The main aim of the assignments is to develop your understanding of what has been covered in lectures. A secondary aim is to expose you to a couple of topics (e.g. recent advances in certain fields) that build upon and extend what has been covered in lectures.
Please do the assignments! Their 30% weighting is intended to reflect their importance. You will not understand the work generally if you do not do them. You will also miss a couple of specific topics entirely. The midterm and final exam are on the lectures, textbook, and assignments combined.
You are encouraged to discuss the assignment questions amongst yourselves. However, you must turn in your own solutions, in your own words. Be sure to show all work and explain the reasoning behind your calculations in words. Algebra without sentences will be frowned upon!
The midterm will cover the work in the first 12 lectures, excluding the two guest lectures, as well as the relevant sections of the textbook and the homework assignments. You will need blue books, pens, pencils, and a scientific calculator.
Needless to say, cheating is dishonorable and will be punished to the fullest degree under academic policies.
96-100% = A+
91-95% = A
86-90% = A-
83-85% = B+
79-82% = B
76-78% = B-
73-75% = C+
69-72% = C
66-68% = C-
61-65% = D+
56-60% = D
51-55% = D-
0-50% = F