Hey everyone! Here are administrative details about Physics 487.
(0a) ONLINE LINKS - ZOOM: We are using Zoom for all synchronous communication:
lectures, discussion, and office hours. Each instructor will use their
personal Zoom ID so the Zoom locations are instructor-dependent. Below is
the schedule for all of our online meetings. To join them, type the indicated
meeting ID into a Zoom app. The password
is always the same, click here to get it.
(It's in the secure folder so use your netid, possibly prefixed by uofi\)
OFFICE HOURS
Monday 2 - 6 pm Naomi Makins Mtg ID: makins
Tuesday 7 - 8 pm Yidong Chen Mtg ID: yidongchen
Tuesday 8 - 9 pm Matt Thibodeau Mtg ID: mthib
Friday 8 - 9 pm Xuchen Cao Mtg ID: xuchenc
DISCUSSION
Wednesday 4:30 - 6 pm Matt Thibodeau Mtg ID: mthib
Wednesday 6 - 7:30 pm Matt Thibodeau Mtg ID: mthib
LECTURE
Tue,Thu 11 am - 12:30 pm Naomi Mtg ID: makins
(0b) ONLINE LINKS - DISCORD: We are using Discord for our asynchronous group
communication: course-related announcements, asking questions outside of
scheduled meetings, personal-messaging classmates and instructors. The
invitation URL for the Discord server is here.
(It's in the secure folder so use your netid, possibly prefixed by uofi\)
(1) DIRECTORIES: The course content will appear in the directories of this
website, which you can navigate freely.
./ INFO files & formula/reference sheets
blackboards/ lecture recordings and notes
discussion/ discussion problems
homework/ homework assignments
secure/ solutions, checkpoints, Zoom & Discord info
(2a) OFFICE HOUR SCHEDULE: The weekly office hour schedule is above.
Please consider scheduling your homework-solving time around the office hours
and connecting to the office-hour zoom session while you work.
If everyone did that, everyone could easily find others to work with!
(We will happily open breakout rooms for you to use if you like.) Also,
you might hear someone else's question and realize you have the very same
question, just like when you are working in an actual office-hour room.
(2b) OFFICE HOUR POLICY: Homework is not a quiz, it's PRACTICE. We WANT you to
get 100% on every homework and we EXPECT you to get at least 95%. To this end,
the TAs and I will be very happy to CHECK your homework before you leave to
make sure you understand everything. We also strongly encourage you to work
together in groups: exchanging ideas is a superb way to learn!
(3a) HOMEWORK: The homework deadline is each week on FRIDAY at midnight.
Solutions are to be written on your own paper and scanned into a single PDF file.
Please upload scanned / photographed images of your homework using
my.physics.illinois.edu/courses/upload
Graded homeworks will be returned using this same tool → same link.
(3b) HOMEWORK LATE POLICY: We'll accept homeworks up to two business days late
with a cumulative -15% penalty per late business day, where "business day"
means days that are not weekends or university holidays. Thus, if it's due
Friday 1 pm and you hand it in by Monday 1 pm, you get -15%; if you hand it
in by Tuesday 1 pm, you get -30%. No homeworks will be accepted after that.
Also, for homeworks that are due within the week preceding a MIDTERM EXAM,
NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS are accepted, so that we can post the solution as soon
as possible for studying.
(3c) HOMEWORK POSTING: will be on Saturday. The homework will appear
in the homework subdirectory and I will let you
know by Discord when it is posted.
(4) GRADING BREAKDOWN: The final grade breakdown will be approximately
Discussion attendance = 5%
Homework = 35%
Two Midterm Exams = 12% each → 24% total
Final Exam = 36%
(5) GRADING POLICY: Our universal grading policy, applicable to both
homework and exams, is No Work, No Points. This simply means that you
must show or explain each step of your work to gain full credit. "Checkpoint"
files will appear in the secure folder to accompany each homework assignment;
they will contain the final answers to the homework questions as a
self-assessment tool. The final answers are thus worth no points, it is the
steps and explanations leading to the answers that are worth points.
When verbal explanations are asked for, people sometimes worry that they
have to volumes of text to get full credit. You do not have to write
volumes of text. My suggested guideline for homework problems is to write
enough that you will be able to use your own solution as notes 3 months from
now to study for the final exam, and 5 years from now to relearn this material
after the details have evaporated from short-term memory.
(6) TEXTBOOKS: The required textbook is
• D. Griffiths, "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics", 2nd ed.
This book has one of the best blends of good pedagogy and rigour,
although I find the order of presentation somewhat strange. I am also
very fond of a second book that provides an excellent pedagogical
introduction to upper-level QM and is available in Kindle format from
Amazon for the astonishing price of $2.88 !
