Physics 1240 : Sound and Music

Weekly homework assignments

 

 

For this first week, nothing to turn in, but please start the reading assignment. First homework will be the "reading assignment" on Tuesday, see below
Every week, there are two distinct assignments. The Tuesday link WILL die for a day or two after each assignment, but will come alive again with plenty of time for you to do them. (CAPA is always alive. The other link will come online over the weekend...)

TUESDAY morning

There is an online participation with reading question due every week. (by 12 noon, half an hour BEFORE class)
(If the link is dead be patient - it'll be up about 5 days before the due date)

THURSDAY evening

Here are the Physics simulations referred to in class and on homework. (Go to the "sound" link)
There is a CAPA assignment due every week (by Thur midnight). You can pick up a personalized copy in a bin in the basement. You need to get a unique 4 digit PIN every week to do the set, it's printed on the set. You can ALSO get it by going to the CAPA login page, and clicking on pin-getter. Part of CAPA will generally involve a couple of long answer homeworks. You enter them into the CAPA page, but they will be graded by hand by our graders later. This input form is "stupid", you can ONLY input plain text. You can't edit, can't include figures or formulas, no attachments, no fancy spacing or fonts, no html code... Just plain (ASCII) typing. I STRONGLY urge you to type out your answers in a regular word processor (so you can edit it easily), and when you're ready, just copy and paste into the CAPA entry box. That way you'll have a copy, and it'll be easier to read for us. If you want to add or change, you can always do that - just copy and paste what you had before back into the new (entry box), and then edit there. Or better yet, fix it up in your regular word processor and just reenter the whole thing!
In keeping with the guiding principles of this course, there will be a substantial number of homework problems each week. You will have considerable difficulty completing them if you follow non-expert problem solving approaches and/or you work alone. However, if you work with other students and develop an "expert" approach to problem solving, the homework problems should take you relatively little time and effort, and you will learn a lot from doing them. Although you are encouraged to work out the solutions to problems together with other students, you are required to write up the answer in your own words. So each student's wording should be unique to them. There will be a number of things done to help you develop good problem solving skills. First, check out our logical approach to problem solving page, which you should read carefully and use. Second, many of the problems will be designed to help you learn good techniques, and finally, there will be several problem-solving sessions Wed and Thursdays where you will be able to conveniently get together with other students to work on homework. Steve Pollock, David Malaspina, Chris Rosen, or Jeff Merkel will be present at these sessions to provide coaching on problem solving methods. You are encouraged to come to these to work with other students and get coaching in problem solving as necessary. The times and room numbers are listed in the syllabus. The physics help room is also open 40 hours per week, and there are always students and TAs there, although they are not necessarily from 1240. Although the problems may be challenging at first, as your problem solving skills develop over the term, you will find the problems easier, and they will take less time to solve.
Students begin this class with a wide range of backgrounds in physics and math. As a result, it is impossible for each class to be perfectly matched to everyone's background. The primary purpose of office hours is to provide individual help to students that need it. We are anxious to provide whatever help is necessary for every student, regardless of their background, to do well in the course and achieve all of the learning goals. However, it is your responsibility to recognize that you need that help, and to take advantage of its availability.

Ask me questions, and see my replies to your classmates' queries - Virtual Office Hours!
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