General Policies for Mathematics Classes

Instructor: Steen Pedersen

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Academic dishonesty means representing work as your own when it is not. This includes, but is not restricted to, copying from another student's paper during an exam, direct copying of homework, and use of unauthorized aids during an exam. The minimum penalty for cheating is a zero on the exam or assignment in which it occurred. Disciplinary actions are also possible. Do not gaze at another student's paper during an exam for any reason. Avoid seating yourself in a position where you have an unobstructed view of another student's paper.
CALCULATORS: Students are expected to have a scientific calculator, and to bring them to class and to exams. In particular calculators with graphing capabilities are required for all sections of MTH 229, 230, 231, 232, and 233. Use of calculators during exams is permitted unless otherwise announced, however sharing calculators between students during an exam is not allowed. Notebook or laptop computers or similar machines are not permitted on exams.
COMMON FINALS: Students in daytime sections of MTH 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 228, 229, and 230 will have common final exams. There are several differences between common finals and normal finals. First, your common final will be in a different room and at a different time than normal; the times for Mathematics common finals are published in the Time Schedule, and your instructor will give you the room number late in the quarter. The common final may be written by committee and graded jointly by the instructors for that course.
CONTACTING ME: The following methods are available for contacting me when you need to
DISABILITY SERVICES: If you intend to use the proctoring service provided by Disability Services for exams, please let me know at the beginning of the quarter. It is your responsibility to make arrangements with them for exam dates. Make sure you do so well in advance; they cannot provide last-minute proctors for exams.
DROPPING: If you drop the class during the first three weeks, there will be no record of the class on your transcript. If you drop before the end of the fifth week (eighth week for freshpeople), a grade of W will be recorded, which will have no effect on your grade point average. Students who do not complete the course without properly withdrawing, or do not take the final exam, will receive a grade of X, which counts as an F for calculating grade point averages.
ELECTRONIC MAIL: All registered WSU students are given a Unix computer account; to pick up your account, go to 025 Library Annex with a picture ID. One of the things you can do with such an account is send and receive electronic mail (email). You can send email from home if you have a personal computer with a modem. Email has the advantage that it works 24 hours a day. My email address is: steen@math.wright.edu. I do not read email on weekends.
EXAMS: All exams (except common finals) will take place in the room in which class lectures are held. Midterm exams will take place during scheduled class times, and finals during the scheduled final exam time as listed in the Class Schedule. Dates for the quizzes and/or exams will be given at the beginning of the quarter. Please try to be at least 5 minutes early on exam days. Usually you will have to provide your own paper for the exam. The exam questions will be on a separate sheet which you should not turn in, but keep for future reference. Unless otherwise announced, all exams will be closed book, meaning that no reference materials of any kind are permitted. You should always bring a photo ID to exams, especially final exams where they are required by departmental policy. It is the student's responsibility to be present at all exams. If a student is unavoidably absent for an exam, some accommodation may be made, not necessarily a makeup exam.; Illness or Accident: These can be valid reasons for missing an exam, but you must contact me as soon as you are able or you may receive a zero. Business Trip, TDY or other unalterable commitment: These may be accepted as valid excuses for missing exams, but only if you make arrangements in advance. In either case, do not discuss the exam with other students, and be prepared to take the exam the day you return to school. Be prepared to document your excuse. A student who misses an exam without a valid reason can expect to receive a zero. DO NOT make personal travel plans that conflict with the final exam!
GRADING: Homework assignments may be graded by a student grader; exams will be graded by myself. At the beginning of the quarter I will publish the percentages for determining your final grade. Each exam, project, etc. will have its own grading scale, and the grading scale for the course will be determined by combining these to form an overall scale. If you wish to protest the grading of an exam question, you must do so within one week of the exam. Always keep your exam papers and homework papers until you receive your course grade. Do not call the mathematics office concerning your course grade. Grades will not be posted. Ask at the final exam when you can contact me to find your course grade. Your course grade is based on one thing only, and that is your performance in the course. Please do not ask me to give you special consideration because of personal problems or career objectives. Your grade is neither an evaluation of you as a person nor of the amount of effort you put into the course.
HOMEWORK: Homework should be done on 8 1/2" x 11" paper only, using pencil, blue ink, black ink, typed, or printed. When turned in, it should be folded in half vertically with your name, section, and the assignment number written on the outside. Homework papers should be reasonably neat and organized and all work required to solve the problem should be shown. Late homework will not necessarily be accepted. Students are encouraged to work together on homework, discuss solution methods, and compare solutions. However copying of another student's homework is not acceptable. Grading homework is a means of giving credit for work done and/or motivating you to do it.. Even if a grader is provided, it is usually not possible to grade all problems. There is no obligation on the part of the grader to catch or correct your errors -- that is your responsibility.
INCOMPLETES: The grade of I (Incomplete) is rarely given, and will only be given to students who have completed most of the course with a passing grade but are prevented from completing the course by illness, accident or other factor outside their control. Very few of the students who request an Incomplete fall into this category.
OFFICE HOURS: Office hours are the times when I am committed to be in my office and available for questions. I am often available at other times. You can always ask when I'm free, or drop by and see if I'm available. Regular office hours are not valid during final exam week.
PLACEMENT: Are you in the right class? If you received a D (or an F!) in the previous class, it would be wise to repeat that class before moving forward. If this is your first math class in a year or more, expect to do some extra review work to prepare yourself. Have you satisfied the prerequisites for this course? Are you sure this course is required or appropriate for your major program? If you think you may be in the wrong course, say so, and we can talk about alternatives.
STUDYING: The percentage of students in a mathematics course who complete it successfully is often lower than necessary. There are three factors which determine how well a student does: background, talent, and effort. The most important of these is effort, so if you want to do well, plan now to work hard. The standard rule of thumb is to spend two hours studying for each hour in class, but this can vary quite a bit depending on the course and the student.
WEB ACCESS: I try to provide access to information on each course that I teach via the world-wide web. Go to my home page at http://mjollnir.math.wright.edu a possibly more recent page is at http://wright.edu/~steen.pedersen/. You should be able to find homework assignments, syllabi, etc. at one or both of these locations.

This page was last changed on 2 september, 1998.
Send comments and suggestions to Steen Pedersen, steen@math.wright.edu

Adapted from a similar page by Richard Mercer.