MA 114 News

2010-04-17T10:48:00.002-04:00

This is a test post via iPhone. A short test. Even though it's a short one, let's make it long enough to illustrate word wrap. What is going to happen when I get to the end of this line?

Let's see if it will recognize a new paragraph.

2006-05-05T10:41:00.000-04:00

Final grades will be reported to Registration and Records over the weekend and should be available to you at the beginning of next week. However, the grade calculations shown in WebAssign have now been updated to coincide with the grading method described on the Grades Info page. So the grade showing in WebAssign will in most cases be consistent with the grade you officially receive for this class.

2006-05-02T08:16:00.000-04:00

The online sign up form for choosing your exam time has been taken down. (When I posted it several weeks ago, I said it would remain up until May 1.) At this point 62 students are signed up to take the test Wednesday evening. So if you are NOT signed up for Wednesday, I advise you to come on Thursday because very few extra seats remain for Wednesday.

If you are signed up for Wednesday and decide you would rather delay until Thursday, you may do that without requesting special permission. Since Thursday's time period is much longer, we shouldn't have crowded conditions on Thursday.

2006-05-01T11:14:00.000-04:00

57 students have signed up to take the exam during the Wednesday time period. This means that space is quite limited for anyone who has not signed up. If you do intend to take the exam on Wednesday and have not yet signed up to reserve a seat, I strongly recommend that you do so at once.

2006-04-24T10:41:00.000-04:00

Please keep in mind that it is your responsibility to complete all aspects of this class by May 4. No makeup work (tests, homework, exam, etc.) will be authorized after May 4.

2006-04-22T09:51:00.000-04:00

The course evaluation is now available via WebAssign. This is your chance to comment on the various aspects of this course, and to make suggestions for changes you think would be helpful. The course evaluation is not a homework assignment, so it has no effect on your grade. But your thoughts are useful and will be appreciated since this course is under constant revision.

2006-04-15T19:22:00.000-04:00

This information first appeared here on the news page 10 days ago, but not many students have signed up for the exam. If you don't sign up and come to the May 3 session, you run the risk of being turned away. So it is very important to sign up before the number of people selecting that time exceeds the capacity of the room.

There are two exam sessions:

Wednesday, May 3 --> Arrive between 6:00 and 6:30 PM
Thursday, May 4 --> Arrive between 1:00 and 3:15 PM

To be certain that we can accomodate everyone who comes each day, we are requesting that you indicate which day you will be taking the exam. This form is now available (click here) for selecting your time preference for the final exam. Those who have signed up for an exam time will be given first priority in seating for the exam.

2006-04-13T11:16:00.000-04:00

The Chapter 5 test went smoothly. The class average was 70 for this test, which was a bit higher than for Test #2.

If you'll get a reasonably quick start on Chapter 6, you'll find that the pace between now and the final exam is quite leisurely. So from here on out, unless you are a real procrastinator things should be a bit less frantic.

I've updated the grades info in WebAssign so that it should give you a more or less accurate picture of your overall standing in the class at this point. WebAssign is now set so as to estimate your overall grade based on counting the 3 tests as 50% of your grade and the past due homework as the other 50%. Do keep in mind that this is just an estimate. The final grade, as explained on the grades page, will be 40% HW, 36% tests, and 24% final exam.

Attached here is a picture of what the grades tab might show for a typical student. The image shows an overall grade of B+ based on an 89.54 average, with a HW average of 93.08 and a test average of 86 based on the 33 past due homework assignments and the 3 test grades.

2006-04-12T08:53:00.000-04:00

We had a pretty sizeable group at last night's test, so I that means we don't have to worry about overcrowding tonight. Tonight (unless everyone comes right at the beginning of the test period) the test room is unlikely to fill up.

2006-04-11T10:01:00.000-04:00

As in the past, we have taken down the grade information provided by WebAssign during test week. The reason is that during test week we always have some students who have taken the test and others who haven't. Therefore WebAssign can't calculate meaningful test averages during this period. So for this week all you will find if you look for your overall grade in WebAssign is your homework average. Combined homework and test averages will be back up by Friday.

