Instructor: Christopher Hanusa -- email chanusa@washington.edu.
Meeting Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 6:30-7:50.
Meeting Place: Loew Hall, Room 113.
Web Site: http://www.math.washington.edu/~chanusa/math308/.
Course E-mail List: math308u_au04@u.washington.edu.
Course Discussion Board:
http://catalyst.washington.edu/webtools/epost/register.cgi?owner=chanusa&id=9379.

Textbook: Introduction to Linear Algebra by Johnson, Riess and Arnold, 5th ed.

This class covers: Chapters 1, 3, and 4 from the textbook. You are expected to know the material from Chapter 2; it was covered in Math 126.

Homework Policy: DO IT! Every week (except midterm week) a new homework set will be posted on the course website. It will be due on Wednesdays before class at 6:30pm. A grader will grade three problems that I choose and assign additional points depending on how complete your assignment is. Please staple your homeworks and write your name clearly.
      It is important to learn how to express yourself in the language of mathematics. In the homework, you should show your work and explain how you did the problem. According to David Ragozin, this is the difference between an Answer and a Solution. It should be obvious to the person reading the homework how you went about doing the problem. This will often involve writing out explanations for your work in words. Imagine that you need an example to help refresh your memory for another class in six months!
      There will be no late homework allowed since I have to give the homework batch to the grader. If you are not planning to be in class, let me know and get it to me beforehand. This is your responsibility. I will drop the lowest of the homeworks since unexpected personal business or forgetfulness is bound to occur sometime this quarter.

Study Groups: It is useful to form study groups to work on homework. At the beginning the problems will seem easy enough to plug and chug on your own, but as the quarter progresses the questions become quite complex indeed. Study groups good. Copying solutions bad. When a group works on a problem, everyone can participate. But when you write up the answers to the problems, write it up in your own way.
      Study groups have several advantages: (i) you can practice and learn how to solve more problems in less time (doing as many problems as possible is the key to success), (ii) the best way to really learn something is to explain it to someone else (misunderstandings that you never knew you had come to light under someone else's questioning), (iii) no two people solve the same problem the same way, in a group you may discover new and more efficient ways to solve the same problem, (iv) seeing that others also struggle with this material helps to put your own level of understanding in a better perspective and will hopefully reduce some of your anxiety, (v) in making the homework assignments, I assume that you will be working in groups.
      The course Discussion Board is a useful place to advertise and find a study group. Even if no one has posted, that doesn't mean no one is looking. If you can not find a study group, e-mail me or the course e-mail list.

Quizzes: There will be three quizzes in class during the quarter. They will assess how well you understand the concepts. They will be 20-30 minutes in length (I haven't decided yet) and no calculators or study aides are allowed.

Tests: There will be one midterm in Week 7 that is a class period long, and the Final Exam on December 15th that is almost two hours long. Again, no calculators or study aides will be allowed. There will be no make-up exam except in the case of a documented emergency. In the event of an unavoidable conflict with the midterm (an athletic meet, wedding, funeral, etc...), you must notify me at least one week before the date of the exam so that we can arrange for you to take the exam BEFORE the actual exam date. In the event of an unavoidable conflict with the final exam, you will need to submit a written petition for this purpose to me by Wednesday, December 1st.

Grading Scheme:

• Homework: 15%
• Quizzes: 30%
• Midterm: 25%
• Final Exam: 30%

     Office Hours: I will hold regular office hours this quarter on Monday from 5:30-6:20pm and 8:00-8:25 in my office, Padelford C-111. If these times are not convenient, I would be glad to meet with you some other time. It is much better to raise questions as soon as they occur, rather than get farther behind and more frustrated. Please contact me by e-mail at chanusa@washington.edu. I will hold extra office hours before the midterm and the final. My quarterly schedule can be found here: HERE.