You are responsible for all material discussed in lecture and discussion section and posted on the class web page, including announcements, deadlines, policies, etc. During the semester we may provide ungraded practice homework exercises and solutions. While we will not collect these exercises, completing them is essential preparation for exams. You may work together on these ungraded homeworks, and you may of course come to office hours for additional help.
Here is probably the part you care about though:
| Assignment | Percentage | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Quizzes | ||
| Quiz 1 | 3.75% | Sep 12 | Quiz 2 | 3.75% | Oct 10 | Quiz 3 | 3.75% | Nov 7 | Quiz 4 | 3.75% | Dec 5 |
| Exams | ||
| Exam 1 | 20.00% | Sep 29 | Exam 2 | 20.00% | Nov 3 | Final | 25.00% | Dec 16 |
| HW | ||
| Homeworks | 20.00% |
When submitting a homework or quiz on gradescope, you must tag your answers, otherwise you will not recieve credit. Additionally, we will not be accepting late submissions for quizzes so factor in scanning, uploading, and tagging into the time allotted. If you do not know how to tag, please see this video or see a TA during office hours.
Any request for reconsideration of any grading on coursework must be submitted within 3 days of when it is returned (or published on gradescope). Exam regrading requests must be made through gradescope. Any coursework submitted for reconsideration may be regraded in its entirety, which could result in a lower score if warranted.
Final course grades will be curved as necessary, based on every student's performance at the end of the semester. But: It is very likely that 90 and above earns an A, 80-90 earns a B, 70-80 earns a C, etc.; the curve will only lower the cutoffs, not raise them. We will be using +/- grading.
A note on extra credit: we may provide extra credit questions on quizzes and we grant extra credit on homeworks which were created using LaTeX. Unfortunately gradescope does not have an easy way to show extra credit so scores on gradescope will not be entierly accurate. We will tell you how many points each assignment is worth so you can perform your own calculations.
We will interact with students outside of class in primarily three ways: during office hours, electronically via Piazza, and electronically via e-mail. The large majority of communication should employ the first two methods, reserving e-mail for personal (presumably rare) circumstances.
Personalized assistance, e.g., with assignments or exam preparation, will be provided during office hours. Office hours for the instructional staff will be posted on the course web page a few days into the semester.
Additional assistance will provided via the Piazza web forum. You may use this forum to ask general questions of interest to the class as a whole, e.g., administrative issues or homework clarification questions. The course staff will monitor piazza on a daily basis, but do not expect immediate answers to questions. Please do not post publicly any information that would violate the university academic integrity policy (e.g., homework solutions or exam questions).
Piazza allows students to post private questions that are only visible to instructors. Please use this feature if you wish to ask specific questions concerning your project solutions.
Personal e-mail to instructors or TAs should be reserved for issues that cannot be handled by the above methods. If you must email an instructor please make sure the subject line includes [CMSC250]. If this is not in the header, we cannot guarantee a quick response to your communications.
Important announcements will be made primarily in class, but sometimes on the class web page, and via piazza.Here is a loose schedule of which topics we will cover.
| Week | Tuesday | Thursday |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 (8/28) | Syllabus, Statements | Truth Tables, conditionals |
| Week 2 (9/4) | Logical Equivalence | Arguments |
| Week 3 (9/11) | Circuits | Number Theory |
| Week 4 (9/18) | Quantification | Proofs |
| Week 5 (9/25) | Number Bases | Exam 1 |
| Week 6 (10/2) | Sets | Functions and Relations |
| Week 7 (10/9) | Set Proofs | Countability |
| Week 8 (10/16) | Sequences and Series | Weak Induction |
| Week 9 (10/23) | Strong Induction | Structual Induction |
| Week 10 (10/30) | Induction Overview | Exam 2 |
| Week 11 (11/6) | Counting | Combinatorics |
| Week 12 (11/13) | Probability | Expected Value |
| Week 13 (11/20) | TBD | Break |
| Week 14 (11/27) | Conditional Probability | Bayes |
| Week 15 (12/4) | Algorithms | Sorting |
Missing an exam or quiz for reasons such as illness, religious observance, participation in required university activities, or family or personal emergency (such as a serious automobile accident or close relative's funeral) will be excused so long as the absence is requested in writing at least 2 days in advance and the student includes documentation that shows the absence qualifies as excused; a self-signed note is not sufficient as exams and quizzes are Major Scheduled Grading Events. For this class, such events are the final exam, the two midterms, and quizzes, which will be given in class.
For medical absences, you must furnish documentation from the health care professional who treated you. This documentation must verify dates of treatment and indicate the timeframe that the student was unable to meet academic responsibilities. In addition, it must contain the name and phone number of the medical service provider to be used if verification is needed. No diagnostic information will ever be requested. Note that simply being seen by a health care professional does not constitute an excused absence; it must be clear that you were unable to perform your academic duties.
It is the University's policy to provide accommodations for students with religious observances conflicting with exams, but it is the your responsibility to inform the instructor in advance of intended religious observances. If you have a conflict with one of the planned exams, you must inform us prior to the end of the first two weeks of the class.
For missed exams due to excused absences, the instructor will arrange a makeup exam. If you might miss an exam for any other reason other than those above, you must contact the instructor in advance to discuss the circumstances. We are not obligated to offer a substitute assignment or to provide a makeup exam unless the failure to perform was due to an excused absence.
The policies for excused absences do not apply to homework assignments. Homeworks will be assigned with sufficient time to be completed by students who have a reasonable understanding of the necessary material and begin promptly. In cases of extremely serious documented illness of lengthy duration or other protracted, severe emergency situations, the instructor may consider extensions on homework assignments, depending upon the specific circumstances.
