Math 224 General Information
Fall 2007

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Course Guide and Syllabus: printable pdf version of the handout distributed on the first day of class. The course guide includes information on office hours, the course schedule, projects, etc. Note: the syllabus is not being updated. Please use the posted course schedule instead.

Course Description

The topics we will cover include:

Prerequisites:

Calculus C (Math 213) or permission of the instructor.

Course Homepage

http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Math/Paquin/math224.html

Professor

Name Office E-mail Phone Office Hours
Dana Paquin RBH 309-A paquind@kenyon.edu 740-427-5267 Monday 1:00-3:00

Wednesday 2:00-4:00

Thursday 4:00-5:00

Course Time and Location

Day Time Room
Tuesday and Thursday 2:40-4:00 RBH 311


You can find a detailed schedule by topics on the Course Schedule page.

Daily objectives for each class session (i.e. material that you are expected to know), in-class examples, and Maple worksheets will be posted on the Daily Objectives page.

Maple

There will be a consider amount of work done (both in class and out of class) with the computer algebra system Maple. There will be plenty of time to learn the basics of Maple during the first few weeks of class, and I will not assume that you know any Maple functions or syntax relevant to Linear Algebra. If you prefer to use MATLAB (or any other CAS), please let me know.

Textboook

John B. Fraleigh and Raymond A. Beauregard, Linear Algebra, 3rd edition

Other standard reference texts on Linear Algebra include:

Homework

The best way to learn mathematics is by doing mathematics; thus, homework will be assigned daily. Homework to be graded will be collected once per week. It serves as your opportunity to make sure that you can not only solve the problems, but also explain your solutions carefully, as this is the only way to be sure that you understand the underlying concepts. It is your job to explain your solution to the reader, not the reader's job to search for a right idea buried in what you have written. Although you are encouraged to work with other students on homework problems, you must write up your final solutions on your own, as the homework is intended to be preparation for the quizzes and exams. Homework may involve computer exercises as well as hand-written and computer explanation. Homework should be legible with explanations written in complete sentences. Illegible homework will not be read or graded. Homework must be turned in by the beginning of class on the given due date. No late homework will be accepted. If you know that you will be missing class, you must turn in your homework before you leave. Extensions may be granted for extenuating circumstances, but these must be discussed with me as early as possible.

In addition to the homework that will be graded and collected, I will often suggest additional problems for you to work on, especially in the beginning of the semester when a significant amount of drill work is necessary to master the new definitions and concepts. Although this homework will not be graded or collected, I strongly encourage you to solve the suggested problems. You should not worry about formally writing up solutions to the suggested problems; rather, just make sure that you are able to solve them and that you understand the underlying concepts. Note that you should also be reading the textbook sections as you do the daily homework--the examples are a great help.

Homework assignments and additional information about the homework are on the Homework page.

Writing Project

The ability to express your thoughts coherently in writing is an important mathematical tool. During the semester, you will be asked to write a short paper on a topic relevant to Linear Algebra. More details about this assignment can be found on the Writing Project page.

Quizzes

On most Thursdays, there will be a short quiz consisting of a few problems taken from unassigned exercises from the textbook. The problems will be from the sections presented in the previous week. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped. Quizzes and their solutions are on the Quizzes page.

Exams

There will be three in-class exams and a comprehensive final exam in this course. The exam dates are as follows:


Note that the final exam is 3 hours in length!

Information regarding the exams can be found on the Math 224 Exam Information page.

Grades

The basis for your grade in this class has the following components:



There are no predetermined numerical cutoffs for letter grades.


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