Your grade depends on the following categories, with the indicated weights.
Participation and Presentation: 10%
Quizzes: 10%
Weekly Written Homework Sets: 20%
Midterm Tests (3 tests, 12% each): 36%
Final Exam: 24%
Numerical cutoffs in the final average (out of 100) needed for an A, B, C, D, or F are at the discretion of the instructor, but will not be more strict than a standard 10 point scale; e.g., 90+ is A- or better, 80-89 is B- or better, 70-79 is C- or better, 60-69 is D- or better, etc. The cutoffs for +/- are completely at the discretion of the instructor.
The general rule is: A reflects mastery and fluency with the subject matter, B reflects some mastery of some of the subject matter, and C reflects not mastery, but at least complete work.
Participation & Presentation is comprised of the following:
complete daily homework/mathematical tasks to prepare for class
attend and participate in class
give presentations of homework/mathematical tasks in class
There will be two flavors of Quizzes on Canvas.
For each section we cover in the textbook, there will be a quiz covering the basic ideas of that section. These will be due at 11:59PM in Canvas. These quizzes are accompanied by a mini-lecture video (10-20 minutes in length) and notes by me (with a few rare exceptions).
You will watch and reflect on several YouTube videos by creator 3Blue1Brown in his series "Essence of Linear Algebra".
We will also take Definitions Quizzes in class.
Homework sets will be posted in Canvas and (usually) be due each Friday at 11:59PM (with some exceptions for holiday scheduling).
The current (tentative) schedule for the midterm tests is:
Friday 2 February. Sections 1.1 - 1.5. Basics of Solving Linear Systems, Computing and Interpreting Echelon Forms
Friday 1 March. Sections 1.7 - 1.9, 2.1-2.3, 2.8-2.9. Independence, Span, Transformations, Subspaces, Dimension, Matrix Algebra
Friday 12 April. Sections 3.1 - 3.2, 5.1 - 5.5. Determinants and Eigentheory
The university's final exam schedule is posted on the registrar's website: https://registrar.wfu.edu/calendars.
Our Final Exam will be Friday 3 May 2024, 2-5pm.
*This is the first day of the spring 2024 final exam schedule
Classroom locations for the Final Exam are TBA.
** Note: our final exam is NOT during the MTH block time. **
You should not make travel plans to leave campus before the final exam.
You are entitled to not take 3 final exams within a 24-hour period. Check the registrar's schedule now so you can plan according to the bullet points above.
Email me for questions regarding accommodations regarding any of the above.