11.16
  • We will revise the grade scheme as follows: (all marks are after scaling)
    grade = max (g1 , g2)
    g1 = HW 10% + MT1 20% + MT2 20% + Final 50% (original scheme)
    g2 = HW 10% + worst MT 5% + better MT 20% + Final 65%
  • The motivation of the above revision is to encourage those of you who still want to study hard.

  • You may ask why we need the revision if the average after the scaling is already reasonable? It is because a difficult exam makes more harm to students in the middle. Consider the following example. Suppose students A and B may get 90% and 70% in a medium difficulty exam. When the exam is too hard, their marks may become 80% and 50%, respectively.

11.14
  • The average of MT2, the first midterm exam, is 21.5 out of 40, or 53.7%. I have decided to rescale it by the following formula
    f(x) = x + 5
    to bring the average to 66.2%. (Here x is the mark on your exam, i.e., your mark before scaling. f(x) is the mark after scaling, and shows up only in my spreadsheet.) The standard deviation (Std Dev), 18%, is about right. The solution to MT2 is saved in the ownCloud web-folder. For comparison, the distribution of MT1 is included in the following table and chart.

    		0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 total average revised max Std Dev
    MT1 0 2 22 24 23 34 17 6 128 23.5 27 40 19%
    MT2 3 4 16 32 30 24 11 3 123 21.5 26.5 40 18%

  • Problem-wise statistics:

    		Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 MT2
    max
    		 4 6 10 10 10 40
    average 2.2 1.6 6.7 6.5 4.5 21.5
    average % 56% 27% 67% 65% 45% 54%
    Std Dev 42% 30% 29% 20% 28% 18%

  • I am very sorry that this exam was too hard. The better students could still do well, but the marks of the students in the middle were pulled down by an undesirable and unnecessary amount, which is frustrating. For the final exam, I will limit theory questions to 10 marks out of 100, make less problems, and ensure the solutions are short. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.

11.02
  • The original office hour next Monday Nov 5 at 11am is cancelled, as I need to attend a meeting. Instead, I will hol$ hours on Monday Nov 5 at 2pm, and Tuesday Nov 6 at 11am and 2pm.

  • The location of final exam has been announced: ANGU 098. The Henry Angus building is on Main Mall, near the University Blvd (northwest corner).

10.31
  • Midterm Exam 2 next Wednesday will cover sections 2.3 to 3.4. Its format is the same as MT1. List of formulas posted. Practice old MT2 soon.

10.10
  • For those who did not do well in MT1: Please do not be discouraged, since it is only 20% of your grade. However, it is important to use MT1 as a tool to understand your weak spots, and make a plan of study to catch up.

  • Final exam time: Monday December 17, 8:30am-11am. Do not travel this morning! The location is not known yet.

10.09
  • The average of MT1, the first midterm exam, is 23.5 out of 40, or 58.6%. I have decided to rescale it by the following formula
    f(x) = (x + 2.5) * 1.04
    to bring the average to 67.6%. (Here x is the mark on your exam, i.e., your mark before scaling. f(x) is the mark after scaling, and shows up only in my spreadsheet.) The standard deviation (Std Dev), 19%, is about right. The solution to MT1 is saved in an ownCloud web-folder, whose link is given in the email I sent to the entire class today.

    		0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 total average revised max Std Dev
    MT1 0 2 22 24 23 34 17 6 128 23.5 27 40 19%

  • Problem-wise statistics:

    		Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 MT1
    max
    		 12 8 5 4 11 40
    average 6.1 4.1 4.1 2.2 7.0 23.5
    average % 51% 51% 81% 55% 63.5% 58.6%
    Std Dev 25% 21% 22% 30% 36% 19%

10.05
  • MT1 will be returned next Wednesday. You can pick up yours on Tuesday office hour.

10.01
  • For H2, our TA Nina marked #1 (4pt), #3 (6pt), #5 (4pt), #7 (2pt), #8 (1pt), and up to 3 pt for participation marks for quality of answers to 2, 4, 6.
    Her comments in Piazza.
09.28
  • Practice problems for materials after h2 and before MT1 posted.

09.26
  • Total points for h1 are 20. Our TA Nina marked problems 4 (6 points), 6 (5 points), 9 (6 points) + 3 points participation.

  • We will try to return all homework and midterm exams on Mondays, although we may need extra time for some of them. Old homework and exams will be placed in a box outside of my office, MATH 109. Note that there is another door outside of my office which is locked in the evenings and weekends. Hence come pickup your homework in weekday day time.

  • There was a typo on note 4, page 14, bottom line. It has been corrected.

  • Midterm Exam 1 next Wednesday 10.03. I have posted formulas and rules for MT1, and old midterm exams. Please read the rules carefully. The format of MT1 will be similar to what I gave before.

  • Our MT1 will cover sections 1.1-1.6 and 2.1-2.3 except curl. It is what we cover up to today's lecture. It will not contain baseballs or nullclines. It will contain conservative vector fields, which is not covered in old exams.

09.21
  • Copying found in h1. A penalty of 8pt out of 20pt is applied. As I emphazised on Monday 09.17:
    You can discuss with others, but you need to write in your own words. Do not copy. There will be penalties if you copy.

09.19
  • Please make use of MLC, the Math Learning Centre: The MLC is a space for undergraduate students to study math together, with friendly support from tutors, who are graduate and undergraduate students in the math department.

  • I will set up Piazza; Please expect an email.

    Update: a Piazza page was created. An email containing the sign-up link was sent to every student, with the following message:
    Piazza is a message board where you can go online and post questions that your fellow students can answer. It is not a required part of the course - but you may find it helpful.

    Please do not expect immediate answers from me, as I have other duties and do sometimes need sleep. I will try to read them on weekday afternoons. The most active people on Piazza are you and your fellow students.

09.17
  • H1 is due Wednesday. You can discuss with others, but you need to write in your own words. Do not copy. There will be penalties if you copy.

  • Homework assignments will be collected in 7 folders according to the initial of your family name: 1 A-C, 2 D-H, 3 JKL, 4 M-R, 5 STUV, 6 WX, and 7 YZ.

  • For those interested in the curvature of surfaces: It is taught in MATH 424.

09.05
  • Welcome to MATH 317! Check this page frequently regarding any announcement for the course.

  • Professor Young-Heon Kim will kindly teach for me on 09.05 and 09.07, while I attend a conference in Tokyo Institute of Technology.