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Evaluation
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Your grade in the course will be based on your marks in two term tests and a three-hour final exam. The material covered by all tests will be cumulative. Note that the tests will not be held in the regular classroom.

Test 1
Week 5: Thursday 3 October, 2:10-3:40. Location: EX 310 (Exam Center).
Test 2
Week 10: Thursday 14 November, 2:10-3:40. Location: EX 310 (Exam Center).

After each test there will be a class from 4:00 to 5:00.

No calculators will be permitted in either term test or in the final exam.

Each term test will receive a weight of 25% in the final mark, and the final exam will receive a weight of 50%.

Redemption

Low but passing marks in the term tests will be redeemable by a high mark on the final exam, and marks between 40% and 50% on the term tests will be partly redeemable. Specifically, for any term test on which your mark is at least 50% and is lower than your mark on the final exam, the 25% weight for the test will be transferred to the final exam. For a term test on which your mark is between 40% and 50% and is lower than your mark on the final exam, your term test mark, say x, will receive a weight of 2.5(50 - x)% and the weight 25 - 2.5(50 - x)% will be transferred to the final exam. (For example, if you score 45% on a test, then that test will receive a weight of 12.5% and the remaining 12.5% of the weight for that test will be transferred to the final exam.) If you do not take a test or if you receive a mark of 40% or less, no weight for that test will be transferred to the final exam. For example, if your mark on each term test is 60 and your mark on the final exam is 80, then your final mark will be 80, but if your mark on each term test is 40 and your mark on the final exam is 80, then your final mark will be 60.

Principles used in marking tests and exams

  • You must give reasoning to get credit for an answer. If you give the right answer without any explanation you will get 0. For a problem whose solution requires a mathematical argument, an "explanation" must contain words that indicate how your mathematical arguments are linked, and how they answer the question.

    If, for example, a question asks you to find the minimizer of the function x2, it is not sufficient to write "2x = 0, x = 0" or something like that. Instead, you need to incorporate your calculations into regular English sentences. You could write something like

    "The function is convex (because ...), so its minimizers are the values of x for which the derivative is zero. Differentiating with respect to x we obtain 2x, so the derivative is zero if and only if x = 0. Thus the minimizer of the function is x = 0."

    Or you could use more mathematical notation and write something like

    "Define the function f by f(x) = x2. Then f is convex (because ...), so its minimizers are the values of x for which f'(x) = 0. We have f'(x) = 2x, so f'(x) = 0 if and only if x = 0. Thus the minimizer of the function is x = 0."

  • You get 0 if you give two answers to a problem, one right and one wrong.
  • If you give the right answer and the right reasoning, but in addition add some incorrect reasoning, you will get less than full credit.
  • I do not take off points for poor English per se, but if the meaning of what you write is not clear you will lose points.
  • I do not penalize small errors in algebra unless they lead to arguments that are simpler than the ones that arise in their absence.
  • If you formulate a problem incorrectly, but use the correct methods correctly, you will not be penalized heavily unless your formulation leads to an analysis that is simpler than or very different from the one for the correct formulation.

Missed tests

If you miss the term test because of a serious illness, you must provide me with either a fully completed University of Toronto "Verification of Student Illness or Injury" Certificate, available at http://www.illnessverification.utoronto.ca/, a University of Toronto "Student health or disability related certificate", a letter from your college Registrar, or a letter from Accessibility Services. I will not accept any other form. Here are the rules.

  1. You need to see the doctor before the test. I will not accept certificates that relate to visits after the test.
  2. The illness must be serious enough that you are unable to write the exam. It is not enough that, given the illness, you would not do as well as you otherwise might. I will not accept certificates concerning minor ailments.
  3. The certificate must be completed by a qualified medical doctor (not, for example, a chiropractor, acupuncturist, or other medical professional).
  4. The certificate must include the doctor's OHIP registration number.
  5. The certificate must be completed in full and must be completely legible. In particular, I will not accept a certificate unless the doctor's name, licensing body, and registration number are legible.
  6. You must email me the day of the test, explaining the circumstances.
  7. You must bring me the original certificate (not a scan or copy) in person as soon as you are better. I will not accept emailed certificates.
  8. You must write a makeup test. The makeup test for the first term test will be held on Friday October 11, 10:10am–12:00pm and the makeup test for the second term test will be held on Friday November 22, 10:10am–12:00pm. If you do not write the makeup exam for the test you missed, you will receive 0 for that test: there will be no makeup for the makeup.