• M. Jain, "Quantum Mechanics: A Textbook for Undergraduates"
Grab an e-copy before they raise the price (!) Jain's book also has many
solved examples within the text. The material was mostly covered in 486,
so it will run out shortly, but it has excellent chapters at the end on
atomic physics which we are covering in 487. If you are looking for
a textbook that is less pedagogical, heavier on math and theory, and will
serve as a good reference book for the future, I recommend
• R. Shankar, "Principles of Quantum Mechanics"
Finally, let me address a common question: "Can I survive without any textbook?"
If you go to all lectures and discussions, you probably can, but with a subject
this deep, foregoing any textbook is crippling. Your best resource is a
COMBINATION of resources as you are best served by seeing different perspectives.
Maybe the best answer is that, in lecture/discussion/homework, I am ASSUMING
that you have Griffiths and are reading it.
(7) DISCUSSION SECTIONS: You may not be able to get through all the discussion
questions during section, and that's fine, but you are RESPONSIBLE for all the
material. Solutions will be posted in the secure folder very soon after each
discussion section so please try the questions you didn't get to, then consult
the solutions for assistance - and maybe for some new ideas on how to solve
the problems!
(8) LECTURES: No points are assigned for attending lecture. However, you
are RESPONSIBLE for all the material covered in lecture. I will post photos
of the blackboards / PDFs of what I write in Zoom in case there is something
you didn't manage to write down during lecture, but these blackboards do NOT
capture all of what goes on. Notable examples are demos, relevant items from
the web, and most important of all, OUR DISCUSSIONS: about interpretation,
physical intuition and significance, and answers to your outstanding questions!
If you miss a lecture, it is your responsibility to get notes from a classmate.
(9a) MIDTERM EXAMS: The midterms will be held during lecture period, with the
first one in week 5 or 6 and the second one in week 11 or 12. The exact dates
will be decided about 2 weeks in advance, after a poll in lecture to find
dates that avoid peoples' other midterms as much as possible. Once we pick
a date for each midterm, you will get an email and the date will appear on
the INFO-Syllabus page.
(9b) FINAL EXAM: The dates and times for final exams are determined for all
courses on campus about 7 weeks after classes start and a general schedule is
posted on their Final Exam page. The specific info for our course appears on
the 487 Course Explorer page. Once the final exam date is announced, it will
also appear in INFO-Syllabus.
(9c) NO-3-IN-24-HOUR RULE: The Final Exams section of the Student Code
(which you should read!) explains the no-3-in-24-hours rule: you can't be
required to take three final exams in any 24 hour period. If you are in such
a situation, there is an order-of-precedence rule for which course must
offer you a conflict final. Basically, the largest classes have to offer
conflicts first; if those still don't solve your problem, you contact
the next smaller class, and so on. Note that this rule does NOT apply to
midterm exams, only finals.
(9d) FOR ALL EXAMS:
- NO CALCULATORS are allowed (who needs 'em, they would just slow you down)
- NO NOTES or other reference materials are allowed (books, computers, etc)
- FORMULA SHEETS will be provided; they will be posted in the main
area about a week in advance of each exam
- NO HOMEWORK will be due during midterm exam weeks, but all office hours
will be held as normal to help you study. As noted in the office hour
section, if the exam falls on a Thursday, any Thursday or Friday office
hours will be moved to an earlier day of the week.
(10) WHERE'S THE GRADEBOOK? The online gradebooks for all physics courses
are in the same place: my.physics.illinois.edu/gradebook/.
Log in with your usual netid and password.
(11) TA EMAILS:
Discussion TA Matt Thibodeau mt24 at illinois.edu
Grader Nan Zhang xuchenc2 at illinois.edu
Grader Yidong Chen yidongc2
Any questions about homework scores should be directed to the graders.
Different graders score different assignments so please email all of them.
Here is a link to email all the graders.
(12) EMAILING NAOMI: Please use the phone or text or PM if you can, dear friends.
Stuff gets done over the phone at relativistic speeds compared with email.
Call or text at any time (really!); my cell is below and you can PM me on
Discord. The only exception is homework questions: with a class of this size,
the TAs and I must regrettably confine homework assistance to the office hours
(of which there are many). As for physics questions, please bring them to
lecture! Many of the greatest insights we've had in lecture were prompted
by student questions, please share your thoughts with all of us! :-)
Cheers! Naomi
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Prof. Naomi C.R. Makins (217) 721-3793
email: please.use@the.phone (call|text any time)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Loomis Laboratory of Physics, Room 463
1110 W. Green St, Urbana, IL 61801-3080