Math 460 Syllabus

Course: Topology
Term: Fall 2007
Time: T-Th 2:30-3:45pm
Location: Room STT314

Instructor: Dr. Ken Monks
Office: STT163A
Phone: (570) 941-6101
Email: monks@scranton.edu
Office Hours: are here

Required Textbooks: Mendelson, B.; Introduction to Topology, 3nd edition, Dover Publishing ISBN:0-486-66352-3

Course Prerequisites: Math 446 (Real Analysis I) or permission of instructor 

Course Objective: To introduce the student to the major topics in topology.

Attendance Policy: Should you miss a class for any reason, you are still responsible for all announcements made and all material presented during that class.  I will not penalize anyone for missing a class, but I will not reward someone for missing class either.  However, I might reward someone for coming to class.  Of course, I won't penalize anyone for coming to class.  I guess that covers all of the possibilities?

Email and the Web: All students in this course are required to have a university email account and are expected to check their email frequently for announcements and other information I may send to you. I will use email and the internet quite extensively in the course. If you prefer to check your home email instead of your university email you can forward your university email to you home account by following these instructions. I will not change your email address in my email address book from its default university account so you must either read your university email or forward it to your home account. Each student is also expected to be able to access any information that I post on the world wide web which is related to your course. You may access this information from the mathematics department computer lab in STT161. Contact the Help Desk in the computer center if you need assistance.

Homework: I will post your homework assignments here.  Due to the large volume of homework I assign and the large number of students in my various courses, I must insist that all written assignments satisfy the following criteria:

1. All homework must be done on 8.5"x11" paper.  The paper must have straight smooth edges, not the jagged edges that are obtained when paper is removed from a "spiral bound" notebook. The paper should not be folded.
2. All homework that consists of more than a single sheet of paper must be stapled in the upper left hand corner.  Corners should not be folded or "dog eared".  Be sure that the staple doesn't obscure anything you have written in the upper left hand corner of any page of the homework. 
3. All homework must have the following information written legibly in the upper right hand corner of the first page:
   1. Name
   2. Course Name (Topology)
   3. Assignment number (this is the section number of the book that the homework problems are from, not the number of assignments you handed in).
4. All individual problems should be clearly labeled by writing the problem number and the problem itself at the top of the problem.  For problems from the textbook, label each problem in the form chapter.section.problem.part, so that, for example, 3.2.1.a would represent problem 1(a) in Section 2 of Chapter 3.
5. Proofs must have only one statement per line (not word-wrapped paragraph form).
6. Problems must occur in the assignment in the same order that they are assigned, e.g. problem #3 must appear before problem #4 which must appear before problem #7, etc.

Thus, the first page of every homework assignment should look like this:

Any homework that does not conform to the above format will be discarded!  

The homework that you hand in may not be returned to you, so if you want to keep a copy for yourself you should make a photocopy before handing it in. If you are handing in more than one Assignment number on a single day, each assignment must be stapled and labeled separately!  Failure to follow these procedures may result in you not getting credit for all of your assignments.

Late Assignments: Don't even think about it.  I have yet to accept one and don't want to spoil my record.  You will receive no credit for late assignments.  I also will not accept EARLY assignments.  Assignments must be handed in, in class, on the day they are due, during the first three minutes of class. There are NO exceptions. You may not place a homework assignment under my office door or hand it to me in the halls or mail it to me or have an uncle deliver it to my house.

Missed assignments: In order to allow for sickness, bad days, other exams, scheduling conflicts, etc. I will compute the average number of problems graded in each assignment at the end of the term and drop this number of points from the total possible points when computing your homework average (this is similar to "dropping" one homework assignment for everyone).

