Discussion sections: The discussion sections (Tuesdays at 1 after the first week) are conducted by the teaching assistant, and are an integral part of the course. They provide an opportunity to have your questions answered on a more personal basis and at greater length than is possible in the lecture. There will often be aspects of solutions to exercises that you will not have considered. You should take advantage of the chance to ask questions that go beyond the particular problems that were assigned that week.
Homework: It is practically impossible to learn mathematics without doing a lot of problems. Therefore, it is extremely important that you do the assigned problems carefully and promptly. Don't get behind! I will assign homework each Tuesday; it will be posted on the class web site. It will be due at the beginning of the discussion section the following Tuesday. I expect that graded homework will be returned to you a week later. You may discuss homework problems with other students, the TA or me, before they are turned in. In fact, the right kind of discussion can be quite valuable. I do expect two things, though: (i) you should try seriously to do the exercise yourself before discussing it with anyone, and (ii) you should write up the solution yourself after understanding it thoroughly, without following someone else's written version. Otherwise, the homework does you no good. The lowest homework score will be dropped before final grades are assigned. Note: No late homework will be accepted.
Theoretical problems: These are marked with a *, and are followed by complete solutions. They are effectively part of the text, and I will cover some of them in lecture. I will maintain a list of those covered on the class web page.
Grading: The final grade will be based on the the exams and homework with the following weights: final (40%), midterms (20% each) and homework (20%). I will use the my.ucla grading program to post grades for homework and exams.