2006-04-05T14:12:00.000-04:00

The final exam dates have been set. There are two exam sessions and you can take your choice.

Wednesday, May 3 --> Arrive between 6:00 and 6:30 PM
Thursday, May 4 --> Arrive between 1:00 and 3:15 PM

2006-04-05T11:34:00.000-04:00

Thursday and Friday of next week are university holidays. So if you're planning to start your holiday break Wednesday afternoon or evening, you should plan to attend Tuesday's test session.

2006-03-29T09:20:00.000-05:00

Jennifer offers some good advice in her newsletter, but she also oversimplifies some things. For example, Jenn says, "Remember that and = multiply, or = add". Language is used in many different ways, and it's easy to think of ways in which Jennifer's rule is just plain wrong. For example, if I take 4 eggs in one basket AND 6 eggs in another basket and combine them, how many eggs do I have? Obviously the answer is 10. But notice that this sentence uses AND and does not use OR, and yet the proper arithmetic is to ADD, not MULTIPLY. So be careful with generalizations like the ones suggested.

Furthermore, such "rules" are frequently misapplied by those who lack understanding. For example, in general if A and B are events, then it's NOT true that the probability that A and B occur can be obtaining by multiplying P(A) times P(B). This is true ONLY when the events are independent (see Section 5.6). So just blindly plodding along and multiplying every time you see an "AND" in a problem isn't going to get you very far.

No matter how much you try to tighten up such rules, the rules are no substitute for thought and a little understanding. Don't be afraid to think. A little thinking will take you a long way in Chapter 5.

2006-03-21T20:44:00.000-05:00

The serious work in Chapter 5 begins with Section 5.3. Allow as much time as possible for working on Sections 5.3 to 5.7. The WebAssignment for Section 5.3 is due in about 10 days, so you should be starting that section about now. If you'll pace yourself so that you start each of these sections about 10 days before it is due, that will allow for an orderly processing of the info in Chapter 5 and should avoid the kind of "brain dump" that occurs if you try to digest all of Chapter 5 at once.

The Chapter 5 test scores are generally lower than for the other tests. Don't be scared of it, just be prepared. Chapter 5 is also the must fun of any part of the course if you'll allow time for it to soak in.

2006-03-20T17:17:00.000-05:00

Keep in mind that Chapter 5 requires a while for digestion. You won't be able to do the assignments for Sections 5.3 through 5.7 in one sitting. So put in a bit of work several times each week STARTING NOW. That way you want be trying to cram everything in on the eve of the test.

2006-03-16T20:28:00.000-05:00

Comment from Student: The test was too long! If I had been given more time, I could have made an A.

My Response: Yes, the test requires a very efficient effort in order to get an A, and a reasonably efficient approach to make even a 75 or 80. Is that fair? Yes. Here's why ...

All the tests consist primarily of recycled homework questions. Anyone with sufficient time could sort through the homework to see how they had worked the problem, and then translate that solution into a solution to the corresponding test question. Doing that doesn't require a very deep level of understanding. So the price you pay for getting recycled questions is that you have to work fairly fast. I intentionally don't give enough time for you to go back and shuffle through all your old homework to remind yourself how to approach each question.

Several times I've polled a class to ask if they would prefer shorter test where all the questions were different from the homework questions. Every time I've posed that question the answer has been a resounding "NO".

The tests require more than just that you do a good job of cataloging the solutions to the homework. They require that you have an understanding of how to think through at least some of the problems.

2006-03-15T22:10:00.000-05:00

Some observations about this week's test ...

Some chickens came home to roost. Jenn and I were astounded to see on Monday that half of the class waited until the last day to begin on Section 4.5. That is a suicidal policy, and a lot of students suffered because of it. If you did shoddy, last-minute work in Chapter 4, face up to it.

