Math 41100: Syllabus

Instructor Information:

• Name: Prof. Pat Hooper
• Office Hours: Mondays 12:30-1:30pm in MR 209, and Thursdays 10am-11am via Zoom (link on blackboard)
• Office: Marshak 209
• Office Phone: (212) 650-5149 (extension 5149 from on campus)
• Email: whooper@ccny.cuny.edu

I welcome you to contact me outside of class and office hours. I'm generally most easily reachable by email.

Course Textbooks:

• Mohit, and Bhaskar N. Das. Learn Python in 7 Days : Learn Efficient Python Coding Within 7 Days, Packt Publishing, Limited, 2017. (freely available while on campus or through the library)
• Computational Mathematics with SageMath by Paul Zimmermann, Alexandre Casamayou, Nathann Cohen, Guillaume Connan, Thierry Dumont, Laurent Fousse, François Maltey, Matthias Meulien, Marc Mezzarobba, Clément Pernet, Nicolas M. Thiéry, Erik Bray, John Cremona, Marcelo Forets, Alexandru Ghitza, and Hugh Thomas. (freely available for download)
• Sage for Undergraduates by Gregory V. Bard. (freely available for download)

Other sources such as exerpts from other textbooks, other freely available textbooks, and websites may be used as well.

Attendance: You should attend every class but extenuating circumstances arise that can make this difficult. If you cannot attend a class, please let me know. If circumstances make you miss more than 3 classes during the semester, you may be overextended. I ask that you come see me to discuss your options.

Class participation: In order to learn mathematics, it is important to participate actively: asking questions, answering questions, and suggesting ideas. All of us in the class, you, me, your peers, have a responsibility to create an environment in which this is possible. It is important to note that students in this class come from a range of background and have different paparedness for the material in this course. In particular, I expect everyone to be an active participant, and supportive of other participants and to work towards maximizing collective learning.

General expectations: For each hour spent in the classroom, I expect you to spend at least three hours reading and understanding the book, understanding lecture notes, doing homework, and programming. Practice (doing problems) is an important part of learning. Only adequate practice will guarantee that you can complete exam problems in a timely manner.

Grades: Grades will be computed from the following weighted average:

• Homework, Quizzes, and Classwork (30%)
• Semester projects (35%)
• Final project (35%)

I currently do not plan to have exams, but there is a chance that it will become necessary. If we do have in-class exams, they will be announced at least two weeks before the exam. Each exam will be worth 20% and the assessment tools above will have their weighting reduced proportionally.

Your grade percentage will be tabulated out of 100% as indicated by the percentages above. A letter grade will be assigned to you according to the following list: A+ (97-100), A (95-96), A- (90-94), B+ (87-89), B (84-86), B- (80-83), C+ (77-79), C (74-76), C- (70-73), D (60-69), F (0-59).

Cross-Listing: This is an undergraduate section of a course that is cross-listed with a graduate course. While the topics covered in class will be identical, there are several significant differences:

• Different (simpler) projects possibilities will be made available to students enrolled in the undergraduate course.
• The students in the graduate course will be giving presentations on many of their projects. For undergraduate students, these presentations will be optional.
• Expectations on projects and midterms will be lower for students in the undergraduate course, particularly related to theoretical understanding and exposition. If midterms are given, there will be a greater focus on computation as opposed to theory in the undergraduate versions.

The instructor reserves the right to make additional changes to the course as appropriate to meet the needs and background of undergraduates enrolled in this course. If you have concerns about being less prepared for this course as an undergraduate, let me know.

Course website: Course information, homework assignments, and documents can be found on the website:

Blackboard: I use blackboard to keep track of your grades. You can view your grades there. To access blackboard visit: Solutions to problem sets may be posted to blackboard. There is also a discussion board on blackboard which may be useful.

Homework assignments: Homework will be assigned approximately once a week and will have a due date. Homework assignments will be made available on the course website at least one week before the assignment is due.

I encourage you to work in groups on the homework problems, especially if this best suits your learning style. Nonetheless, you should be confident that you understand how to do each problem, and should be able to solve similar problems independently. Failure to ensure that you can solve problems independently will surely have a negative effect on quiz and exam grades.

If you do work jointly with other students, you must acknowledge this. All work turned in must be written in your own words. Failure to follow these guidlines constitutes plagarism; see the discussion of Academic Integrity below.