Problem Sets and Examinations

Course Grading
The final examination counts 25%. Problem sets 1 through 9 and the midterm exam count equally, and total 75% of the final grade; but the lowest of these ten scores will be dropped from consideration. (Thus, in effect, each problem set and the midterm counts 8.33%, except for the lowest, which doesn't count at all; and the final exam counts 3 times as much as the other grades.) There is no predetermined distribution of letter grades. Problem set 0 does not count for the final grade, but it covers essential mathematical background and should be viewed as mandatory for any student whose experience with mathematical proofs is limited.

Homework Assignments
There will be ten weekly problem sets (numbered 0-9). The due dates are shown on the Course Schedule.

CS121 problem sets will be due most Fridays at 1:20 PM sharp. There will be a 20% lateness penalty for homeworks turned in by the following Monday at 1:20 PM sharp; no credit will be given for homework turned in after 1:20 PM Monday.

CSCI E-207 problem sets are generaly due Monday at 1:20 PM, the same as the CS121 late date, with no late problem sets accepted.

Each CS121 homework assignment has two “parts,” to be turned in as separate documents. The parts, but not individual problems, can be turned in “late” or “on time” separately. CSCI E-207 problem sets are not divided into "parts." Homeworks will be graded both for correctness and for clarity; graders are not required to guess the intended meaning of poorly written answers.

Students should learn the LaTeX document processing system and to use it when preparing their solutions. It is the stnadard text processing tool of mathematical scientiststs everywhere, and it is free and noncommercial. There will be a 5% grading penalty for problem sets not typeset using LaTeX (or TeX).

The first problem set (PS0) doesn't count, but it will be graded and returned as though it did. Its purpose is to get eveyrone used to the document preparation and submission procedures and to the style in which the rest of the problem sets will be graded.

CS 121 Collaboration Policy: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!

We strongly suggest you attempt each problem on your own before talking it over with your friends, classmates, or the course staff. We nonetheless encourage students to collaborate on homework. Small study groups can be a big help in mastering course material, and also be fun and a good way to make friends. But students must write up solutions on their own, neither copying solutions nor providing solutions to be copied. What you turn in should be your own work product; you should be able to explain and reproduce it.

While working on your problem sets, you may not refer to existing solutions, whether from other students, past offerings of this course, materials available on the internet, or elsewhere. If a source beyond the course materials is used in a solution ––for example, an "expert" consultant other than the course staff, or another text ––there must be a proper scholarly citation of the source.

All collaboratros must be identified. Each problem set turned in must include a collaboration statement:

"I worked alone and only with course materials"

or

"I collaborated on this assignment with <students in class>,
got help from <people other than collaborators and course staff>,
and referred to <citations to sources other than the class material from this term>".

No problem set will be given credit until it has a collaboration statement.

CSCI E-207 students should do all work on their own.

Violation of these rules may be grounds for giving no credit for a homework paper and also for serious disciplinary action.

Using LaTeX it makes it easier to modify your answers without rewriting, and it makes it far easier for us to read what you wrote, so you'll never lose points for illegibility. We will supply a template for each problem set solution so you will have to do a minimum of formatting other than typing your answers. We will accept handwritten assignments, but at a 5% penalty.

To use LaTeX, you'll need to install it--there are versions available for all major operating systems--see here.

Once you've done that, you can download the LaTeX source for the problem set you're working on to get the problem definitions, and just add your answers. You'll also need the cs121 class file: cs121.cls. (CSCI E-207 students will find the corresponding files on the CSCI E-207 materials page.) You can either put the class file in the directory where the problem set .tex file is, or add it to your TEXINPUTS path: on OS X or Linux, use something like:

setenv TEXINPUTS ":$HOME/files/tex"

LaTeX hints