Tuesday's test grades were much better than Wednesdays. (Tuesday the average was around 80 and Wednesday around 65.) Usually the best prepared students opt to take the test early. This week that really showed.

Do a reality check with yourself. Are you starting work on the assignments early enough to be able to digest concepts? Or are you cramming everything into the last minute and just trying to get correct answers? Knowing a rote method for doing a problem without understanding the reasoning is very shallow learning. It doesn't carry over to another similar problem. Strive for conceptual understanding, but realize it comes with time and effort and experience, not from one night of cramming.

2006-03-14T17:12:00.000-05:00

During test weeks the WebAssign grades tab displays misleading information since some students have taken the test and others haven't. For that reason I have shut down the grades module until Test #2 is completed. All you will see there now is your homework average with no information about overall average. The accurate overall average should be available by the end of the week.

2006-03-13T08:49:00.000-05:00

This week's test sessions are on Tuesday and Wednesday. If previous patterns are repeated, it is likely that the Wednesday session will be much more crowded than will Tuesday's. So if you are very interested in not having to wait for a seat and a quieter test environment, I strongly suggest that you consider attending Tuesday's test session.

2006-03-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

Expect a lot of questions from Sections 4.4 and 4.5 on the upcoming test. These two sections incorporate most of the important topics that arise in Chapter 4, and they are essential to understanding Chapter 5. So give considerable emphasis to these sections in your study for the test.

2006-02-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

Dr. Perry and Dr. Page will be out of town from Feb. 28 until Mar. 7. If you need assistance with anything during this period, please contact Jennifer George.

2006-02-25T10:01:00.000-05:00

I've posted an additional WebAssignment for Chapter 3 called Chapter 3 Review. This is NOT a homework assignment. It is a batch of additional practice problems you can optionally do to help prepare for Test #3. The main thing to notice about these questions is that most of them include giving values for the slack variables corresponding to the optimal solution. You'll certainly have a question or two on the test that requires giving values for the slack variables, so make sure you're well versed on this. But again let me emphasize that this assignment has absolutely no effect on your grade for this course. It is purely for practice. (These are newly constructed questions. If you find any bugs in them please let me know. -- Dr. Page)

2006-02-23T18:04:00.000-05:00

Jenn has submitted academic progress reports for students in the class who performance has been unsatisfactory up to this point in the class. Whether you receive a report is determined by your grade as it appears presently under the grades tab in WebAssign. If you have any questions regarding your status in the class or why you have received a report, please contact Jennifer.

2006-02-16T18:21:00.000-05:00

The following announcement has been added at the top of WebAssignment 3.2 (Part A). Such issues may conceivably arise in other WebAssignments in Chapter 3, although these situations are generally rare. If you encounter a "suspect" question, follow the procedure suggested here:

We have determined that one student in the class has received a non-solvable version of problem #4 in this assignment. Many of you have versions of this question that you have solved routinely, so I am not going to "pull" this question. Simply be aware while doing this homework that there is a small possibility that the randomization that WebAssign goes through in producing these questions may produce a problem which cannot be solved via the methods taught in Chapter 3. If you think you have received such a defective question, notify Jennifer and she will check your question and give you full credit for it if it indeed is a defective question.

2006-02-10T10:20:00.000-05:00

Applying the simplex method is quite easy with the help of the row operations tool. Make sure you're efficient with this. The "Pivot on Selection" button is all you need for this. So a couple of clicks is all you generally need if you're choosing your pivot elements correctly.

Notice that there is not a great number of problems in the WebAssignments. This is partly because it's hard to make up good problems where all students get different versions of the question. (And I don't like to give WebAssign homework where everyone gets the same version because it would give credit for work that could easily be copied from another student.) I encourage you to use the method to solve a significant number of textbook problems. The text has lots of worked examples and homework problems with answers in the back of the book. You can easily give yourself more practice and check your understanding of the method by simply doing several problems for Section 3.1 from the text.

