About Homework in MAT126
Fall 2016

Homework

You are encouraged to discuss homework problem together. However, each student must write up the homework or complete the corresponding web-based homework individually.

Homework will be assigned weekly; check the schedule for the specific weekly assignments. Note that looking in WebAssign alone is not sufficient, since most weeks there will be additional assignments not in WebAssign.

You will also complete part of the homework problems via a web interface. One of the benefits of the web-based system is that it will provide immediate feedback about whether your answers are right and wrong.

Doing the Web-based Homeworks

Web-based homework problems are much like any other: you need to give answers to a series of short questions, some of them multiple-choice, others not. The only difference is that instead of doing it on paper, you are doing it over the Internet. You can access the web interface from any computer which has an Internet connection, whether from home, from one of the University SINC sites, or say from an Internet cafe in Paris (although typically students who go to Paris midsemester have trouble keeping up in lectures). No special software is required: all you need is a relatively recent Web browser. Also, you can do the web-based homework whenever you want (of course, before the deadline). You can look at the problems, print them out, then go home, think them over, and come back later with your answer. In fact, this is probably the best way of doing the web-based homework for most people.

Please note that each problem has many variants, and different students are given different variants. So do not try to compare your answers to that of your classmates. Comparing techniques of solving the problems will be helpful, however.

If you enter an answer and get it wrong, you get another try, although you will lose part of a point for each wrong answer you give.

Logging in

Make sure that you either log in through blackboard or by this link. If you go to www.webassign.net directly, you may be able to log in (use the institution code sunysb), although you might have to recover your password by the link provided (requires your email to be correct).

If you aren't registered or have other trouble logging in, please send an email to the course coordinator. Please include the number of the recitation you attend, your full name, and your Stony Brook ID number, and your NetID (I don't need the password).

After you login the first time, please go to the My Options page (in the upper right of the screen) and make sure your email address is the one you use.

Doing the Assignment

• Some questions require entering symbolic notation. Answer symbolic questions by using calculator notation. You must use the exact variables specified in the questions. The order is not important as long as it is mathematically correct. Clicking on the eye button previews the expression you enter in proper mathematical notation. Clicking on the symbolic formatting help button provides tips for using the correct keystrokes.
• When you click on some WebAssign math questions an input palette will open. This palette, called mathPad, will help you enter your answer in proper notation.
• You can save your work without grading by selecting the Save Work button at the end of the question. After you save your work, it will be available to you the next time you click the assignment.
• Please note that WebAssign will not automatically submit your answers for scoring if you only Save your work. Please be sure to Submit prior to the due date and time.
• You can submit answers by question part or for the entire assignment. To submit an individual question answer for grading, click the "Submit New Answers to Question" button at the bottom of each question. To submit the entire assignment for grading, click the "Submit All New Answers" button at the end of the assignment.
• Some WebAssign questions check the number of significant figures in your answer. If you enter the correct value with the wrong number of significant figures, you will not receive credit, but you will receive a hint that your number does not have the correct number of significant figures.
• While different students may get slightly different versions of the assignment, your questions will be the same every time you return. This means you can print out the assignment, work the problems, and then come back later and put in your answers. Since you get multiple attempts to get the question correct, be sure to leave yourself enough time to rework the problems that you did wrong.
• Each question is (typically) worth one point. If a question has multiple answers, each of those are worth a fraction of a point.
• If you put in a wrong answer for a question and ask to have it graded, you will be told it is wrong and be ably to try again. However, if you put in the correct answer on the second try, you get half credit. On the third try, you get 1/3 credit, and so on.
• If you have issues with the assignment, you can use the "Ask your Teacher" button to send a message to your TA and/or lecturer. You should make it clear which problem you are talking about, and what, specifically, your issue is. Using "Ask your teacher" is prefered to sending an email because your question gets saved with your assignment.