Math A1100: Syllabus

Course Title: Topics in Pure Mathematics

Prerequisites: Departmental permission.

Catalog Description: A course in Computational Mathematics. This course will introduce students to SageMath, a free open-source mathematics software system. Since SageMath is based on Python, an introduction to programming in Python will be provided. The course will focus on problem solving and visualization using both symbolic and numerical techniques. Problems will come from calculus, linear algebra, geometry, dynamical systems, combinatorics, and possibly other areas depending on student interest. No prior experience with programming will be expected. There will be a final project where students can demonstrate what they learned in a mathematical context of their choice.

Semester: Fall 2024.

Section: FG.

Meeting time and place: MoWe 4:00PM - 5:40PM in NAC 6/268.

Instructor Information:

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

Course Textbooks:

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:

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), F (0-69).

Course website: Course information, homework assignments, and documents can be found on the website:
http://wphooper.com/teaching/2024-fall-sage
Blackboard: I use blackboard to keep track of your grades. You can view your grades there. To access blackboard visit:
http://bbhosted.cuny.edu/
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.

Quizzes: Quizzes may be used to ensure that students are learning the material being taught. They will be announced ahead of time.

Dropped grades: The lowest 20% of assignments in the “Homework, Classwork, and Quizzes” category will be dropped (rounding up if necessary).

Late homework: Late homework will not be accepted for any reason.

The dropped grades are intended to compensate for missed assignments due to circumstances beyond your control. If however you feel that these dropped grades are insufficient to rectify the negative impact on your grade by your circumstances, please reach out to me.

Projects: Projects will be assigned at least two weeks before they are due. I expect at least some of the projects will involve presenting material to the class. A grading rubric will be provided for the project and any presentation.

Exam makeups: If a midterm is midterm missed under well-documented and sufficiently compelling circumstance, an offer of a makeup for the second midterm will be made. The makeup must be taken within one week of the scheduled exam, or a zero will be assigned as the exam grade.

Exceptions to the one week time period will only be made if a student can prove that they are unable to take the exam that week for compelling reasons.

Notify me ahead of any exam you expect to miss to be sure your circumstances are sufficiently compelling.

Late projects: Programming portions of projects will be turned in online, and are expected to be turned in on time except in extenuating circumstances. If for some reason, you anticipate needing to turn in a project late, contact me ahead of time to set a new due date. If a presentation is missed under well-documented and sufficiently compelling circumstance, it will be made up the following class.

At the department’s or the instructor’s discretion, any makeup exam may be administered as an oral examination carried out either in-person or using video-conferencing software (such as Zoom). Similarly, any makeup for a presentation may be carried out either in-person or using video-conferencing software.

Academic Integrity: All work submitted for this course should be your own unless explicitly stated or acknowledged by you. This course follows the CUNY Policy on Acacdemic Integrity Policy. The college takes academic integrity issues seriously. Violations will be pursued as described in this policy. Punishments for violating this policy include academic pentalties such as zero on the assignment or failure in the course, as well disciplinary sanctions such as suspension and expulsion from the college.

In particular, it is expected that you not plagarize. Your homework must not be copied from another source, and you must cite any sources used when preparing your solutions. Sources can include textbooks, webpages, discussions with other people, and other student work. Citations should be as specific as possible. All submitted work must be written in your own words.

The updated Academic Integrity Policy explicitly forbids copying from generative AI, and will be enforced in this course. Review the policy for full details of what is forbidden.

CoCalc currently has AI integration built into its Jupyter notebooks. You are recommended to disable it to remove the temptation. (Go to "Account", then "Preferences". You'll find the setting in a box labeled "AI settings".)

AccessAbility Center: The AccessAbility Center/Student Disability Services ensures equal access and full participation to all of City College's programs, services, and activities by coordinating and implementing appropriate accommodations. If you are a student with a disability who requires accommodations and services, please visit the office in NAC 1/218, or contact AAC/SDS via email (disabilityservices@ccny.cuny.edu), or phone (212-650-5913 or TTY/TTD 212-650-8441).

Pandemic Issues: This is an in-person class, but policies may change because of safety concerns. Online instruction methods may be required (for example if the instructor tests positive for COVID-19).

Currently examinations are intended to be in-person, but it is possible that other examination methods may be required. This course may use online examination methods, may give some examinations as oral exams, and may require the use of video cameras during exams.

If online examinations are given in this course, the exams will be given synchronously (at the time in which the class meets or at the time the Final exam is scheduled), likely on Blackboard.

Video lectures: Students who participate in video lectures for this class with their camera on or use a profile image are agreeing to have their video or image recorded solely for the purpose of creating a record for students enrolled in the class to refer to, including those enrolled students who are unable to attend live. If you are unwilling to consent to have your profile or video image recorded, be sure to keep your camera off and do not use a profile image. Likewise, students who un-mute during class and participate orally are agreeing to have their voices recorded. If you are not willing to consent to have your voice recorded during class, you will need to keep your mute button activated and communicate exclusively using the “chat” feature, which allows students to type questions and comments live.

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