Math42 Syllabus
Math42 Syllabus
Math42 Syllabus
Class Information
Course Instructor: James Adler (james.adler@tufts.edu)
Lectures: Monday and Wednesdays 3:00-4:15pm in Pearson Room 104.
Practicums: Once a week on Thursday or Friday (various times)
Practicum Leaders:
Arkadz Kirshtein (arkadz.kirshtein@tufts.edu)
Eoghan O’Keefe (Eoghan.Okeefe@tufts.edu)
Daniel Riley (Daniel.Riley@tufts.edu)
Bryan Rust (Bryan.Rust@tufts.edu)
Course Website: For more information about practicum times and classrooms, office hours, as well as for
postings of written assignments, exam reviews, and announcements see Canvas. Updates and announce-
ments to the syllabus will be posted and/or sent through Canvas. If you opt out of receiving messages from
Canvas or if you do not check your Tufts e-mail, you may miss some important information.
Required Materials
• Gradescope (www.gradescope.com is used for written homework and exams. It is a tool that makes
grading easier and provides quicker feedback about your work. You will need to login with your Tufts
credentials in order to find our class, and be able to upload your homework and receive your exam
scores. Not using your Tufts email will mean we can not find your work or provide exam results.
Course Structure
For most weeks there will be two large in-person lectures, one small in-person practicum, two online MyLab
assignments due, and one written (turned in online) worksheet. Roughly every other week, there will be an
in-practicum quiz. There will be one midterm and one final exam.
Typical Week
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Lecture Lecture
Practicum & Quiz
MyLab Due MyLab Due
Worksheet Due
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Workload and Assignments
(1) Online homework is assigned through the MyLab website. See instructions and MyLab codes on
Canvas to register. All on-line assignments are due twice a week after lecture at 11:59 pm. Each assign-
ment is based off of the topics in the textbook and what is covered in the previous lecture. Therefore,
you might have several assignments due each due date. You will have as many attempts as you want
for each assignment up until the due date. Try the assignment as soon as possible. No late assignments
will be accepted, but the 4 lowest grades will be dropped. While this is an online assignment, we
recommend that you write out complete solutions to the problems before entering the answer online.
This will provide practice for the worksheets, quizzes, and exams. If you find yourself relying on the
hints that the system gives on-line, it is likely to be a sign of incomplete understanding of the material.
(2) Worksheets are assigned weekly. These written take-home assignments are designed to challenge
your understanding and give you realistic feedback on exam level questions. They are submitted via
Gradescope and will NOT be accepted late. The lowest grade will be dropped. Specific details on how
to upload your assignment are given on Canvas.
(3) Practicum Grades are given each week. This will be in the form of either a Group Participation
grade or a Written Quiz grade. The written quiz (roughly every other week) will consist of one or
two questions designed to gauge your understanding of the material discussed during the practicum,
which is derived from the lecture topics of the past couple of weeks. The participation grade will be
determined by your groups progress toward a problem or problems from the current week’s worksheet.
These grades are scored out of 4 points. The lowest two scores will be dropped and no makeups are given.
(4) Attendance: It is extremely important that you attend the lectures and practicums. In particular,
practicums are integral to the course as your instructor will go over material that is important, better
preparing you for the homework and exams. You will also be able to ask questions, participate in
class, and collaborate with your classmates on problems, additional applications, and extensions of the
theories discussed in lecture. You should be enrolled in one practicum section meeting once a week,
and must attend the one you signed up for.
No extensions or makeups will be given for the above assignments. Grades are dropped in
order to accommodate missing an assignment due to illness or other personal matters, so that you do
not need to worry about it affecting your grade. There is no need to justify your reasons. However,
if you are facing extenuating circumstances and believe you may need more accommodations beyond
what is automatically offered, please reach out to the course coordinator and your advising dean.
Exams
There will be one midterm exam and one final exam. All exams will be in-person and closed-book.
Midterm: Monday, March 6, 3:00-4:15pm (in-class) Room TBA See Canvas.
Final Exam: Friday, May 5, 8:30-10:30am Room TBA See Canvas.
No collaboration or electronic devices are allowed during any of the exams. If you are found to have cheated
on an exam, you will be reported to the Dean of Student Affairs and you may receive an F for the course
as well as other penalties. Please review the academic misconduct policy.
