Guidelines for Solutions to Problem Sets
Math 101 Calculus I, Fall 2019

The WeBWork assignments will give you practice with the computational aspects of the course, whereas the Problem Sets will often be more conceptual in nature. You should definitely plan to start early on the Problem Sets so that you can take advantage of my office hours and the tutoring in the Kollett Center.

I firmly believe that one of the best ways to build your understanding of mathematics is to explore the ideas with other students. Therefore, I encourage you to discuss the Problem Sets with other students, but you must turn in separate papers that represent your own work. If you do work with someone else on an assignment, you should indicate that in a note on the top of your paper.

I have high expectations for the presentation of the Problem Sets. If you do not follow these guidelines, I reserve the right to return your Problem Set ungraded. I am not being unnecessarily annoying about this. Learning to carefully organize your thoughts and clearly communicate them is one of the most important skills you will learn in college.

• You must put your name and date on the first page of each assignment, and clearly label each problem with the chapter and exercise number.
• Your writing must be clear and legible.
• Your solutions must be well-written, using complete sentences to justify your results where necessary.
• A list of answers without explanation is not acceptable and will be graded accordingly.
• Here is a good rule of thumb to follow when writing up your problem sets:

  Write your solutions so that you could hand them to a student who took Calc I last semester and she could understand your explanation.

• If you write in pen, there should be no scratch-outs.
• Do not turn in paper torn from a spiral notebook with ragged edges.
• Remember, if you do work with someone else on the assignment, you should indicate that in a note on the top of your paper.
• Each Problem Set will be graded fairly leniently by an advanced math student and will have a total of 12 points possible. I will select three problems from each set that are graded on a scale of 0-3, and you will receive an addition 0-3 points for making a sincere effort on the rest of the assigned problems.
• You can drop one Problem Set from your grade at the end of the semester.