References

There is no required textbook for the course. There will be a number of books on reserve at the library.

Lecture slides, handouts and copies of relevant publications are available on the class web site.

Assignments

There are six homework sets; all weighted equally at 100 points each. There is no midterm and no final.

There are a number of extra credit assignments. Including, two opportunities to write an essay for a potential extra credit of 10 points each. In addition, a selected set of students are given the opportunity to present their essay in class (additional 10 points).

Final Grade

All extra credit assignments are graded. However, to be eligible to receive the extra credit a student has to fully attend at least 10 lectures during the term. At the end of the term, a student that fully attended 10 or more lectures should send an email to ta4@paradise.caltech.edu declaring this fact.

The final grade is calculated based on the grades of the homeworks and the extra credit assignments (if the student is eligible) and will be converted to a letter grade as follows:

    96-100 : A+
    86-95 : A
    76-85 : B
    66-75 : C

Collaboration and Open-Book policy

Collaboration, in the sense of discussing how to solve the homework problems, is allowed on most, but not all, homework sets.  A homework set includes a specific statement whether collaboration is allowed or not.  For all homeworks, you should write the final solutions of the homeworks alone and understand them fully.  For all homeworks: Books, papers and notes can be consulted, but not copied from.

Late Policy

Homeworks are to be submitted in class. They are due at the start of class on the due date. Late homeworks lose 20% of their value immediately and lose 100% of their value a week after the due date (except in institute-established cases of illness or emergency). So if you are not done, and class is about to start, just turn in what you have done so far; you have a week to finish the rest at 80%.