Math 103B TA (Ross M. Richardson) Page

Basic Information

• Main Course Page
• TA Office Hours: 12-1pm, Mon. and Tues. . Other hours available by appointment scheduled via email. All office hours are held in my office, AP&M 2325 unless otherwise specified (i.e. if you don't see me in my office check for a posted sign).
• Homework is due in Wednesday lecture. See below for homework policy.

Homework Policy

Your homework in this course is worth 25% of your course grade, as determined by me. So what am I looking for? First, you should do all the assigned problems correctly and completely. You have access to both myself and your instructor, as well as classmates, to discuss possible difficulties and work through your solutions. Second, you need to present your homework in a clear and logical manner. This means that you use full sentences, clear (and valid) logic, and mathematical notation (when appropriate) so that your fellow classmates would have no trouble understanding your solution. Additionally, your homework should be laid out neatly in the manner shown in the first link below. You should also read the various documents found in the second link for a primer on the basics of mathematical writing. You are in an upper division math class and are expected to write appropriately. Note: I reserve the right to take ANY NUMBER OF POINTS I DEEM NECESSARY away from your homework for poorly written solutions.

• Harvey Mudd College Homework Site
• Student's Guide to Good Problems

Homework submitted late will not be graded unless I have given prior permission or upon the presentation of a doctor's note. If for some reason you will not be able to submit the homework on time, please talk to me prior to the due date and we will negotiate a later time for submission, if appropriate. If you have not spoken with me prior to the deadline, please do not try to submit late homework.

Solutions

The following are solutions to some of your homework problems. Please do not share these with individuals outside this class. Use the password given out in section (or ask your classmate if you have forgotten). Please let me know of mistakes on my solutions; I will attempt to correct them.

• HW 1.
• HW 2.
• HW 3.
• HW 4.
• HW 5.
• HW 6.
• HW 7.
• HW 8.
• HW 9.

Ross' Surefire Tips for Suceeding in Math

• Do your homework! Seriously, mathematics is a creative endeavor which involves thinking deeply about why things work. The only way to gain such understanding is to buckle down and tackle problems. Don't kid yourself; if you haven't sat down and really thought about the problems, you haven't learned anything. If you find yourself spending lots of time memorizing, you're not doing mathematics.
• Ask Questions. This includes asking your professor questions, your TA, your fellow students, and most importantly yourself. To learn math you must constantly ask questions and try to answer them, thus prompting more questions. Asking others adds new ideas, as well as forces you to better understand your problem.
• Avoid Solution Manuals. There's no better way to convince yourself that you've learned something and actually have learned nothing than to read solution manuals. Checking your solution (e.g. comparing against the number in the back of the book) is valuable so long as it causes you to reconsider a problem you've gotten wrong; copying a written solution has almost no value. As a further note, most "Student Solution Manuals" are reprinted solution manuals meant for your teachers. Hence, they are written as solution sketches, missing many details and concepts which are necessary for a complete solution.
• Spend enough time to understand. It is amazing how much repeated exposure to mathematics helps understanding. Don't cheat yourself; spend time solving problems and making completely clear any concept which seems mysterious. In other disciplines, memorization and bullshit will get you a long way - you'll find this is not true in mathematics.
• They're problems, not exercises. My last point is philosophical. When you are asked to do homework, approach your homework as a set of problems to be solved by understanding how they work and how you can get to your conclusion. We learn only when we are confronted with a challenge, think about how it works, and understand our solution when we (hopefully) come up with it. If you are not solving problems but just moving symbols around in immitation of something you've been taught, you will learn very little. Real life is a series of challenging problems-- those who have done nothing but exercises will find themselves hardpressed to meet the challenge.