Course Rules

The following are the course rules. Read them and fully understand them! Violations of the rules below will be considered academic dishonesty and may result in your summary dismissal from our graduate program!

• You may collaborate with your classmates in any permutation on the homework. In fact, I encourage you to work in groups, as you will probably all learn more that way. However, you must each write up all the solutions even if they are all the same within a group. Writing them up provides learning reinforcement.

• You may not get worked out ``solutions to Jackson problems'' from more advanced graduate students, the solutions book (if you can find it), the web (!) or anyplace else. It obviously removes the whole point of the homework in the first place. If you do not struggle with these problems (as I did and really, still do) you will not learn. It is a mistake to have too much guidance or to try to avoid the pain.

• You may ask for help with your homework from more advanced students, other faculty, personal friends, or your household pets, as long as no worked-out solutions to the assigned problems are present at any sessions where the problems are discussed. That way, with or without help, you will participate in finding the solution of each problem, which is the idea.

  Obviously your degree of long term success in the class and physics in general will depend largely on the enthusiasm and commitment of your personal participation. Passive is not good, active is good. Take charge of learning this material by doing the work required to do so.

• You may (indeed must) use the library and all available non-human resources to help solve the problems. I don't even care if you find the solution to some problem somewhere in the literature and copy it verbatim provided that you understand it afterwards (which is the goal), cite your source, and provided that you do not use the solution manual/book for Jackson problems (which exists, floating around somewhere, and which has all sorts of errors in it besides), see second item above.

• You may NOT collaborate with each other or get outside human help on the take home (midterm, final) exam problems. They are to be done alone. There will be a time limit (typically 24 hours total working time) on the take home exams, spread out over four days or so.

• I reserve the right to specify open or closed book (or note, or library) efforts for the midterm and final exams. In the past I have permitted these exams to be done open book, but there is some advantage to making them closed book as well. Please obey whatever rule is specified in the exam itself.

I will usually be available for questions right after class. Otherwise, it is best to make appointments to see me via e-mail. My third department/university job is helping to manage the computer network, especially with regard to cluster computing (teaching this is my second and doing research is my first) so I'm usually on the computer and always insanely busy. However, I will nearly always try to answer questions if/when you catch me. That doesn't mean that I will know the answers, of course ...

I welcome feedback and suggestions at any time during the year. I would prefer to hear constructive suggestions early so that I have time to implement them this semester.