Unless noted otherwise, the following directions apply to all homework assignments.
Homework consists of two pieces:
Warm-up (10 points).
Warm-up questions provide practice with the basic course concepts and provide instant feedback on your understanding of these concepts.
Warm-ups are administered and automatically graded in Moodle.
Unlimited attempts are allowed before the due date, though there is a 33% penalty for each incorrect answer. For example, if a question is worth 3 points you will get 3 points for a correct answer on your first attempt, 2 points for a correct answer on your second attempt, 1 point for a correct answer on your third attempt, and 0 points thereafter.
Be sure to submit your quiz and review your grade on Moodle. Otherwise, your grade will automatically register as 0.
As they are meant to provide you and the instructor with an up-to-the-minute assessment, no late warm-ups will be accepted.
Exercises (40 points)
Longer form exercises provide opportunities to apply and extend course concepts in novel settings.
By design, most exercises are open ended. This reflects the nature of research outside the comfort of the classroom setting.
Late exercises will be accepted within one week of the due date, though 5 of 40 points will be deducted for each day the assignment is late. Extensions will only be given under special circumstances.
Homework will be graded on completion and correctness. A relative number of points will be deducted for each incomplete exercise. Further, 4 exercises will be graded in detail.
Solutions will be posted one week after homework is due. Be sure to review these solutions.
For the exercises:
Communicate your work in an R Markdown document:
Get the appropriate R Markdown homework template from the course homepage (eg: HW3Template.Rmd).
Put your name in place of the “YOUR NAME HERE” at the top of the R Markdown file.
Add your answers to the template.
“Knit” your R Markdown file. This will result in an html document of your work.
Include all RStudio code and output that’s relevant to the homework exercises. For example, if you’re asked to calculate the product of 5 and 7 you should show
> 5 * 7
[1] 35
Here, 5 * 7 is the “code” and 35 is the “output”.
Omit any RStudio code that’s not relevant to the homework exercises. That is, clean up your work. Points will be deducted for the inclusion of unnecessary code.
Images/plots: All images must be constructed using RStudio, be presented with the RStudio code with which you constructed plot, and have meaningful axis/legend labels. For example, if the variable name is TreeWidth you might change the corresponding axis/legend to Tree width (inches).
Present exercises in order and do not include any superfluous RStudio work (errors, etc). Points will be deducted for disorganized work.
Upload your homework file on Moodle. If the homework requires R Markdown, you’ll submit the corresponding html file.
Miscellaneous
Seek help early and often. Combined, the instructor and preceptors offer more than 10 office hours each week. Go! Utilize all of your resources! Meeting in person is best. Outside of office hours, you should communicate your questions on the Moodle Question & Answer forum.
All questions about the grading of homework, quizzes, etc must be discussed with the instructor within one week of receiving feedback on the assignment in question.
Important reminder of academic integrity
With respect to this homework assignment, academic dishonesty includes (but is not limited to) copying somebody else’s assignment, using material from previous Math 155 courses, using a solutions manual, and asking the preceptors for answers or any other special favors. Though you are encouraged to discuss the homework with your classmates, beware that taking someone else’s work or ideas and in any way passing them off as your own, even if you change the exact wording or presentation, is cheating. As such, you must each submit your own assignment in your own words, and must understand and be able to defend all the work therein. Failure to do so will result in a score of 0.