Syllabus for ISP209 - Spring 1997

Lecturer:

Prof. Carl Bromberg

Office, Phone, & E-mail:

251 PA, 353-1809, bromberg@pa.msu.edu

Office Hrs.:

Tuesday & Wednesday, 2:40 - 4:00, or by appointment.

Required Course Packs & Tools:

ISP209 "Reference Notes" (Spring Term 1997);

Lecture Notes, periodically;

Calculator with trig. & log. functions, and scientific notation.

Lectures:

Tuesday & Thursday at 10:20-11:40 in room 118 PA.

Course Topics:

The course will follow the sequence of topics shown on the table below. The sequence has been set for the first seven lectures followed by a session to Tie-up Loose Ends (TLE) and the first exam.

Lecture Notes:

My lecture notes will be made available for purchase on a regular basis. These lecture notes will be complete and detailed and are an important companion to the lectures. The notes for the first lecture are included with the initial handout. The notes for lectures 2-7 should be available for purchase next week at a location to be announced. The syllabus will be updated periodically.

Exams & Grades:

There are three regular exams and a final exam as indicated in the table. Please take alternate seats during the exams. The exams will cover the material from all previous lectures including the first lecture presented today.

The three regular exams will contribute 10%, 15%, and 25% of the grade, respectively.
The final exam will contribute 50% of the grade.

Documented medical excuses for missing one exam will be accepted up to one week following the absence; the final exam will be weighted to compensate.

Exams will contain most required equations.

Homework:

Assignments are due at 10:20 am in Room 118 on the dates shown in the table. Homework is not optional. An I-grade may be given if homework is incomplete. Homework assignments will be given in lecture 1 week prior to the due date.

Reference Notes:

The ISP209 "Reference Notes" are available only at the MSU bookstore. This is a collection of short modules highlighting just the formulas relevant to a particular topic and are not arranged in any particular order. If there are modules in the "Reference Notes" that are relevant, they will be indicated in the last column of the table.

Check that you know and are capable of doing the operations in appendix A (Review of Algebra and Trigonometry) and B (Rules for Analyzing Units). A lecture will often include a review of the relevant mathematics but exams will not.

Appendix C (List of Physical Constants) contains any needed constants, such as the speed of light or the mass of the earth. Constants will be provided on exams.