This course will generally consist of two 50-minute lectures and one 50-minute recitation section per week, at the times listed on the home page. We will go over the course material as found in the textbook, work examples, and answer your (hopefully) many questions. Please do not use electronic devices during lecture unless instructed to do so.
During recitation, you will spend time working on problems in groups, going over problems with your teaching assistant, taking quizzes, and further discussing course material. You will also take the midterms in recitation section.
Attendance is required at all lectures and recitation sections. Classroom polling questions and quizzes in section both count toward your final grade. You must attend your assigned section — your attendance in a different section will not be counted.
There will generally be a quiz during each recitation section, except when there is a midterm. Typically, quizzes will cover the material that was done in the same week in lecture. Quizzes also serve as practice for the exams. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped.
We will be using Piazza for online class discussion. The system is designed to get you help fast and efficiently from classmates, the TAs, and the instructor. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, we encourage you to post your questions on Piazza and attend office hours. You can access Piazza through Canvas.
We will use Piazza to post announcements. It is important that you read the announcements! Note that you will not receive announcement emails from Piazza until you login for the first time!
Participation will be measure through a series of activities, mainly with classroom polling in lecture, so bring a computer or smartphone to class with you. Responding to these questions counts toward your final grade — although it doesn't matter if your answer was correct. The lowest three poll scores will be dropped. Please do not use your electronic devices when not responding to a poll.
Homework will be assigned online and will consist of exercises in
MyMathLab (accessed through Canvas).
You are
responsible for understanding how to solve all homework exercises for exams
and quizzes. Homework assignments will generally be due at 11:59 PM on
Thursdays. During the first week of class, there is an ungraded practice "Warmup" assignment on
MyMathLab designed to get students accustomed to working with the system.
The lowest two homework grades will be dropped. No late
homework will be accepted — no exceptions. Each homework assignment
counts the same amount toward your grade.
Note that the quiz in recitation section may sometimes be based closely on the homework assignment which was due the very same week.
There will be a written assignment due near the end of the semester, in which you will give a 2–3 page exposition of some applications of linear algebra to whichever field you find most interesting.
There are three midterm examinations during the semester. Their dates can be found on the calendar. No books, notes, calculators, cell phones, or other electronic devices are allowed during exams. Each exam will be worth 15% of your final grade.
Absences from quizzes and midterms are generally excused only for Georgia Tech
official business, religious holidays, serious illness, and the like. This
does not include internships and interviews. Absences for religious holidays should be discussed with your instructor by Thursday, January 25th.
We reserve the right to ask for a letter from the Dean of Students to justify an absence. In the event that you
miss the midterm for an acceptable reason, the weight of that midterm will be equally shifted equally to your remaining exams, including the final exam.
You may only make up missed quizzes or exams in the following circumstances.
1. University-mandated travel: If you will miss any class days (including recitation) for university-mandated travel,
you must give official notice for all of them as soon as possible.
2. Religious holiday: By the end of class on Thursday, January 25, you must notify your instructor and your TA of any classes (including recitation) you will miss due to religious holidays.
3. Illness: Except under extenuating circumstances, you must notify your TA in advance and have a doctor's note.
4. In case of a family emergency, please have your academic advisor or the Dean's office contact your instructor.
Otherwise missed quizzes and missed exams result in a 0.
If you will miss an exam, then you must notify your instructor in advance (rather than your TA) and present a doctor's note in
the case of an illness.
The final exam will cover all course materials and will be administered on Thursday April 26th, 2:50-5:40pm. All students must take the final exam to complete the course. It is worth 30% of your overall grade.
Your numerical grades on quizzes and exams will be posted throughout the semester
on Canvas. When receiving a graded quiz or exam in recitation, check to be sure it matches
the grade posted on Canvas.
The grading breakdown is as follows.
in the Grades tab.
If you score higher on your written assignment than on one of the midterms, then the written assignment score will be used to replace half of the lowest midterm score.
Final letter grades will be calculated as follows:
After all grades are in and all overall percentage scores for students have been computed, grades are assigned. The standard cutoffs are as follows.
A: [90%–100%], B: [80%–90%), C: [70%–80%), D: [60%–70%), F: [0%–60%)
So, to guarantee an A, get 90% or better overall. (90 means 90, not 89.9) To guarantee at least a B grade, get 80% or better overall, etc. These cutoffs might be adjusted, but only in the downward direction (to make letter grades higher).Progress report grades will be assigned on February 19th. A satisfactory grade will be assigned to all students who tentatively have a C or higher.
The written assignment is not mandatory, but it is the only way to improve your overall score; see grading.
Students are expected to fully adhere to Georgia Tech's honor code.