Preparation for lecture

Before coming to your Tuesday in-person lecture, you should

• Read the assigned textbook sections (see the lecture schedule).
• Do the pre-unit homework PrairieLearn (due Monday evening)
• Watch the (short) video lectures or read the matching lecture notes.

The video lectures assume that you've already done the textbook readings. So they do not walk through basic definitions but, rather, concentrate on aspects of the topic that you probably didn't fully understand after doing the readings. (The first-week videos are more comprehensive because we are just getting started.)

The lecture schedule also contains some optional videos on selected topics.

Lectures

Lecture will be on Tuesdays, and also on Thursday of Week 1. In these, we will highlight important points and work some problems together as a class. Bring paper and a writing implement, or something similar such as a tablet. When you work on the problems, you'll want to be able to draft outlines, draw pictures, fiddle with algebra, etc. Almost no one can do this without a way to write and draw.

Tutorials

Tutorial will be held on Thursdays starting Week 2 and attendance is part of your grade. Tutorial problems will be posted on PrairieLearn on Wednesday if you want to look at them early. At tutorial, you'll be able to work on the problems with classmates and type the solutions into PrairieLearn (as you would during an exam). (Use this brief guide for help formatting equations.) When you're finished, the course staff will give you feedback and mark your work as completed on PrairieLearn.

During tutorials, we'll be grading for good-faith completion, so everyone should be able to get 100% on the tutorials. Model solutions will be posted in the evening after tutorials are finished.

Before you leave the room, make sure that PrairieLearn is showing that you have a non-zero grade on the tutorial assignment.

As for lecture, bring writing materials. You will also need a mobile device for interacting with PrairieLearn. You will be working with the people sitting near you. Feel free to sit near the same people each week or to move around and meet new people.

Study problems and resources

We encourage you to do the additional study problems listed on the lecture schedule. You should write up a solution to each problem on your own, as if you were taking an exam or turning in a graded homework, before checking your answers against the posted solutions. Writing up the answers is important, since it forces you to work through the details and practice composing a polished proof.

See the study resources tab in the top menu for places to find additional study problems.