Homework Assignments
About Homework Sets
From and including homework set 2 (HW2) a homework assignment set consists of two parts: 1) two to three exercises for answer-only in Möbius (typically no or limited explanation is required), and 2) an essay assignment to be uploaded as a pdf. Furthermore a theme exercise must be solved around the same time of each homework set. Your total homework portfolio for which you are given a partial grade by the end of the course will contain all those three parts that all will influence the grade. A homework set and a theme exercise will focus on the syllabus that has been introduced since the preceding set.
1. Theme Exercises
A theme exercise will be uploaded to Learn as a pdf by the end of the Long Day in the week where the theme exercise is on the agenda. It will contain exercises, which we highly recommend that you complete before the Short Day. You may (and we recommend that you do) work in dedicated groups since the theme exercises will have an aspect of mini-project work. During the final three hours of the Short Day a theme exercise test is to be answered in Möbius. The Möbius test questions may vary from and deviate from but will be based on the provided theme exercise. Some Möbius questions will ask for direct input of results or derived results from your theme exercise, which will then be evaluated by Möbius; other Möbius questions will require text-answers with written documentation and explanations, which will be evaluated by a teacher. Feedback is shown in Möbius later when released in the Grade Book.
2. Two to three exercises that must be answered in Möbius
A few weeks before a hand-in date, a homework set pdf will be available via a link on the agenda. The homework set preamble will clearly state the exact hand-in date and time as well as the learning objectives that these problems seek to test. The homework set will contain a couple of problems, the first few of which are to be answered in Möbius. The Möbius questions will open up for answering shortly before the hand-in date and these questions will be based on the homework set problems but with slight variation, such as scrambled numbers (students may all receive the same question types with different values and thus different answers). It is recommended that you solve the problems as given in the homework set fully before answering the final Möbius questions. Some Möbius questions will ask for direct input of results or derived results from your homework set problems, which will then be evaluated by Möbius; other Möbius questions will require text-answers with written documentation and explanations, which will be evaluated by a teacher. Feedback is shown in Möbius later when released in the Grade Book. The aim of these Möbius-based problems of the homework is to test your use of methods, procedures and correct calculation.
3. Essay assignments
The last problem in the above mentioned homework set pdf will be an essay assignment which will aim at testing your reasoning, visualization and communication. This homework problem is to be answered in a written essay format and handed in by upload to Learn. An essay must in this context be understood according to the American definition: A short piece of writing about a subject, especially one written by a student (Cambridge Essential American English Dictionary). It can roughly be though of as a shortened version of the main parts of a typical technical report, focusing on introducing the purpose and choice of methods, properly executing the methods and approach with relevant calculations, and clearly communicating conclusions and solutions in proper mathematical language, when needed with an appendix for less relevant computations and the like for reference. Your teacher will offer their assistance in properly achieving this format. We expect a reasoned and argumentative mathematical text using usual mathematical symbols, formulae and appropriate illustrations. Your Maple interactions with codes, input/output and plot commands must be attached as an appendix and should not be shown directly in the main part of the essay (keep the essay readable to a non-Maple user). Your upload must consist of one single pdf file.
Essays from different students will expectedly look significantly different. There is not one royal way to write! Your answer should reflect how you have progressed and what you have emphasized. For inspiration, here is an example of an essay written in latex and here is an example (exercise 4 from HW1 from a previous year) written using Maple’s editing facilities, but you may use any text-editing software of your choice.
Your teacher will personally assess and provide feedback for each of your essay assignments. The assessment will be given as a Roman numeral from I to IV, where I is good and IV represents the non-acceptable. Note that after a final examinators’ meeting by the end of the course, you will be granted a partial grade based on an overall assessment of your performance in the homework and theme exercises throughout the academic year. The partial grade will include the theme exercises with a weight of approximately one third, and this partial grade will count 25 percent of your course grade.
Good working style
You are of course welcome to discuss homework problems in your usual study groups and with your fellow students but the final calculations and answers - both Möbius questions and essay hand-ins - must be done by yourself. Do not copy or otherwise hand-in documents or text-chunks from other students, as you will be accused of plagiarism.