My policy about Mathematica Labs
(last updated 08/28/26)

I admit this is a long read. If you have any questions about the rules stated below, please ask me.


1. How I expect you to work on the Labs
  
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Since generative AI can do any of the assignments, I will not collect and grade Labs. Rather, you will work on the Lab and have it ready for the day when it is formally scheduled (on the course webpage) as "due." On that day, at the end of the class period, I will give a "Mathematica Lab quiz," in which the problems will be slight variations of the assignments in the Lab. The quiz will be pencil-and-paper-only (i.e., no computer). Your grade for that quiz will be your grade for the respective Lab.

Note that those "Mathematica Lab quizzes" are separate from the regular quizzes, which are based on the Homework problems.
You may work alone or with as many classmates as you choose. This will not affect your "Mathematica Lab quiz" grade; the latter will be based on your own demonstration of mastery of the material covered in the Lab.

You are not allowed to use any help from AI or any other source outside of this class. All information that you need to successfully do any of the Labs is found in their Instructions. If you have difficulty applying those instructions, you should seek help from the instructor rather than from any source outside of this class. If you are lost about how to do an exercise, it suggests that you do not understand something in the material of the course, or have not read the Lab's instructions carefully enough. In this case, you should - to repeat myself - come to the instructor for help. It is very likely that during our discussion, some gaps in your understanding of the material may be uncovered, and  I will try to help you to mend them.

If you cannot meet with me in person, you should send me your questions via e-mail. In such a case, please attach your draft of the Lab (not a screenshot, please), so that I could see your work. Please make an effort to state your questions to me clearly in the email, referring to specific places in your Lab.

Since it is impossible for me to enforce the prohibition stated above in red as you are working on the Lab at home, in practice it will mean the following. If, when grading your "Mathematica Lab quiz," I see a detail (even one) that was not in the Lab's instructions and/or Examples, I will consider this a violation of academic integrity on your part.

Violations of academic integrity will be handled as follows.
   Every instance of a violation, starting with the first, will be referred by me to the Center for Student Conduct (CSC). I will follow the rules described below in recommending a penalty to the CSC. The CSC ultimately decides whether to follow my recommendation or not.
  - The first time that I detect a use of an outside resource (as defined above), the penalty will be between 50% (very unlikely) and 150% (very likely) of your Lab's grade; this decision is left entirely up to me.
   - In case of the second violation, I will recommend that the student(s) be given an XF for the course.
 

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Some of the Labs have Bonus (a.k.a. extra-credit) questions. If you decide to do and submit any of these non-mandatory problems, please follow these steps (otherwise, skip this part):
    -  E-mail your entire Lab (i.e., both regular and Bonus assignments) to me before the start of the class when the Lab is "due."
    -  You may work on these Bonus problems with up to two classmates. The policy on how I will handle such collaborative work is the same as described in the document "Instructions for doing extra credit Homework assignments" posted on the course webpage.
    -  If you work in a group, the group must submit only one Lab, not separate ones. The subject line of the submission email must indicate that this is submission of Bonus assignments for Lab # so-and-so and group members so-and-so. Please do not forget to Delete Output of the Lab (as explained at the end of Lab 1, Parts 1 and 2). In the filename, please replace '_yourname' with the names of all members of the group.
    -  Suppose John and Mary have worked together on Bonus problem 1, and John has worked alone on Bonus problem 2 (and Mary did not contribute to problem 2). Then John and Mary still submit one lab and indicate who has worked on which problem.
   -  As for the Homework extra-credit (please see the document referenced above), I will meet with each person in the group individually and have them explain the solution of the Bonus problem to me. The consequences of any of them failing to do so to my satisfaction are also described in the aforementioned document.
    -  The amount of extra points added to your grade is determined as follows. Suppose the Bonus problem is listed as weighing 20% and suppose that the student submitting it has worked alone. Then, if the problem is done and explained to me perfectly, the student will receive  0.20 * 2% = 0.4%  added to their final numeric grade. (Here 2% is the weight that a "Mathematica Lab quiz" grade contributes to everyone's final numeric score.)
2. Plan ahead your work on the Labs

You will be able to digest the material presented in the Labs, as well as to relate it to the material covered in class, most efficiently if you start working on the assigned Lab well in advance of its due date. Please keep in mind that these Labs are substantially longer and more difficult than those you may have done in Calculus I and II.

To encourage the practice of starting your work on Labs early, I will enforce the following policy on helping you with questions that you might have about the assigned Lab:
1) On the day the Lab is "due," *) I will answer only minor questions about  it, but will not provide any substantial help.
2) One academic (i.e., working) day before the "due" date, I will provide help only on the last exercise of the Lab.
    (The Labs have no more than 2 exercises each.)
3) Also, suppose that the last exercise is substantially based on the first one, and you ask me about it one day before the Lab is "due," but have not done exercise 1. Then I will not help you with those issues in the last exercise that are related to exercise 1.

To summarize: Plan ahead, plan ahead, plan ahead ... Lack of planning by you will not constitute an emergency for me.

*) The reason why `due' is taken in quotes is explained at the very beginning of this document.