Professor: Ted Jacobson  Room 4115 (Physics Bldg.), Phone 301-405-6020  jacobson@physics.umd.edu  http://www.glue.umd.edu/~tajac  Office hours: After class, or by appointment.

Teaching Assistant: Bora Sul Room 3101  (Physics Bldg.), Phone 301-405-6194 ripong77@hanmail.net borasul@physics.umd.edu

PHYS171:  From the course catalog:  First semester of a three semester sequence for physics majors and those desiring a rigorous preparation in the physical sciences: kinematics, Newton's laws, energy and work, linear and angular momenta, temperature and pressure, ideal gas law, and special relativity. Prerequisites: MATH 140 (functions, limits, continuity, derivatives and applications of the derivative, sketching of graphs of functions, definite and indefinite integrals, and calculation of area.) and a high school physics course or permission of department. Corequisite: MATH 141 (techniques of integration, improper integrals, applications of integration (such as volumes, work, arc length, moments), inverse functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, sequences and series.)

Study Sessions :   Time and place: 2:00-6:00 pm, Wednesdays, Room 4102.
These are informal group study sessions. I will drop in from time to time, and you may be able to reach me or the grader  in our offices. Feel free to stop by the study session at any time to ask a few questions, or to stay there to study or participate in discussions of other students' questions as well as your own.

Textbook:  Physics for Scientists and Engineers , vol. 1, 5th ed., Tipler & Mosca (W.H. Freeman & Co).

E-mail:    I encourage students to make use of e-mail for quick correspondence with me (or the grader) regarding lecture material, homework problems, or whatever. I will also use e-mail to communicate with the class at large. I can often be reached at night or on weekends by email. Please include PHYS171 in the subject line. Students are responsible for making sure I have their correct email address and checking their email daily. Important messages will sometimes be sent to the class by email.

Course web site :   Course plan, homework assignments, class notes, supplements, and homework, and exam solutions will all be posted at the course web site, www.glue.umd.edu/~tajac/171c.

Homework:   Assigned weekly, due at the beginning of class on the assigned day (usually Friday). Late homework accepted only under dire circumstances. If you know it will be impossible to turn in an assignment on time you must discuss this with me  in advance of the due date. Medical reasons accepted  only with a doctor's note. You are encouraged to discuss the homework with others, but what you finally hand in should be your own work. Please make sure you include your name and the homework and course numbers and staple the pages together. Homework sets must show reasoning leading to the final answers in a clear and readable fashion to obtain credit.

Exams:   Two mid-terms and a final. The date of the final is Thursday, May 22 8:00-10:00 am.Absence from exams will be excused only under dire circumstances. If you know it will be impossible to attend an exam you must discuss this with me in advance of the exam. Medical reasons accepted only with a doctor's note. A missed exam with legitimate excuse may be replaced by an oral exam.

Grading: The course grade will be based on the homework and exams. The lowest two homework scores will be dropped. The relative weights will be adjusted to maximize the total, within the ranges: homework 30 +/- 10%, each of the two midterms 20+/- 10%, final exam 30 +/- 15%. The letter grades will likely correspond roughly to the following ranges of percentage points, though these will be adjusted as seems fit: A (100 - 89), B (88 - 77), C (76 - 60), D (59 - 43), F (42 - 0).

Tips for doing well :

• Freely ask questions in class.
• Read the textbook and ask about anything you don't fully understand.
• Do all of the homework problems. You are allowed and encouraged to discuss the homework with anyone you wish.  However, in order to optimize your learning, you should initially make a serious attempt to solve the problems by yourself. If you think you can do well in the course without doing well on the homework, you are almost certainly mistaken!
• Don't wait until the night before the homework is due to begin working the problems!!
• Seek help immediately if you don't understand the material.