2006-02-07T19:39:00.000-05:00

The point value of question #3 on WebAssignment 3.1 (Part B) has been reset to zero. The reason is that two students in the class have run into a weird version of this problem. For 95% of you, your version of this problem is completely normal and is easily solved. You can use this problem as a practice problem if you like, but if you happen to run into weird things in the problem just skip it. (The weird versions of the problem are solvable, but methods from Section 3.2 are required. We'll skip that for now.)

2006-02-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

Test dates and times have now been schedule for the 2nd and 3rd tests. You can find this information on the Test Info page. Pay particular attention to the fact that the 3rd test is scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday evenings April 11 and 12. Thursday and Friday of that week are university holidays. So if you want to leave town as early as possible for the long weekend, plan to take your test on Tuesday evening.

2006-02-02T09:03:00.000-05:00

Overall results for Test #1: A total of 169 students took the test this week, with the class average being 82.3.

2006-02-01T21:36:00.000-05:00

Now that Test #1 is over, I have updated the way the Grades tab works at the top of your WebAssign page. The way your final grade will be computed is, of course, described on the Grades Info page. But how do you get some idea of where you stand right now? I've temporarily configured the Grade to be calculated based 50% on homework average and 50% on Test #1. So that's what you'll see if you check your grade for the next few weeks (until Test #2). Here's an example:

This info shows a student with a 86.82 homework average (at the time of the last update on Feb. 1) and a 63 on Test #1. Counting the HW average and Test score each as 50% of the current grade, that gives a current 74.91 average overall which is a C grade. (The "10" in parentheses indicates the HW average is based on 10 HW assignments, and the "3" in parentheses indicates that 3 different versions of Test #1 were used by the class. You only took one version, of course.)

2006-02-01T09:18:00.000-05:00

At Tuesday afternoon's test session, almost all efforts by students to connect to the wireless network using their own laptops were unsuccessful. So while you are welcome to bring your laptop to the test, do be aware in advance that it may very well not be possible to use it, so you may have to fall back on one of the wired laptops available in the room. These are Mac iBooks and they are quite reliable. Do be sure BEFORE you start the test that you know how to manipulate multiple browser windows so that you can keep the test open in one window while using the row operations tool in another. And be sure to use Firefox as your browser. When you start the test there will be a link at the top of the test to open the row operations tool in a new window.

2006-01-31T10:24:00.000-05:00

Common email during first test: "There is a test listed in my current assignments! What is this?"

During the times that the test is being taken on Tuesday and Wednesday everyone in the class (whether they are taking the test or not) will see a test listed among their current assignments. Please don't panic if you have already taken the test or if you plan to take it at another time! The test just has to be listed so that students taking the test can get to it.

Note: You can only view and/or take the test if you are in the testing location and have been given the password.

2006-01-30T10:03:00.000-05:00

Here are some tips for planning your time to take the test so as to not have to wait for a seat. We have about 175 students who will take the test, and the computer room HA G108 holds about 65 comfortably. So obviously if everyone shows up at the same time we have a problem.

Since Tuesday's arrival window is 1:00-2:30, it's pretty safe to say that if you arrive before 1 PM and form a line, you'll get to start the test as soon as we get into the room.
Another pretty good strategy is to come around 2:15 on Tuesday. That's about the time that the first wave of students will be finishing the test, so a lot of seats will be coming free around then.
Wednesday's arrival window begins at 5:30, so if you are present by 5:30 you'll probably be able to start immediately.
Around 6:30 on Wednesday would be a good time, since the first wave will be finishing up shortly after that.

We rarely have a situation where anyone has to wait very long to get a seat, but it's always a little unpredictable since we give students a choice of times. If there is not a free seat when you arrive, just put your name on the sign up sheet on the door and wait in the hall until your name gets to the top of the list.

