Dear Students of PHY231 section 001,

Welcome to Introductory Physics 231. On Monday morning 8:00 am we will kick
off the semester. I will give an overview of the essential things during the
first lecture, so let me try to keep this brief. There are two important
sites that you need to know of for this course. The first one is the PHY231
general site:

http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/phy231/

It contains all important information about grading, calendar and policies,
as well as were to go to do your homework and old exams etc. Take some time
to look at the site so you'll be informed about it all. Note that this site
is also used by PHY231C (online course) so a few issues are specific for
that course.

The second site is specific for section 001:

http://www.nscl.msu.edu/~zegers/phy231-2005.html

Here you find all lectures for section 1: All lectures will be posted BEFORE
the lecture is given (but without answers to problems and quizzes) so you can
print it out and don't have to take so many notes during the lecture
itself. After the lecture, I will post the full lecture, including all answers
and quizzes.  On this site you can also find some extra test problems and an
for your convenience an overview of equations.

Grading for PHY231 will be based on midterm exams (3), a final exam,
homework (LON-CAPA) and in-class quizzes. Details are on the PHY231 general
site. For the quizzes, we will use a so-called online response system.
Basically, you will answer the quizzes using a transmitter (a.k.a. 'clicker
') in the class. I will also use the system to ask questions and get online
responses not used for grading. Note that the clicker quizzes are extra
credit. You will get points for just participating and of course more points
for giving correct answers. In short, it is a nice way for you to test
during lectures whether you understood the material and to score extra
points. You will need to register the clicker number (this can be done via
the homework LON-CAPA system).

The clicker is sold at the bookstores and is bundled with the recommended
text book (College Physics, Volume One, by Serway and Faughn; Volume Two is
needed for PHY232). The version sold by the bookstores is especially made
for MSU and is paperback. However, if you have an earlier edition of Serway
and Faugn (5 or 6), you don't have to buy a new textbook. Note that because
of the special version of the book and the bundling with a clicker, the
combined new price is strongly reduced relative to last year, so if you buy
a secondhand textbook, make sure that it is worth it, especially since you
still need a clicker.
The bookstores only sell the new H-ITT clicker type, but if you can get an
old version of the clicker (it was smaller and has less buttons than the new
one) from someone who used it last year, that is fine as well. Just make
sure it works well.

I hope you will all do well and enjoy the course. Don't hesitate to contact
me if you have any questions or problems during the semester. My walk-in
hour is from 4-5 pm on Tuesday in the BPS helproom (not far from the lecture
hall), but you can also make an appointment or contact me before/after
class.

See you on Monday at 8 am!

Remco Zegers
NSCL/Department of Physics
Room W109 Cyclotron building