Collaboration: All questions on each assignment can be done either individually or collaboratively as teams of two or more. If you discuss a problem with another student, that student becomes your collaborator on that question and you must write their name at the top of your question like this:

#5 (Team: John Doe, Mary Smith)

This indicates that you spoke to John Doe, and Mary Smith about problem #5 (do not include your own name in the Team: list, since your name is on the front of the assignment).  Similarly, John and Mary would list you, and each other, on their problem #5 as team members.  Note that it does not matter how much or how little you discuss on a particular problem.  Whether you work out the solution entirely together and read each other's write ups, or simply ask for a small hint from another student, each of you must list the other as a collaborator on that problem.  When working on a problem as a team, each member of the team must still write up their own solution, even if the solutions of all team members are identical.  Credit for a correct problem that is selected to be graded will be shared equally among all team members (see grading policy below).

If, in my opinion, a solution to a question has been shared or copied or discussed by more than one student who do NOT list each other as team members on their question, I will lower the final grade in the course by one letter grade for each person involved and for each occurrence.

Thus, it is in you best interested to follow the following guidelines regarding doing your homework.  If you can get a question entirely correct on your own, you should do so without talking to anyone else, otherwise your credit for that question will be divided by the number of members on your team. However, if two or more students are really stuck on a question and are not going to be able to get it by themselves and want to team up to try to answer it together, then it would be in their best interest to do so since they would receive at least some partial credit instead of no credit at all.  So if you can get it by yourself, you should, and if you can't find someone else who can't and work together.

In cases where the solution to a homework problem is a number or a simple yes or no, you should still explain your answer fully if you wish to receive credit.  

Any acts of cheating on assignments or exams which come to my attention will be dealt with in the most severe manner possible under University guidelines. Plus I will be really upset!

Quizzes:  There may be unannounced quizzes in some classes which will consist of problems from the homework you are handing in on that day.  These quizzes will be graded the same way as the homework assignments, except that you cannot collaborate with other team members on the quizzes. You may also be asked to present a solution to a homework problem on the blackboard to the rest of the class.

Grading:  There will be no exams and no final exam unless I determine that it is in the best interests of your education to have them. However there will be a lot of homework which will not be graded, and a lot of quizzes which will be used to determine your entire course grade. Quizzes will consist of zero or more problems selected randomly or intentionally by me from the homework assignments that you hand in. When selected at random, the selection process will be as follows: a random sequence of problem numbers will be selected (this sequence can contain duplicates) and graded in the order they appear on the list. If a problem has more than one part the part will then be selected by a second random sequence of part letters.  Which problems are are on the quiz will not be announced before you hand in the homework assignment, thus you should strive to get all of the homework problems correct. Each part of each quiz problem will be worth 100 points, with points awarded as follows:

There will be no partial credit for any solution, especially on proofs. Thus you should strive to get as many problems entirely correct as possible rather than wasting your time trying to get partial credit on a lot of problems but have them all be wrong.

At the end of the term I will compute your grade as follows:

Let x be a student.
Let p(x) be the total number of points earned by x times 100.
Let T be the total number of problems that were graded times 100.
Let A be the average number of problems graded per assignment times 100.
Let K be a constant (the curve) to be determined by me at the end of the semester.
Let G(x) be the student's final grade.

Then G(x) is computed by:

    G(x) = p(x)/(T-A) + K

and this number is converted to a letter grade in accordance with the following table:

Remember that the best way to learn mathematics by doing it yourself.  

   I hear and I forget.
  I see and I remember.
I do and I understand
                  - Chinese Proverb

Schedule: We will attempt to follow the schedule below.  This schedule is not cast in stone.  We will adjust the pace of the course as we proceed. Thus you should use this schedule as a crude reference of roughly what we ought to be doing in the course.
 

Adaptability: I retain the right to modify or change any of the policies stated in this syllabus during the term if I feel it is in the best interests of the students and the course. That includes the right to give you a exams if I feel you will benefit from it or if your performance on the homework is not satisfactory, and also the right to give letter grades which are not consistent with the numerical grades computed above in extreme cases.

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This page was last  updated on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 09:39:06 PM. © Ken Monks