The Honor Code

Your conduct and work in this course must adhere to the standards of the Olin College Honor Code .

Professors Holt, Pratt, and Spence regard the Honor Code as essential to the academic integrity of Olin College.  We expect that all assignments, exams, projects, and other course activities will be completed under the guidelines set by the Honor Code.  Guidelines for allowed collaboration are below.

Grading

Your grade for both the math and the physics components of the cohort will be based on the following breakdown:

Assignments (including presentations, etc.)      30% 

Exams (including oral exams)                             45%

Final (including oral component)                         25%

Note that in some cases, assignments will be graded for multiple components of the course – you might, for example, receive a math grade, a physics grade, and a project grade on a given presentation.

Within the project, your grade will be based on the following breakdown:

Assignments (in and out of class)                       30%

Teaming                                                                10% 

Preliminary Design Presentation                        10%

Final Design Presentation                                   20%

Final Product                                                         30%

Final Oral Examination                                        10%

Final Grades

During the second semester at Olin, we are using an ABCDF system. You can find descriptions of the letter grades on page 19 of the Student Handbook.

Collaboration

We want to encourage an atmosphere of collaboration, but we also need to monitor what you are achieving as an individual.  As a general homework policy, we strongly encourage you to be alone when you take the first crack at your homework problems.  Go somewhere quiet, and try to see how much you can do when you are alone with your books and notes.  After you have spent time trying to work out each problem, we encourage you to work with other students, compare approaches, and help each other learn the material.  We do expect and encourage you to partake in this type of collaboration, but we do expect you to cite the persons who helped you and whom you helped.   Within the project, collaboration is required for many of the deliverables.  However, we will require you to work individually on some assignments and on examinations.  When individual work is required, we will state it explicitly.  If you are at all uncertain about whether or how to cite a source or whether a particular kind of collaboration is acceptable, ask the relevant instructor before you proceed.

If you ever have any doubt about what type of collaboration is allowed on a certain assignment, please ask one of us for clarification.   

We trust that you will not hand in a solution if you don’t understand it.  We are trusting that you will not try to get around this by citing a person who tried to explain the solution to you.  If you do not understand a problem, even after consulting with other students, please come and see one of us.  

Time Expectations

We expect that a well-prepared student, working effectively, needs to spend a total of about 30 hours per week doing everything associated with this cohort (including attending class).  However, you should realize that depending on your background, you may need to put in fewer or more hours. If the number of extra hours becomes excessive, you should see us for help.

Homework Policies – Physics

Reading Assignments will be posted on Blackboard by Friday afternoon for physics meetings in the upcoming week.  This reading is really important, since we’re going to spend class time clarifying (as opposed to introducing) concepts. 

Reading Quizzes will be administered via WebAssign, and are due by 8AM on the day of the relevant class meeting.  These will be very short (about 10 minutes), but will allow us to see what issues we ought to concentrate on in class.  Reading quizzes count towards your homework grade.

Homework (5-8 hours of work) will be assigned about once per week, generally with the reading assignments.  All of the homework should be recorded in your physics notebook (see below).  Homework will typically include problems of varying difficulty, which you can combine to suit your learning style and needs.  There will be some relatively straightforward problems that are meant to demonstrate your familiarity with the basics.  You will probably want to choose others on your own in order to convince yourself that you really understand the material.  The formal homework assignment will also include some problems that are a bit more challenging; you should attempt these when you have the more straightforward problems in hand.  It is essential that you try all the homework problems.  It's OK if you don't have time to complete the  more complicated ones if you have used your time effectively.  For all problems, the manner in which you attack them is much more important than the answers, and you should make your approach to each problem clear so that you can follow your reasoning when you go back to review your homework later. 

Notebook should be a record of the work you do to learn physics this semester, including your notes from class, your homework, and any work that is not pure "scratch". This is a good habit to develop for the real world, and will also help you study for exams. The notebook should be:

• Legible. This does not mean that you can't cross things out, but it does mean that you need to write a little more neatly than you might otherwise.
• Chronological.  Each section should start with a date, and a clear statement of what you're doing. For example, at the top of a page you would write something like, "January 27, 2002, 3AM - practice problems from Chap 24 in Wolfson and Pasachoff. I am working with Ernie and Bert."
• Understandable.  Solutions to problems should clearly indicate the problem number, an abbreviated problem description,  and (often) a diagram, so that you can understand what you've done when you review the notebook weeks (or months) later, e.g. "W&P, prob 23-17: finding E for an infinite line of charge."
• Indexed.  You should leave a few pages at the beginning of the notebook or pages at the back to record where material can be found by subject.  For example, you will do some problems from Chapter 24 when you do the reading, when you do the homework, and when you study for exams – you should indicate in the Index the page numbers on which specific problems and other material from Chapter 24 can be found.

Grading of homeworks will be in accordance with how appropriately you are doing problems to reinforce concepts rather than for correctness or completeness, per se.  If you need to do extra problems, they should be included in your notebook.