That being said, each student has five(5) 12-hour extension tokens which can be used on any homework(s) you wish, with a max of 2 tokens per homework. These tokens will be applied automatically to the first homeworks which are submmitted late. To be clear: there is no late deadline. While Gradescope does allow you to submit 24 hours late, if you submit late and have no tokens left, you will recieve no credit for the assignment.
For example: Suppose you start off with 5 tokens and an assignment is due
Sunday at 11:59pm. If you submit anytime on Monday from 12:00am - 11:59am,
you will automatically redeem 1 token and have 4 left for future assignments.
If you submit anytime on Monday 12:00pm - 11:59pm, you will automatically
redeem 2 tokens and have 3 left.
Be careful because if you only have 1 token left but submit more than 12 hours
late, you will not recieve credit on that assignment (you will not redeem a
token though). The same applies if you have no tokens left and try to submit
late.
We will not be granting extra tokens for any reason so be careful with how you allocate them. The only exception to this rule is if you have a valid university excuse like a medical or family emergency.
The Campus Senate has adopted a policy asking students to include the following statement on each examination or assignment in every course: "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination (or assignment)." Consequently, you will be requested to include this pledge on each exam and project. Please also carefully read the Office of Information Technology's policy regarding acceptable use of computer accounts.
Exams and quizzes are to be completed individually, therefore cooperation of peers or past students is a violation of the University's Code of Academic Integrity. Both the person receiving assistance and the person providing assistance are in violation of the honor code. Any evidence of this, or of unacceptable use of computer accounts, use of unauthorized materials or cooperation on exams, homeworks, or quizzes, or other possible violations of the Honor Code, willbe submitted to the Student Honor Council, which could result in an XF for the course, suspension, or expulsion.
Violations of the Code of Academic Integrity may include, but are not limited to:
If you have any question about a particular situation or source then consult with the instructors in advance. You can also refer to the followng table for a cheatsheet of what is allowed and not allowed
| Assignment | Open Notes | Open Internet | Ask a Friend | Submit Group Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homework | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Quizzes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Exams | No | No | No | No |
It is the responsibility, under the honor policy, of anyone who suspects an incident of academic dishonesty has occurred to report it to their instructor, or directly to the Honor Council.
Every semester the department has discovered a number of students attempting to cheat on project assignments, in violation of academic integrity requirements. Students' academic careers have been significantly affected by a decision to cheat. Think about whether you want to join them before contemplating cheating, or before helping a friend to cheat.
You are welcome and encouraged to study and compare or discuss their implementations of the programming projects with any others after they are graded, provided that all of the students in question have received nonzero scores for that project assignment, and if that project will not be extended upon in a later project assignment.
The University of Maryland recognizes the importance of a diverse student
body, and we are committed to fostering inclusive and equitable classroom
environments. I invite you, if you wish, to tell us how you want to be referred
to in this class, both in terms of your name and your pronouns (he/him,
she/her, they/them, etc.). Keep in mind that the pronouns someone uses are not
necessarily indicative of their gender identity. Visit
trans.umd.edu to learn
more.
Additionally, it is your choice whether to disclose how you identify in terms
of your gender, race, class, sexuality, religion, and dis/ability, among all
aspects of your identity (e.g., should it come up in classroom conversation
about our experiences and perspectives) and should be self-identified, not
presumed or imposed. I will do my best to address and refer to all students
accordingly, and I ask you to do the same for all of your fellow Terps.
Besides the policies in this syllabus, the University's policies apply during the semester. Various policies that may be relevant appear in the Undergraduate Catalog.
If you experience difficulty during the semester keeping up with the academic demands of your courses, you may consider contacting the Learning Assistance Service in 2201 Shoemaker Building at (301) 314-7693. Their educational counselors can help with time management issues, reading, note-taking, and exam preparation skills.
Students with disabilities who have been certified by Disability Support Services as needing any type of special accommodations should see the instructor as soon as possible during the schedule adjustment period (the first two weeks of class). Please provide DSS's letter of accommodation to the instructor at that time.
All arrangements for exam accommodations as a result of disability must be made and arranged with the instructor at least three business days prior to the exam date; later requests (including retroactive ones) will be refused.
If you have difficulty affording groceries or accessing sufficient food to eat every day, or lack a safe and stable place to live, please visit UMD’s Division of Student Affairs website for information about resources the campus offers you and let me know if I can help in any way.
UMD provides some additional supports to our student veterans. You can access those resources at the office of Veteran Student life and the Counseling Center. Veterans and active duty military personnel with special circumstances (e.g., upcoming deployments, drill requirements, disabilities) are welcome and encouraged to communicate these, in advance if possible, to the instructor.
If you have a suggestion for improving this class, don't hesitate to tell the instructor or TAs during the semester. At the end of the semester, please don't forget to provide your feedback using the campus-wide CourseEvalUM system. Your comments will help make this class better. CourseEvalUM is scheduled to be open between Tuesday, December 1 and Sunday, December 13, but this is subject to change by campus.
Although every effort has been made to be complete and accurate, unforeseen circumstances arising during the semester could require the adjustment of any material given here. Consequently, given due notice to students, the instructors reserve the right to change any information on this syllabus or in other course materials.
All course materials are copyright Dept. of Computer Science, University of Maryland (Marvin Zelkowitz, Jeff Foster, Larry Herman, Atif Memon, Chau-Wen Tseng, Michael Hicks, David Levin, Nelson Padua-Perez,Anwar Mamat, Cliff Bakalian). All rights reserved. Students are permitted to use course materials for their own personal use only. Course materials may not be distributed publicly or provided to others (excepting other students in the course), in any way or format.