Most lab work assigned will be performed with the help of the software package called Mathematica. Mathematica should be installed in all ITSS labs, both Mac and PC. Mathematica is available on other platforms as well.

You are strongly encouraged to do labs with a partner. If you do so, you should turn in only one lab for the pair. Both lab partners should be involved in all parts of the lab. For example, one person doing the Mathematica session and another adding the comments is not acceptable. Discussing and comparing results with your partner, other students, your TA, and your instructor are all encouraged, but copying Mathematica sessions and/or results is, of course, unacceptable. Students handing in labs which were copied from one another will result in a zero score for the lab for both the person copying and the person being copied. The instructor may ask students to verbally explain results to justify that they understand what they have turned in. Parts that are written but not understood will not receive full credit.

Lab reports should be organized, neat and well-labelled and self-contained. You should treat the writeup as an essay for a writing course. The report should make it clear what problems were being solved and what steps were taken to solve them. In particular, all lab reports should include the following, either typed with a word processor, typed within Mathematica, or written neatly by hand:

• A title page or section with your name(s), instructor name, GTA name, Lab Title, Lab Number, date, and a signed statement of the following:
  • Outside References Used:,
  • If working alone, I understand all work I am turning in.
  • If working with a partner, We have both contributed to this lab, read it in its final form, and understand all the stated results. If this statement is not true, then each partner should instead submit a separate lab report.
  The list of outside references should include any people, websites, books, solution manuals, HW sites, ... used - other than the section of the textbook from which the problem came. If no outside references were used, state NONE, and sign. If outside references were used, indicate for what parts of the lab each of these resources was used. If you worked with a lab partner, include the statement
• A written statement of the goal(s) of the lab
• A coherent description of the procedures used to solve the problem(s) in the lab. Questions asked as part of the lab should be clearly answered and labelled. It should be clear where each part of each problem begins and ends. Output from a software session by itself is almost never acceptable. Hardcopy output from Mathematica and/or any other software used will typically be provided only as attatchments which are referred to in the lab writeup. The output should be clearly labelled, including sufficient comments to make it clear to a person who is not a Mathematica expert what has been done. In addition to the comments on the main writeup, comments may be hand written on the software output, or typed in Mathematica (preferred).
• A concluding paragraph which may include, for example, any of the following:
  • What you learned from the lab
  • How useful the software was in performing the lab
  • How the lab relates to any other aspect of the course
  • How useful the techniques used in lab might be in a ``real life'' problem

GRADING: Lab grading will take into account all of the above. Part of the grade will be based on how required "tasks" were performed. Part of the grade will be subjective, based on the general organization and presentation of the lab report. Grading shorthand to be used: Goals (G), Procedures (Pro), Mathematica tasks (Ma), Conclusions (C), Presentation and Organization (P+O).

• Go to the Math 3280 Home Page
• Go to Bruce Peckham's Home Page
• Go to the Department of Mathematics and Statistics Home Page