LECTURES: All lectures are in 109 Nicholson Hall.

Sec. 1 - MWF 9:40-10:30 AM          K. Schafer          Office hours: MW 1:30-2:30 pm
                                                   222B Nicholson, Phone 578-0466.    
Sec. 2 - MWF 11:40 AM-12:30 PM   J. Dowling           Office hours: MWF 10:30-11:30 am
                                                   453 Nicholson, Phone 578-0887                                        
Sec. 3 - TTh 10:40 AM-12:00 PM    M. Gaarde           Office hours: TTh 2:30-3:30 pm
                                                   215B Nicholson, Phone 578-0889.                                     
Sec. 4 - TTh 1:40-3:00 PM             H. Lee                 Office hours: WF 2:30-3:30 pm
                                                   451 Nicholson, Phone 578-2365.
Sec. 6 - MWF 1:40-2:30 PM            C. Buth             Office hours: MF 2:30-3:30 pm          
                                                   222A Nicholson, Phone 578-0597.                                    

ANNOUNCEMENT: The final exam is Friday, May 8, 5:30-7:30pm. The exam will be approximately half on the new material as covered in homework sets 12 through 14, and half cumulative. The formula sheet for the exam can be found here. There will be a review session Wednesdaynight, May 6, 5:30-6:30 pm in Nicholson 130. Old exams are available here. The room assignments for the final exam are (Note they are different from room assignments from previous exams):

           Section 1: Lockett 5
           Section 2: Coates 143
           Section 3: Lockett 5 and 6 (Last name A-H in Lockett 5, others in Lockett 6)
           Section 4: Coates 143
           Section 6: Lockett 6


OFFICE HOURS: We encourage you to seek our help with the material or the homework. You can see our office hours listed above. In general you are welcome outside of office hours as well - make an appointment via email to make sure we are there.

CLASS SCHEDULE: Click on schedules for MWF or T-Th classes

TEXT: We will be using the 8th edition of "Fundamentals of Physics" by Halliday, Resnick and Walker. The LSU bookstore sells a special version of this edition made for LSU Physics 2102 - it is called PHYS2102. Bundled with this book is an access code for WebAssign, the PLUS version, which we will be using for homework as described below. If you have purchased the whole 8th edition that is of course also fine (but you will have to purchase your WebAssign access separately). Older editions can in general also be used - but some section numbers may not be exactly the same.

LECTURES: We strongly encourage you to attend the lectures - you are responsible for knowing both the material presented in the text and in the lectures. In the schedule which is linked above you can find the detailed sections which will be covered in each class. You should read the relevant material before coming to class.

HOMEWORK: A homework assignment consisting of 15-20 problems and a few questions from the text will be assigned on WebAssign once per week. Answers to homework will be entered into WebAssign via the internet. It will be due on Wednesdays at 2:00 AM. WebAssign has the feature that it gives you instant feedback allowing you to retry problems answered incorrectly. To access WebAssign, you will need a login name and a password. Your login name will be your PAWS login name, and your password will be your LSU ID number. You can change your password the first time you log in. There is a fee associated with using WebAssign. As mentioned above, you will automatically buy access to WebAssign with the LSU edition of the textbook, or you can purchase it separately on-line or at the bookstore. We recommend that you purchase the PLUS access to WebAssign. The first assignment is available on WebAssign and is due January 21rd at 2 am (yes, 2 am - very late Tuesday night or very early Wednesday morning).

Working the homework problems every week is your best way of succeeding in this course. The homework problems are your best way of assessing your mastery of the material AND your problem solving ability - don't put it off until the last minute but allow yourself time to get stuck, try again, and seek help. Past experience shows a strong correlation between quality of homework and exam grades. As an incentive for you to spend time on the homework, half of the points on each exam will come from past homework problems. We also encourage you to solve additional problems in the text and to make sure you master all the check-point conceptual questions in the text book.

TUTORING: If you do not understand part of the material or experience difficulty in working the problems assigned seek help!!!! Either from your instructor through office hours, or from the graduate student tutors who will be available in room 102 Nicholson Hall at scheduled times posted there. You have already paid for this service and you are strongly encouraged to make use of it. If no tutor is present at a scheduled time, please note the time and date and report it to your instructor.

EXAMS: There will be three (3) 1-hour exams given during the semester that will draw from the homework assignments and lecture materials. These exams will be closed book and consist of problems and short conceptual questions. Since partial credit will be given for the problems, it is essential that you show all work and give explanations and intermediate steps. An answer without showing the appropriate steps through a calculation will not be accepted. Units are to be carried through as a part of the solution. You will be supplied with a standard formula sheet for use during the exam. These will be available on the course web page sometime before the exam. No other written material is allowed. You will need a scientific calculator. The night before each exam, a review session will be held. The exams will be given Thursday evenings from 6-7 pm on the following dates:

• Exam I - February 5, 6-7 pm.      Test without solutions       Solutions       Practice exams
  
• Exam II - March 5, 6-7 pm       Test without solutions       Solutions        Practice exams         
  
• Exam III - April 2, 6-7 pm       Test without solutions        Solutions        Practice exams         
  

THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS. If you have to miss an exam and you have a valid and documented excuse, you will be allowed to substitute the grade on that exam for the average of your other exam grades (midterm and final exams).

FINAL EXAM:  The final exam will be on Friday May 8, 5:30-7:30 pm.  

GRADING: The final grade in this course will be determined from exams and homework, as follows:

Preliminary exams  -  100 points each	300 points
Final Exam  -  200 points	200 points
Homework   -  30 points	30 points
TOTAL:	530 points

Your numerical grade will be the total number of points you obtain, divided by 5.3. Given your numerical grade, your letter grade will be at least the following:

        A: 90-100      B: 80-89      C: 60-79      D: 50-59      F: below 50.

Send Comments or Questions to M. Gaarde
Copyright © 2006. All rights reserved. Official Web Page of the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy.