Homework

Most homework is turned in using WebAssign. If you used WebAssign in PHYS 221 last semester, you are already in the system, and should be able to access it as before. If you don't have one from last semester, you will need an access code purchased through the Cadet Store to use the system. If you do not have it at the beginning of class, the system gives you a two-week grace period to acquire it. To log in, go to www.webassign.net, and enter your account information in the form at the right of the page. Your user-id is the first part of your Citadel e-mail address, your institution is Citadel, and, if you haven't changed it already, your password is the last four digits of your Citadel ID number. For example, if your e-mail address is smithj1@citadel.edu and your ID number is CIT-07-1234, then your user-id is smithj1 and your default password is 1234. Note that your user-id will be different from last semester, since a different convention was used then. The change was made to prevent naming conflicts. If you had a user-id in 2008-2009, it will be the same, however, and your password will be the same as well.

Instructions for answering WebAssign questions are provided by the system. Please take the time to read them, because you normally only have five attempts to answer a questions, and errors in entering the answer count toward the total. WebAssign will understand answers only in a very specific format. Do not guess what this format is. The first problem set has some questions designed to illustrate some common answer types. WebAssign is particularly fussy about symbolic answers: remember that capitalization counts, and parentheses must be properly positioned. The new Math Palette interface should show how WebAssign interprets what you type. If you cannot get WebAssign to take a symbolic answer, I will accept it on paper the morning the set is due. not catch all errors.

No submissions are accepted after the start of class on the due date, which is 11 AM by WebAssign's clock. After that, the answers are available on-line. If you have not accessed the set after the answers were posted, you may request an "automatic extension", which is provided by the computer for 3 days, during which you will receive half credit for any correct answers. Automatic extensions must be requested within 3 days of the closing of the set. Other extensions for known conflicts require previous approval, and are given only in rare cases. Such extensions have no penalty in points. Emergency extensions after the due date are possible only if you have not accessed the set after it was due, since the answers are available then. Some problems may need to be turned in on paper. These are due at class at the same time as the rest of the set.

Do not wait until the last minute to start a problem set. Normally, you should try to have the problems completed well in advance, to leave time to ask questions if you have any serious problems. If you are routinely waiting until the last night to do the problems, you have a serious scheduling problem. Successful students often begin work on the problems as soon as they are posted. WebAssign will not give credit for incorrect answers, so you must allow time for multiple attempts, in case your first attempts are wrong.

In the event of a wrong answer, don't be overconfident: grading errors are very rare, and the problem is almost always with the answer. A common error is to enter too few digits, or to keep too few in intermediate calculations. WebAssign normally expects an answer to be correct within 1%, which requires at least three digits to be used throughout calculations. If you are in doubt about an answer, you can send me an e-mail if you start early enough to leave time for an answer. (The last night the set is open is probably too late.)

Do not expect to solve all of the problems while seated at the computer. Most are too difficult for this. A successful strategy is to do all your work symbolically on paper first, and put in numbers only in the later stages. This makes it easier to check and understand your work, and makes it easier to review for an exam. Keep a record of all of your problem-solving steps, and draw a lot of pictures: much of physics problem solving is geometrical.