Missing an exam: We do not give make-up exams under any circumstances for the midterm. If you
miss the midterm, the percentage of your grade associated with the midterm will be put on the Final
Exam. Being excused from taking the Final is allowed in exceptional circumstances, and must be com-
municated with the instructor in time. The Final must be made up at the beginning of the following
semester. A grade of Incomplete will be given until it is taken and the grade calculated. Please see
https://math.tufts.edu/resources/exam-policy for more details. If you miss the Final and do not receive an
excused absence it will be counted as a zero.
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Grades
Suppose that O is the on-line homework score, W is the average score of the worksheets, P is the average
practicum grade, M is your midterm grade, and F stands for the final exam score. Your course average is
the larger of these two numbers:
The course average is converted into a letter grade according to the standard conversion in the Mathematics
Department, which can be seen here https://math.tufts.edu/resources/grading-schemes.
Learning Objectives
This course satisfies Learning Objective in Mathematics 1 and 3 as listed at https://ase.tufts.edu/
faculty/committees/objectives/math.htm, especially 1a, 1e, 3a, 3d.
Support
• Academic Support at the StAAR Center: The StAAR Center offers a variety of FREE re-
sources to all students. Students may make an appointment to work on any writing-related project
or assignment, attend subject tutoring in a variety of disciplines, or meet with an academic coach to
hone skills like time management and navigating procrastination. Students can make an appointment
for any of these services by visiting https://students.tufts.edu/staar-center.
The FIRST CENTER provides a network of resources for students who are first generation, low-
income, and/or have undocumented status, as well as of financial resources available to Tufts students
whose family contribution is less than $10,000.
• Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Tufts is committed to providing equal ac-
cess and support to all qualified students through the provision of reasonable accommodations. If
you have a disability that requires reasonable accommodations, contact the StAAR Center at Staar-
Center@tufts.edu or 617-627-4539. Please be aware that accommodations cannot be enacted retroac-
tively, making timeliness a critical aspect for their provision.
• Mental Health Support: As a student, there may be times when personal stressors or difficulties
interfere with your academic performance or well-being. The Dean of Student Affairs Office offers
support and care to undergraduates and graduate students who are experiencing difficulties, and can
also aid faculty in their work with students. In addition, through Tufts’ Counseling and Mental Health
Service (CMHS) students can access mental health support 24/7, and they can provide information
on additional resources. CMHS also provides confidential consultation, brief counseling, and urgent
care at no cost for all Tufts undergraduates as well as for graduate students who have paid the
student health fee. To make an appointment, call 617-627-3360. Please visit the CMHS website:
http://go.tufts.edu/Counseling to learn more about their services and resources.
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Academic Integrity
Tufts holds its students strictly accountable for adherence to academic integrity. The consequences for
violations can be severe. It is critical that you understand the requirements of ethical behavior and academic
work as described in Tufts’ Academic Integrity handbook. If you ever have a question about the expectations
concerning a particular assignment or project in this course, be sure to ask me for clarification. The Faculty
of the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering are required to report suspected cases of
academic integrity violations to the Dean of Student Affairs Office. If I suspect that you have cheated or
plagiarized in this class, I must report the situation to the dean.
Policy on Sharing
This course is designed for everyone to feel comfortable participating in discussion, asking questions, learn-
ing, and facilitating the learning of others. In order for that atmosphere to be maintained, any recordings
of our conversations (note that lectures may be recorded in case covid protocols restrict attendance, but
not necessarily saved) will only be shared with the enrolled students in the class (not posted publicly) and
it is prohibited for any of us who have access to the video to share it outside the course. Similarly, I have
specifically designed the syllabus, exams, handouts, and lectures for the people who are enrolled in the
course this term and those may not be shared outside this course. It is against Tufts policy for anyone
to share any content made available in this course including course syllabi, reading materials, problems
sets, videos, handouts, and exams, with anyone outside of the course without the express permission of
the instructor. This especially includes any posting or sharing of videos or other recordings on publicly
accessible websites or forums. Any such sharing or posting could violate copyright law or law that protects
the privacy of student educational records.
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Important Dates and Tentative Schedule
Important dates :