In-class quizzes: logistics

Math/CS 513 will have twelve weekly in-class quizzes on Wednesdays at the end of class, except during the first and the midterm week. These quizzes will last 10 minutes and have one or two questions. These quizzes will be "closed-book", "closed-notes", and no electronic devices. They will cover material from the previous week's lectures and relevant course contents. These quizzes are designed to support you in building factual knowledge and procedural skills. The lowest two quiz scores will be dropped.

There is one retake for each in-class quiz (the last quiz retake will be on the final exam).
Namely, each in-class quiz may be taken twice:

• First attempt: The in-class quiz on Wednesday of Week n.
• Second attempt (retake): During the in-class quiz time on Wednesday of Week n+1, the quiz will consist of two parts: (i) the regular Week n+1 quiz, and (ii) a retake of the Week n quiz. The retake will cover the same concepts/topics, but not the same questions.

If your score on the retake is higher than your score on the first attempt, then the retake score will replace your first attempt score. Should you need to miss a quiz, you should utilize the two drops or the retake option. No makeup quizzes will be given. If you need McBurney accommodations, or have documented emergencies or obligations, please contact the instructor and it will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Exams: logistics

The course will have one 50 minute in-class midterm exam held on March 11, 2026. The final exam will be held from 2:45–4:45pm on May 4, 2026. The midterm and final exams will be "closed-book". They must be completed individually, with no access to electronic devices. The questions will be of a similar style to the homework, although they will be more straightforward and designed to test your knowledge of the key course concepts.

You are allowed to bring one double-sided letter-sized cheat sheet to each exam. The cheat sheet must be handwritten (not typed or printed or written on tablet), and it must be turned in with your exam. Failure to follow these requirements will be considered a violation of academic integrity.

The final exam will override the midterm score. Explicitly, this means that overall course scores will be computed with the formula:
Score = (15Q + 20H + 25 max{M, F} + 40F) / 100 where Q is the quiz score, H is the homework score, M is the midterm score, and F is the final exam score.

Honors/graduate paper: logistics

If you are taking the course for honors or graduate credit, then you will be required to submit a 3–5 page paper on a topic in numerical linear algebra that is not covered in Math/CS 513 or a topic you hope to explore further. The honors/graduate paper will be 5% of your final grade, and the homework assignments percentage will be reduced to 15%.

Explicitly, this means that overall course scores will be computed with the formula:
Score = (15Q + 5P + 15H + 25 max{M, F} + 40F) / 100 where P is the honors/graduate paper score.

The timeline for this is as follows (more instructions will be given in March):

• By 5pm CT on April 6, 2026, you must schedule a 30-minute proposal meeting with Yue Sun to discuss your paper idea. Nothing written is required for this meeting, but you may find it helpful to bring documents or other material to help facilitate the discussion.
• The paper (with any associated code) will be due at 5pm CT on May 4, 2026 and can be uploaded via Canvas/Gradescope. There is no extension to the deadline.
• The paper should be written in LaTeX using Overleaf. You should add Yue Sun as a viewer to your Overleaf project. Similarly, any code files should be shared with Yue Sun via GitHub.