Academic integrity
Academic integrity is essential to the pursuit of learning and scholarship in a university, and to ensuring that a degree from the University of Toronto is a strong signal of each student's individual academic achievement. As a result, the University treats cases of cheating and plagiarism very seriously. The University of Toronto's Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters) outlines the behaviours that constitute academic dishonesty and the processes for addressing academic offences. All suspected cases of academic dishonesty will be investigated following procedures outlined in the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. If you have questions or concerns about what constitutes appropriate academic behaviour or appropriate research and citation methods, you are expected to seek out additional information on academic integrity from your instructor or from other institutional resources.
Your mark in the course
On December 15, 2021, the university cancelled in-person final exams that were to be held from December 16 to 21, including the exam for this course.
New marking scheme: Your mark in the course will be based on your marks in the weekly homeworks ((100/66)*1% per complete homework submitted on time) and the four term tests (the best three of which count (100/66)*18% each).
(The original marking scheme was: Your mark in the course will be based on your marks in the weekly homeworks (1% per complete homework submitted on time), four term tests (the best three of which count 18% each), and a final assessment (34%).)
Homeworks
Each week, homework will be due on Wednesday at 5pm. You will get 1 point for each completed homework you submit by this deadline. (There will be no exceptions.) Homework is "completed" if you provide a serious attempt to answer every question, showing how you obtained your answers. Simply stating an answer does not count as a "serious attempt".
Term tests
There will be four 45-minute term tests.
The emphasis in each test will be the material listed below. However, much of the later material depends on the earlier material, so the material for the tests is effectively cumulative.
- Test 1
- Wednesday September 29, 2:10pm-2:55pm. Coverage: material in weeks 1 and 2.
- Test 2
- Wednesday October 20, 2:10pm-2:55pm. Coverage: material in weeks 3, 4, and 5.
- Test 3
- Wednesday November 17, 2:10pm-2:55pm. Coverage: material in weeks 6, 7, and 8.
- Test 4
- Wednesday December 1, 2:10pm-2:55pm. Coverage: material in weeks 9 and 10.
No aids, including calculators, will be permitted in any term test or in the final assessment.
Your best three marks in these four tests will each receive a weight of 18%.
Final exam
Coverage: whole course, with more weight on material in weeks 11 and 12. Date and time: see Schedule page. This exam will receive a weight of 34%.
Principles used in marking tests and exams
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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 a term test because of illness, you have the option to write a makeup test. There will be one makeup test, on Wednesday December 8 from 2:10pm to 2:55pm. This test will cover all the material for the course (regardless of which test you missed). If you do not write the makeup test, you will receive a mark of 0 for the missed test; there will be no makeup for the makeup.