Home page
Attendance and excused absences, academic integrity, use of generative AI, and inclusivity.
Contact
Our main communication tool is Campuswire. Announcements will also be posted on Campuswire. You can email me, of course, but I am planning on using Campuswire instead of Massmails whereever possible.
If you're enrolled, you'll receive an invitation to the course before the first lecture. Before getting in touch, please check if the information you're looking for is already available in announcement or on the website. Please see Contact for details, incl email guidelines and office hours.Announcements
10/15/2026: Midterm 1 scores and the final exam
Midterm 1 is graded and scores are in the gradebook. For everyone, the lowest 3 subproblem scores are dropped: your MT1 score is the percentage of your best 9 subproblems. Solutions are posted on the schedule page.
Final exam: a chance to replace your MT1 score. The final exam (cumulative, as always) will contain a clearly marked section with problems similar to MT1 — similar, not identical.
- If your percentage on that section is higher than your MT1 score in the gradebook (after the drops), it replaces your MT1 score.
- This can only raise your MT1 score, never lower it.
- The section still counts normally toward your final exam score.
8/19/2026: Beginning-of-the-semester schedule
- First Lecture: Tue, Aug. 25.
- First Homework: Posted in Week 2, due in Week 3.
- First Discussions: Week 2.
- Office hours start in Week 2.
Homework and Discussions
The most important part to learn the materials and do well on the exams is practice. Practice means solving problems and being able to explain your work. You will solve practice problems in the Discussions, and then apply your skills in homework sets. The idea for these assignments is not to be an assessment, but rather to help you practice and prepare for the exams, which are the actual assessments of your understanding. Take the assignments seriously! They are the key for doing well on the exams.
Homework format:
- Problem sets are posted by Thursday.
- Deadline for submitting solutions on Gradescope is the end of the following Wednesday (11:59:59pm). Late submissions will receive reduced credit.
- Solutions are available one week after submission deadline.
Discussion format:
- You will discuss the most recent lecture topics and solve practice problems in groups.
- Discussion is graded by participation. You must attend in person and actively participate in solving the problems for full credit.
- If you cannot attend, see Attendance and Excused Absences for how to request an excused absence.
Exams (dates tentative as of 9/1)
- Midterm 1: October 8 (in-class)
- Midterm 2: November 5 (in-class)
- FINAL: date, time and room TBD (final exam period: Dec 11 - 17)
Exam material includes everything discussed in the lecture (as far as available in the posted reading material), and all homework and discussion problems. Problems will be similar to those you have solved in Discussion and Homework. The best preparation for the exams is to be able to solve the homework and discussion problems closed-book.
Allowed materials
For each exam, you are allowed to bring your own handwritten cheat-sheet. It may be at most 1 single-sided, page (letter size).