Course Syllabus

The course syllabus contains the policies and important dates for Math 303 this term. If you are confused about anything in the syllabus, please don't hesitate to let the instructor know.

Course Details

Professor My name is Andy Schultz, and my preference is that you address me by my first name (no title necessary). My office is on the main floor of Clapp Library, room 255. Office hours will be held

You are highly encouraged to attend office hours, and you never need an appointment to do so. If these office hours don't fit with your schedule, let me know so that I can either adjust when ``official" office hours are held or set up an appointment to help you outside of office hours. Please come to my office or send me an email if you ever want to discuss material from the class or ask about homework problems! Please note that there will be occasions when I have to cancel or reschedule an office hour; I apologize in advance for any inconvenience, but I do try to schedule "make-up" office hours accordingly.

You can contact me at . Though I'm always happy to receive emails from you with questions or concerns about the course, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to promptly reply to emails late at night or over the weekend. If you do contact me by email, please be sure to follow standard email etiquette. In particular, please make sure you include a greeting and signature and avoid abbreviations. If you're contacting me to ask about a problem, please be sure to specify what the problem asks (as opposed to asking something like ``I can't get problem 2 and need your help").

Text The course is centered around Rosenthal's A first look at rigorous probability theory, 2nd edition (ISBN 978-981-270-371-2). The book is well-regarded and relatively inexpensive (around $30). However, if purchasing the text presents a financial hardship for you, PLEASE let me know so we can see how to resolve the issue.

Online resources You'll be able to access homework assignments, lecture summaries and copies of quizzes online through the course webpage at http://palmer.wellesley.edu/~aschultz/w20/math303.

Learning Goals While learning the content of the course, you will

Disability accommodations If you have a disability or condition, either long-term or temporary, and need reasonable academic adjustments in this course, please contact Accessibility and Disability Resources (ADR) to get a letter outlining your accommodation needs, and submit that letter to me. You should request accommodations as early as possible in the semester, or before the semester begins, since some situations can require significant time for review and accommodation design. If you need immediate accommodations, please arrange to meet with me as soon as possible. If you are unsure but suspect you may have an undocumented need for accommodations, you are encouraged to contact (ADR). They can provide assistance including screening and referral for assessments. Disability Services can be reached at accessibility@wellesley.edu, at 781-283-2434, by scheduling an appointment online at their website, https://www.wellesley.edu/adr or by visiting their offices on the 3rd floor of Clapp Library, rooms 316 and 315.

Expectations

Prerequisites Students are expected to have completed Math 302 before taking this class. Students are not required to have previous experience in probability theory.

In-class expectations Your engaged presence is expected in classroom lectures. While the professor is in charge of determining what content is covered during a class period, students share the responsibility of directing lectures and discussion sections so each is as clear as possible. In particular, students should feel comfortable stopping the instructor to ask him to repeat a particular exposition, to present a concrete example of an abstract concept, or to explain a confusing concept in a new way. Classroom time is there for the benefit of students, so should be treated as an interactive resource.

Attendance Mathematics requires that a student understand one concept before moving on to the next, and since our course moves at a fast pace it is critical that you attend each and every class. If you are going to miss any classes this term, please let the instructor know as soon as possible.

Effort Many students have the impression that "understanding the material" means instantly knowing how to do problems assigned in the class. On the contrary, most students find they don't truly understand the course material until they have struggled through several attempts at solving problems or understanding concepts. You are expected to exert a good amount of effort in working through the course material, and you shouldn't be discouraged if a certain topic remains elusive when you first encounter it: try some suggested problems, go to office hours, and ask your instructor or friends for help when you need it. The typical student will need to put in at least 10 hours per week on the assigned problem sets. If you find you are consistently spending more than 12 hours on problem sets, please discuss this with the professor so he can help you manage the time you spend on this class more effectively.

Academic Integrity You are expected to read and understand the college's Honor Code. Incidents where academic integrity have been compromised will be dealt with severely. Although most students have a good feel for what constitutes a violation of the Honor Code, for this class you will also need to be familiar with the instructor's policy on homework collaboration. Please be sure to thoroughly read and understand the section on homework below to avoid an inadvertent violation of the Honor Code.

Grading

Homework Homework problems will be due roughly once per week or week and a half. Students are to write their solutions neatly and submit them according to the instructor's instructions. Be sure to start your assignment early so you have enough time to work through problems which require some creative energy. When computing your homework average, your lowest score is dropped.

An important note about collaboration and the Honor Code. Students are more than welcome to work with the instructor, classmates, or a tutor from the Help Room when solving homework problems (except on problems marked "$\star$", which you must work on independently or with assistance from the instructor). If you have consulted with someone in preparing your homework, please include a reference to your collaborators when you submit your assignment. In the event that you have taken notes while working with someone else, you must put these notes away and recreate the solutions on your own when you submit your solutions for the homework assignment. Using notes from a collaboration while writing your homework assignment will be considered a violation of the Honor Code. In addition, you may NOT consult a written solution to a problem you're working on (whether it be online or in a book). If you have any confusion about this policy, please talk to the instructor.

Quizzes There will be in-class quizzes given in this course. With the exception of exam weeks and the first week of classes, we will have a quiz every Monday. Your quiz average will be computed after dropping your lowest quiz score. Barring extreme circumstances, make-up quizzes will not be given. In general, the material covered on quizzes will be the content covered during the previous week's lectures.

Tests There will be a take-home midterm due on Friday, March 20 and a take-home final.

Computing your grade Your grade is computed as follows: Quizzes (10%), Homework average (60%), Midterm (15%), Final (15%)