MATH 461 SYLLABUS

This course will present the main concepts and terminology of linear algebra that play an essential role in science and engineering.  For example, linear algebra is used in signal processing, control systems engineering, structural analysis, large-scale computations, robotics, computer graphics, physics, and environmental science.

Order of Topics:
 

WebCT:    MATH 461 is one of the hundreds of courses that are using the WebCT course management program at the University of Maryland this semester. It provides a means of communication between instructors and students, and ties the courses into the Internet and the University's registration and record systems. You have been assigned an account on the University's WebCT course page: www.courses.umd.edu. To login to WebCT, click on myWebCT@Maryland. Your WebCT space has a copy of this syllabus, a daily lecture schedule, and a tentative list of homework assignments. Additional information, such as review sheets and sample exams, will be added during the semester. For help with WebCT (including a student manual), go to the web site and click on Student Resources.

Quizzes:     An important use of WebCT will be to administer online open-book quizzes, to help you learn the course material. Most quiz questions can be answered by reading the text carefully, word by word. Taking these quizzes will help you develop study skills that are essential for success in this and subsequent mathematics courses. By the end of the course, anonymous students evaluations typically give the quiz system high ratings.
    Quiz Organization  The schedule of lectures shows the tentative date each quiz is to be completed and identifies the text section on which the quiz is based. Usually, each quiz is available on WebCT any time between 12:00 noon on the day of the lecture and 11:00 AM on the day of the next lecture.  Most quizzes will consist of five questions: true/false questions or multiple choice questions that ask you to decide whether a certain statement is always true, sometimes true, or never true.
    Taking a Quiz  You should read the text carefully before starting a quiz, and keep your text open for reference while taking the quiz. Once you start a quiz, you will have twenty minutes in which to complete it. (Typically, students spend between five and ten minutes on a quiz.) If your internet connection fails, sign on again immediately in order to complete the quiz within the 20 minutes. Most quizzes will consist of five questions: true/false questions or multiple choice questions (which ask you to decide whether a certain statement is always true, sometimes true, or never true). After you read each question, select an answer and "save" it. You may change an answer and resave it at any time until you press Finish. After that, press Display Results. WebCT will grade your quiz and display the results, with comments about each question.
    Honor System  The quizzes are conducted on the honor system. No two students will have exactly the same quiz, but the questions will be similar and cover the same basic material. You should have your book open for reference, but you must not communicate with any other person about the quiz while taking the quiz. Also, you should not look at any other student's quiz before taking your own quiz.
    Getting Started  To help you learn the quiz system, you may take each of the first two quizzes two times each, with only the higher scores counted. In WebCT, click the "Quiz and Survey" button. Some quizzes will be course surveys instead of tests of knowledge.  They have the same format as a quiz, but are anonymous.
    Grading  Each quiz counts 5 points. A few quizzes have a bonus question that allows a possible score of 6 points. Makeup quizzes will not be given, but some of your lowest quiz grades will be dropped from the final "quiz" total. [In previous linear algebra courses, the quiz grades have been somewhat higher than the averages of the hour exams, so the quiz scores tend to help most students.]
    Problems  Occasionally, a student feels that a quiz is worded or graded incorrectly. If this happens to you, you may write to the instructor (hking@math.umd.edu). Please make a copy of the quiz question and answer from your screen, and paste this into your email. Explain what you think might be wrong with the quiz question or answer. If there is an error, your grade on this question will be adjusted, and all other students who had this same question will be treated in the same way. (This situation occurred more often during the early semesters of using WebCT, but it still could happen to a few of the newer quiz questions now.)   IMPORTANT: To receive a response to your email, you must include your course name and section number in the message header. Your student name should be in the text message, of course.

Homework:    Success in the course is highly correlated with regular attendance and punctual completion of homework. Homework will be assigned each day, to be completed before the next class meeting. Your Tuesday TA section is an excellent time to ask questions about homework problems you are not sure of.

Tutor Center:    If you have questions about the text or exercises in the text, you can get detailed help from a Tutor Center provided by the textbook publisher. Help with MATLAB for this course is also available. The Tutor Center is staffed by qualified college instructors (with a Ph.D. or M.A. degree in math or science) from 5 pm to midnight, on Sunday through Thursday. You may call 1-888-777-0463 to speak with a tutor, or you may send your questions by email to tutor@aw.com. Each telephone call to the Center is limited to fifteen minutes, but you can make up to three calls a night.
     For more information, go to http://www.aw.com/tutorcenter and click on Student Information. If you have both a phone and an internet connection, you can call the Center and make an appointment for an interactive online conference with a tutor. For details, go to the Tutor Center website and click on Interactive Web.
     The first time you contact the Tutor Center, you will need to supply the following information: (1) the textbook ISBN number (0-201-70970-8), and (2) a registration number (found on the white card inside The Tutor Center envelope that came with your textbook). If you bought a used text, you can use a credit card to purchase a registration number from the Tutor Center.

MATLAB:    We will be using MATLAB routinely throughout the course—in the classroom, for homework, and for special assignments, discussed below. MATLAB is available in all WAM labs and on the GLUE system. You will need either a WAM account or a Glue account. In addition, you may wish to purchase a student version of the program.
     Each MATLAB assignment will contain a brief explanantion of the MATLAB commands you will need to complete the assignment.  If you feel the need of more infromation there are many books available.  For example, the optional Study Guide contains all you need to know about using MATLAB. An "Introduction to MATLAB" is in the first appendix in the Guide, followed by an index of useful commands. At appropriate points in the course, the Guide also explains how to use special MATLAB programs that have been designed for this course.
     You may work on the MATLAB assignments singly or in a group of two or three students. Each group should submit one set of answers, including an edited diary of the MATLAB calculations (or a script file plus output). The first page of an assignment should show the names of the group members, the date, and the assignment description. Late assignments might not be accepted, but if accepted will have the grade reduced. MATLAB problems should be started soon after being assigned, to allow sufficient time to solve technology problems that might arise. Claiming to have difficulty with technology that is used at the last possible moment is not a sufficient reason to avoid a penalty for late submission of an assignment.

Grading:    Your final grade will be based on a point total probably with some sort of curve.  There will be 800 points as follows: The final exam is 200 points. The hour exams are 100 points each. Quizzes will be scaled to count a total of 150 points. There will be no makeup quizzes but some of your lowest quizzes will be dropped. Matlab projects will count a total of 150 points.

You may send any comments or questions to H. King: hking@math.umd.edu. Please include the course name and section number in the message header.
 
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Last Revised: January 24, 2005