2006-01-26T09:48:00.000-05:00

The computers in HA G108 where the test will be given next week are Macintosh laptops. If you're not familiar with Macs, you should plan to spend 5 minutes or so familiarizing yourself with the computer before starting your test. Remember that you have 75 minutes from the time you download the test. So do your practicing BEFORE you download the test. The test will have a links at the top to open the row operations tool or matrix tool in a separate window. So the main skill you need is simply to be able to manage multiple windows (so you can work with the row operations tool in one window and enter your answers into WebAssign in another). The most important issue is NOT to close your window that has the test in it.

So make sure you're clear about all this BEFORE you begin the test.

2006-01-25T18:55:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of chapter 2 you will see the following note:

We strongly advise that you watch ALL the movies for Chapter 2 before attempting any of the WebAssignments. All the sections of Chapter 2 are very much related.

If you see a reference to something called a "corner point" and you have no idea what that is or if you are unsure how to find the exact point where 2 lines cross then this is an indication that you might have overlooked this notice. Watch all the movies before beginning work on this chapter's homeworks.

2006-01-24T15:30:00.000-05:00

We have activated the Grades module in WebAssign, so by clicking on the grades tab when viewing your list of current assignments in WebAssign you can see your current homework average. A sample display in shown in the picture here. For a larger view of the image, click the image. This figure shows a student who has a homework average of 85.38 based on the first 5 homework assignments, which gives him currently a B average on the homework.

Since the grades as shown in this view have to be updated manually, what you see may not always be completely up to date. But the homework scores will be updated on average of twice a week.

2006-01-18T08:36:00.000-05:00

The test periods for the first test have now been set. The test dates are Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, and the times are now shown on the Test Info page. Read that page carefully to make sure you understand exactly what your options are regarding time times when you can take the test.

2006-01-17T08:32:00.000-05:00

There seems to have been a number of new students who added the class on Friday. With Monday being a holiday, I decided to delay the due date for the first WebAssignment until today so as to be sure the new students actually made it onto the WebAssign roster in time to get that assignment in before the due date. That's the explanation for the shifting of the due date for that assignment from Jan. 16 to Jan. 17.

2006-01-09T17:25:00.000-05:00

Question: Why are there suggested homework problems at the end of many of the videos?

Answer: These homework problems are listed because they represent the topic discussed in the videos. They were required homework in the days before WebAssign was available. If you're doing well with your WebAssignments, there is no risk in ignoring the suggested problems from the textbook.

2006-01-09T13:28:00.000-05:00

We just sent a "Welcome to MA 114" e-mail to the class. If you did not receive this e-mail, you may need to check your e-mail address as listed in the NCSU Online Directory. Not having received the e-mail would appear to indicate that your e-mail account blocks bulk mail from NCSU. (Some ISP's sometimes block mail messages sent to large numbers of people thinking that it might be spam.) If you are having this problem, you may want to consider using your NCSU e-mail account as your preferred account so as to ensure that you receive all class e-mail.

Good news from WebAssign! The price has been lowered to $8.65 per class at NCSU. It is being discontinued at the NCSU Bookstore, however, so you will need to purchase your WebAssign license for this MA 114 class directly from WebAssign via credit card.

2006-01-02T09:42:00.000-05:00

You will need a WebAssign license for this class. This can be obtained for $9.95 from either the NCSU Bookstore or via an online purcase directly from WebAssign. See the WebAssign page for more information.

2006-01-02T09:40:00.000-05:00

Welcome to MA 114 online! Your first WebAssignments will start to appear on January 9. The class rosters are not added to the WebAssign database until right before the semester begins, so don't worry if you don't have access to this class in WebAssign prior to the beginning of the semester.

In the meantime, you can be reading all the information pages and making sure your computer is equipped to handle the QuickTime movies.

If you have to rely on a telephone modem connection for your internet access, I strongly suggest that you pick up a CD containing all the movies. You can get a copy from Seyma Bennett Shabbir in HA 244. These will be available by Monday afternoon, January 9.

Check this news page regularly after classes start.