Turning in Assignments will not be required.  Instead, we'll be using a combination of electronic means, one-on-one consultations, oral presentations, and your lab notebook to track your work on assignments. The details are:

• All assignments must be recorded in your physics notebook.
• I may ask to check your physics notebook at any time.  I will meet with you individually on a regular basis during the semester to look over your notebook and to give you feedback.
• Reading Quizzes (on WebAssign) may include problems from the previous homework. If you've done the assignment, all you need to do is turn to the relevant page of your notebook, and type in the answer.  Make sure that your Table of Contents or Index indicates clearly where each problem can be found, so that you (or I) can find any specific problem.
• I may ask you to do oral presentations of homework problem solutions in class.

 Other Stuff: Although the list above covers most of the formal homework for physics, assignments that don’t fall into the above categories will crop up.  For example, some of the project work will also have a physics component.

Physics Learning Objectives:  At the end of the semester, you should be able to...

• Use analytical techniques to find electric fields and potentials for simple two and three dimensional systems

• Use electric field, charge, current, potential and energy to explain and model the behavior of common electronic components, such as resistors, capacitors and semiconductor devices

• Explain the physical basis of Kirchhoff's Laws, and determine voltages and currents in simple DC and AC circuits with passive components

• Find magnetic fields for simple quasi-static current configurations

• Explain the physical foundation of the wave equation for both mechanical systems (e.g., strings) and for electromagnetic waves

• Use Maxwell's equations and the wave equation to explain basic behaviors of electromagnetic waves (e.g., reflection, refraction, interference, diffraction)

Homework Policies – Math

Reading Assignments:  There will be a reading assignment associated with every math class meeting.  The reading must be completed before you come to class, and it will be posted online as we go.  As mentioned above, pre-class reading is really important, since we’re going to spend class time clarifying (as opposed to introducing) concepts.  The math reading assignment will always include some sections of your math textbook(s), and it will sometimes include outside reading.   There may be quizzes on the reading.

Problem Sets: 

• There will be math homework problems associated with every lecture, but homework may be  collected less frequently.  Some problems will require MatLab. 
• Each problem set will contain a list of problems that I expect you to consider by the due date.  Within each problem set, certain problems will be starred. The starred problems will be collected.   The unstarred problems will not be collected, but you will see some of them again on exams.  I will also identify certain problems that are to be worked without collaboration. 
• You should write up all problems on loose-leaf paper, and keep all homework problems in your loose-leaf binder.  When starred problems are returned, you should add them to your binder.  It is important that your starred solutions are neat!  On the top of your paper, write your name, the due date, and the list of starred problems in the set.  Clearly number each problem.  Next to each problem, clearly indicate any collaborators.  Write out enough of each problem so that you and I can later tell what problem you were solving.  Use well-structured sentences when appropriate.  Write neatly (or learn to use LaTex).  Staple all pages together (you can unstaple them later if you wish.)  NO LATE HOMEWORK (except under extremely unusual circumstances).

Homework Policies – Project

You can expect some Reading Assignments as part of some practica.  These assignments will be posted on Friday afternoon for project meetings in the upcoming week.

Assignments:  You’ll submit a number of shorter homework assignments and a number of larger assignments. Some of these assignments will be submitted electronically, and some will be submitted in the traditional fashion (you hand it to me).  I’ll inform you of the submission requirements when I assign the work.

Project Notebook:  I expect you to keep a lab notebook with all of your project-related designs, ideas, sketches, calculations, experimental data, and other information.  The notebook should include a table of contents to enable quick access to project information.  I’ll periodically check the notebooks to ensure that they’re being maintained.

Course Learning Objectives - Math

Mathematical Foundations in Engineering II – Spring 2003

Professors Tilley, Spence, and Moody

Expected student-hours per week:  9 hours (3 contact-hours)

Learning Objectives:  Graduating students of the cohort including MFE II will be able to:

• Solve standard topical textbook-level problems by analytical means.  A list of topics can be found in the sample syllabus shown in the Appendix
• Apply multiple concepts in the solution of a more sophisticated problem, which may be derived from a scientific or from an engineering application.
• Model a topical problem from science or from engineering mathematically, solve the problem, and report the results in the original problem context, either through a presentation or through a written report

Measureable Outcomes:  Graduating students of the cohort including MFE II will be able to:

Linear Algebra

• Define dimension, row/column vectors, identity matrix, vector spaces, row space, column space, nullspace,  rank, basis, linear dependence, orthogonality, inverse matrices, determinant, eigenvalues, eigenvectors and eigenspaces.
• Prove elementary theorems in linear algebra.
• Convert a engineering or science-based linear system into a matrix formulation, find its characteristic values, and interpret the resulting solutions.

Vector Calculus:

• Define limits, continuity, partial derivatives, differentials, directional derivatives, cross product of vectors, divergence, gradient, curl, cylindrical and spherical coordinates, flux, circulation, level curves, repeated integrals
• Apply Green’s Theorem, Stokes Theorem, and Divergence Theorem in scientific and engineering applications. 
• Relate conservation principles to potential functions.
• Perform multidimensional integrals in Cartesian, cylindrical and spherical coordinate frames.

Appendix:  A sample weekly list of topics is shown below: