Course Policy

Grading

  • Three quizzes (15% each for 45% of grade)

  • Best 8 out of 10 homeworks (20% of grade)

  • Final exam (30% of grade)

  • Participation in recitations (4.5% of grade)

  • Communication surveys (.5% of grade)

For the quizzes and final, you will be allowed to bring one sheet of paper on which you can write anything in any font size.

The course grade will be curved.

Recitation Attendance Policy

We will allow you to drop up to 3 recitations. We will not allow additional drops for STINFs and Deans Excuses. (In other words, 3 drops including all excuses.)

Most of the time, you must attend the recitation section to which you are assigned. However, if you have one or two times during the semester when you have a conflict, you may attend another section as long as you inform both sets of TAs in advance, and they will be able to transfer your attendance credit.

Assignments and Resources

Course discussions and announcements will happen on Ed

All Assignments will be posted on Sakai at 9pm on the date indicated on the course schedule and should be uploaded on GradeScope.

Gradescope will prompt you to label your pages when you submit. Please do so carefully; this is considered a required part of the upload process. Failure to assign pages will result in a five point penalty.

Please ensure you have access to all platforms, and send Alex Chao an email otherwise.

For writing up your solutions, we recommend using LaTeX (see the appendix for tips on using LaTeX). However, answers typed in other text processing software with correct formatting and properly converted to a PDF file will also be accepted. For example, Microsoft Word has an equation editor. Handwritten answers or PDF files that cannot be opened will not be graded and will not receive any credit.

Collaboration Policy

You can work on the homework either alone or as a team of up to 3 students (you and two others). You can form different groups for different homeworks, but once you form a group for any given homework, you are not allowed to modify it in any way.

You can discuss the homework with others, but each group should write the solution on their own, and you have to mention who you discussed the problems with. If a solution or partial solution is reached during a discussion, each group is responsible for writing down their solution based on their own understanding (so for example, transcribing a communally solved proof from a whiteboard or Google Doc and then later using these notes to write your own solution is NOT okay.) All collaborators on a given assignment should be noted at the beginning of the write-up. Submitting someone else's solution (even from previous years) with minor changes or asking for solutions on online forums will be considered academic dishonesty.

Each group only needs to submit one document by adding the other members on Gradescope.

For a detailed description of what is allowed and not allowed for the homework, please refer to this chart. If you have questions, please ask Kamesh or Alex.


Late Policy and Extensions

  • Assignments are due at 11:59PM on Thursdays (unless otherwise stated) on Gradescope. Assignments submitted between 12:00AM and 12:29AM on Gradescope will be accepted but penalized with a 10% deduction of the final grade.

  • Beyond 12:30AM, there is no credit for late submissions, except for STINFs and Dean's excuses.

  • The maximum extension for a STINF or Dean's excuse is 48 hours, but we will usually ask that you submit earlier than that. You should send your STINFs or Dean's excuses to Alex Chao prior to the deadline. Note that we will only take your best 8 homework for computing the grade.

  • Please let Alex Chao know in advance if you are missing a quiz. For reasons other than a STINF or Dean's excuse (such as travel to an interview, or sports conflict), we would need some documentation. It is at our discretion whether to entertain such a request.

  • Per university policy, to get a valid grade in the class you must take the final exam as scheduled on DukeHub.