PHY 131 Schedule

The homeworks in the fourth column are related to the lectures for that week. They will be discussed in recitation the following week.  Submit written solutions to the three problems marked by * to your Recitation Instructor.  For example, Problems 6, 30 and 44 from Chapter 3 will be collected during the week of Sept 10.  The WEB homework assigned for a given week (last column) is due by Tuesday 4:00AM (in the morning!) the next week.  For all practical purposes this means the the submission must happen Monday night. Example: WEB4 from Chapter 9 is to be submitted by the late evening hours of Monday, October 8. See the bottom of this document for more instructions about the WEB homeworks.
 

Find the course WEB page on a computer, and follow the link to the "Homeworks, Lectures and Labs" page (this page).  Click on the highlighted WEB link in the HW assignment. This brings you to the corresponding Chapter of the textbook WEB page. Wait patiently until the menu on the left hand side is downloaded, and then click on "Physlet Problems" or "Practice Problems" (your choice).   You will see the questions.  Press the "Start" button.  Fill in your answers, roll down to the bottom of the page, and click on "Submit for Grading".  You will see if your answers were correct. Do this as many times as you wish.  Full credit will be given for the correct solution of four problems, picked arbitrarily.  Of course, you will benefit from working out all problems.

In order to get credit for the work,  you should submit it to the grade sheet.  Go to the bottom of the page again, until you find the box shown below.  In the "My name is" or "Your name" field write in the last six digits of your student ID number; the "Instructor" field should have sunysb@gradesheet.com.   If these two fields are correct, click on "E-Mail Results" or "Send".  (You may also E-mail the result to your own E-mail address, but this is optional and not necessary for processing your submission). Examples for doing it right:
 

Physlet	Practice

After submitting the results, you will see an acknowledgment. This acknowledgment does not mean that we received the solution - it only means that the solution was sent.  For example, if you typed in the incorrect E-mail address, we will never see the solution.  Check the WEB homework grade sheet a few days later to see if your score was properly updated.  Avoid common mistakes. Do NOT use your real name. Do NOT E-mail your solutions to your instructors. Do NOT leave the homework to the last minute.

The textbook's WEB page allows you to personalize the settings, so that you do not have to type in the name (i.e. the last six digits of the ID number) and the E-mail address each time.  In order to avoid confusion, use this option ONLY if you have the exclusive right to a personal computer.  Do not use it if your computer is shared with other students, like the computers on the SINC sites, or some of the computers in the dorms.

If you are doing the HW from home (using AOL or other internet provider over a phone line) make sure that you keep your connection active during the time you work on the problems, otherwise you will get an error message and you have to start over.  Here are a few tricks that can help:  Check your E-mail, open another copy of the WEB browser and click on a new link in every five or ten minutes. Alternatively, you can print out the problems, disconnect, think about them, and log in again later.