Concourse 8.01 Course Information Fall 2005(page 1 of 4)Lectures: David Zychoffice: 16-137, x3-2050email: dzychRecitations: Jorg Scholvinoffice: 16-127, x3-7602email: scholvinCLASS MEETINGSThis course has two one-and-a-half-hour lectures (MW 10-11:30) and two one-hour recitations(TR 2-3) each week. Lectures and recitations will be held in the Concourse classroom (16-160).In addition, our undergraduate TAs will hold physics tutorial sessions in the Concourse lounge toanswer your questions and help you wrestle with the problem sets. Check your email and theweekly Concourse agenda to find out when tutoring will be available.HANDOUTSCourse handouts will be distributed in class or placed in your folders in the Concourse lounge. Ifyou need extra copies of anything, please speak to Cheryl. We will also do our best to make thehandouts available through the course website, which is located athttp://web.mit.edu/concourse/8.01/TEXTBOOKSThis course uses two texts, but you do not need to buy both of them. Rather, we recommendthat you look carefully at each text and choose the one whose style appeals to you.Douglas C. Giancoli, Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Volume I (3rd edition). Prentice Hall,2000. (ISBN 0-13-021518-X)Giancoli is a text often used by mainstream 8.01. It provides thorough introductions to the basicconcepts, and contains many straightforward examples to help you develop your problem-solving skills and physical intuition. If you are concerned about your physics background, or ifyou are in doubt about which book to choose, we recommend that you work with Giancoli.Daniel Kleppner and Robert J. Kolenkow, An Introduction to Mechanics. McGraw-Hill, 1973.(ISBN 0-07-035048-5)K&K is the text used by mainstream 8.012. It is an outstanding book for students with a strongphysics background; it is more formal and mathematical than Giancoli, and its presentations areconcise and extremely elegant. However, its examples are generally more advanced than thosein Giancoli, and some of the basic introductory material is either absent or presented very briefly.Students who wish to take advantage of the 8.012 credit option must use K&K.Concourse 8.01 Course Information Fall 2005(page 2 of 4)PROBLEM SETSThere will be eight problem sets, with a range of problems drawn from both textbooks and fromother sources. Completed problem sets should be turned in to the mail slot on the door ofCheryl’s office (16-135) by 2pm on the due date. Late problem sets will not be accepted.You are encouraged to be sensible about doing the problem sets. We don’t expect you to be ableto solve all of the problems by yourself the first time you see them; some of them will be quitechallenging, and you should feel free to collaborate with other students and to ask the tutors forhelp when you get stuck. However, it is critical that you maintain a sense of balance. There isno point in working so completely with others that you end up simply copying what others havedone without understanding it and learning it yourself; you won’t be able to pass the exams ifyou do that. On the other hand, there is also no point in frustrating yourself by sitting in yourroom and banging your head against the wall on a problem that seems thoroughly intractable.The bottom line is that you are a grown-up and you should use your judgment.Some problem sets may include optional problems that are harder or more complex than therequired problems; these are included primarily for the benefit of students who intend to takeadvantage of the 8.012 credit option, but we encourage everyone to try them. Optional problemswill be graded for “pseudo-extra credit” that can make up for any points you may have lost onother problem set problems but cannot increase your total problem set score past 100%.EXAMS AND GRADINGThere will be four in-class exams (given during regular lecture periods), worth 100 points each,plus an “optional” final exam. The problem set grades are averaged and scaled to be worth atotal of 200 points. If by the end of the semester you have accumulated at least 420 points (outof a possible 600), you may choose to pass the course without taking the final exam. In this case,you can calculate your grade using the following scale:[A ≥ 520, B ≥ 460, C ≥ 420]The optional final exam is worth 300 points. If you take the final, you can calculate your gradeusing the following scale (out of a possible 900 points):[A ≥ 720, B ≥ 630, C ≥ 540, D ≥ 450]Note that you need a grade of C or better (that’s 420 points without the final, or 540 pointsincluding the final) to pass the course and fulfill this half of your freshman physics requirement.You must take the final exam if you have accumulated fewer than 420 points, or if you havemissed any of the in-class exams (see below). However, you may choose to take the final exameven if these conditions do not apply to you; as you can see from the two grading scales, a goodscore on the final exam can significantly improve your overall grade for the course.Finally, we reserve the right to adjust these grading scales in your favor at the end of thesemester if we feel that the exams have been abnormally difficult.Concourse 8.01 Course Information Fall 2005(page 3 of 4)ABSENCES FROM EXAMSWe are not able to provide make-up tests for missed exams. If you are excused from an exam(note that acceptable excuses are very rare and will in general be granted only for verifiable andsignificant medical reasons or matters of family or personal emergency), the missed exam willsimply not count toward your grade; your scores for the remaining three exams will be averagedand scaled to be worth 400 points instead of 300. However, any student who has missed one ofthe in-class exams will be required to take the final exam (even if he or she has accumulated 420points or more).You will not be excused from an exam for non-emergency travel, oversleeping, a doctor’sappointment, etc. An unexcused missed exam will result in a grade of zero for that exam.Institute rules govern absences from the final exam.REGRADE REQUESTSWe do our best to ensure that your work in this course is always graded fairly and appropriately,but we acknowledge that we are human and may occasionally make a mistake. If you feel thatyour solution to a problem set or exam problem was not given as many points as it deserved, youmay request that the
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