams or quizzes in this course. Thus it is not a good idea to use them on homework since the homework is designed to prepare you for the exams and quizzes. The reason for this ``no calculator'' rule is simple. The purpose of this course is to give you a basic understanding of linear algebra and develop your problem solving skills in this new context. There is no mathematics concept in this course that requires the use of a calculator (or computer) for you to learn it or for me to test you on it. The same can be said for all previous mathematics that you have learned. Calculator dependency is a BAD thing. You can check my web page to see a paper that shows that the students at Johns Hopkins who had calculators ``encouraged and emphasized'' in K-12 had somewhat lower grades in their JHU mathematics courses. The paper shows that this is independent of math SAT scores.
Ethics: I have rarely had problems with cheating in my classrooms and I don't expect to have it in this class. If, however, you know of cheating going on or feel that anything about the course is unfair, then please, report it to me. In the event of cheating then let me know how it is being done so that I can stop it. Cheating does not cheat me but cheats the other students in the class since cheating that raises one person's grade can lower everyone else's grades.
The Dean has asked us to put in a formal statement about ethics into the syllabus so here it is.
The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition.
Report any violations you witness to the instructor. You may consult the associate dean of students and/or the chairman of the Ethics Board beforehand. See the guide on ``Academic Ethics for Undergraduates'' and the Ethics Board web site (http://ethics.jhu.edu) for more information.
Weekly Reading Assignments and Exam Dates:
Week # 1:
Sept. 7-8, Sections 1.1 and 1.2. No class Monday, Sept. 6.
Week # 2:
Sept. 13-15, Sections 1.3, 2.1 and 2.2.
Week # 3:
Sept. 20-22, Sections 2.3, 2.4 and 3.1.
Week # 4:
Sept. 27-29, Sections 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4.
Week # 5:
Oct. 4, Monday, Review. Oct. 5, Tuesday, Exam # 1.
Oct. 6,
Wednesday,
post-exam contemplation
Week # 6:
Oct. 11-13, Sections 4.1 and 4.2. No class Monday, Oct 11.
Week # 7:
Oct. 18-20, Sections 4.3, 5.1 and 5.2.
Week # 8:
Oct. 25-27, Sections 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5.
Week # 9:
Nov. 1-3, Sections 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3.
Week # 10:
Nov. 8, Monday, Review. Nov. 9, Tuesday, Exam # 2.
Nov. 10,
Wednesday,
post-exam inspirational sermon.
Week # 11:
Nov. 15-17, Sections 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3.
Week # 12:
Nov. 22-24, Sections 7.4, 7.5 and 8.1.
Week # 13:
Nov. 29-Dec. 1, Sections 8.2, 8.3 and Review.
Makeup Week:
Dec. 6-7, Review.
Final Exam:
Saturday, Dec. 11, 9:00-12:00.