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Links. This syllabus is at http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/courses/bdryval/. In addition:

• Homework assignments and information about impending tests will be announced in class, but they will also be posted here.
• After I grade tests, I post answer keys; you can find them here.
• I have created a list of the most common errors in undergraduate mathematics. Much of the list applies only to calculus courses, but some of it applies to your course as well. You should read it; you'll find it here.
• Probably I will use Oak to post grades, so that you can see how you're doing throughout the semester.

Instructor.   Eric Schechter, Associate Professor of Mathematics. You should address me as "Dr. Schechter" (pronounced "doctor shektur"). Email: eric.schechter@vanderbilt.edu. Office: SC-1529; that's in the top floor of the Math Building. You can sometimes reach me by phone, but email is much more reliable. Tentatively, my office hours are TuTh 12:25-1:30 without appointment; also available at some other times by appointment. For more contact information, see my web page.

Textbook.   We'll be using Asmar's PDEs and BVPs with Fourier Series, 2nd edition (Prentice Hall). I haven't yet decided which chapters, but it probably will include at least Chapters 2, 3, and 4. I tend to emphasize computational techniques, not proofs.

Grades & Schedule.   Grades will be based on

Three 75-minute tests	scheduled*   Sep 27,   Oct 27,  and   Nov 17,	each worth 15% of your grade;
lots of homework	almost every day	totalling 30% of your grade;
and a final exam	scheduled     noon-2 PM Monday, December 12 in [room TBA] or 3-5 PM Friday, December 16 in SC-1312	worth 25% of your grade.

*Test dates are tentative. However, if I change any of these dates, I will be lenient about scheduling makeups for students who have some sort of schedule conflict.

Note that the weight of homework may be greater than what you are accustomed to in math courses. Don't skip any of your homework!

Other events: | Sept 5: Labor day (classes do meet). | Oct 12: Deficiency reports due. | Oct 21: Last day to drop courses. | Oct 24-25: No classes. | Oct 30: Set clock back one hour. | Nov 19-27: No classes. | Dec 8: Last day of classes.

Rules.  

• MISSING OR LATE WORK: Unexcused absence from a test, and unexcused late homework, will yield a score of 0. It is up to me to decide which excuses are acceptable, but here are a few examples:
  • I excuse job interviews and participation in Vanderbilt team athletic events, but notify me in writing in advance. For illness, bring me a note afterwards. For the first illness excuse, your own signature will suffice; for subsequent illnesses I will want a signature from a doctor, nurse, dean, or advisor.
  • I do not excuse Mardi Gras, weddings, a traditional annual family reunion, or a day added to the beginning or end of an official Vanderbilt holiday.
  • If you're not sure, ask. For weak excuses I sometimes give half credit, which is still better than none.
  • If you know you're going to miss a class, please ask a classmate to bring your homework to class for you, so I can keep it with the rest of the batch.
• HOMEWORK is assigned during nearly every class; it is due at the beginning of the next class. Please have your homework in hand when class begins; if you arrive at class late, please take your homework out of your bookbag and hold it in your hand before entering the classroom. -- Your homework doesn't have to be pretty, but it should be easily legible; for many students that means you should print rather than use cursive writing. You may use calculators and computers. Homework is to be done individually, not in teams. You may consult any books and web pages; you may not consult other live persons. You may not ask your classmates whether they got the same answer you did for a problem.
  In my differential equations and calculus classes, I permit students to study the odd-numbered problems together, but the even-numbered problems that I assign for homework must be done individually. In my logic classes, unfortunately, there are no problems that can be studied in groups.
  Your homework may be in pencil or pen, blue or black. Do not use red, but bring a red pencil or pen with you to class. Generally I discuss the homework before I collect it, and you are permitted to annotate your own paper in red. The paper grader will grade you only on the blue or black work. The red annotations serve these two purposes:
  • You can write notes to yourself, which you can later study when you're preparing for a test. (Generally I try to return graded homework before testing you on that material.)
  • You can write notes to the paper-grader, explaining what you did wrong, to make the paper-grader's job easier and perhaps to reduce your embarrassment.
• USING CALCULATORS ON TESTS. You may use your own calculator, but not a borrowed calculator. (That's because I'm concerned about your acquiring useful skills that you can keep, not skills that will evaporate when your roommate transfers to another university. Admittedly, in some courses this gives an advantage to students who can afford a more expensive calculator; I'm afraid I don't see any way to get around that. In other courses I think the calculator will not be of any help, but you can use it if you wish.) If you use a calculator, bring extra batteries along to the test. And if you don't understand your calculator's results, don't ask me about it during a test.
• USING WRITTEN MATERIALS ON TESTS.
  • In my calculus classes, you may not use books or notes.
  • In my differential equations classes, I make integral tables available on some tests; ask me about this a few days before the test.
  • In my logic tests, you may not use books or notes during the first half of the semester; you may use both books and notes during the second half of the semester.
• CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION. I do not take attendance, but most students will find that they score better on my tests if they hear all of my lectures. Please ask questions during class; the only "dumb question" is the unasked one. In fact, if you can formulate a question, you're probably helping out a dozen classmates who were even more confused on the same issue and weren't able to articulate it as a question. And please interrupt me --- please don't politely save your questions for the end of a computation or for after class -- I just hate it when I've built lots of computation on top of an error, or when I realize that your classmates have already left the room with an error in their notes.
• DISABILITIES: Please inform me during the first week of classes about any disabilities that may require special arrangements.