Quizzes are take-home problem sets, one per week. They are added into the homework, which
is 30 percent of the final grade. Explanation below.
Pilot Course
In this 2250 pilot course, the three (3) midterm exams, the final exam, fourteen (14) quizzes and
fourteen (14) Thursday labs will be created anew in Spring 2014. The Thursday lab topics will
cause lecture changes, new exam problems and new chapter emphasis in exams.
Who Made the Changes?
The direction for change came from individual engineering departments and Dean Richard B.
Brown, University of Utah College of Engineering. The math department changes came from
Professor William Nesse, who created a new syllabus and a new plan for the Thursday lab session.
Thursday Labs
Think of the Lab as a separate 1-day per week course, integrated into 2250. Labs are problem sets
not directly from any textbook, newly created weekly for this course. The 14 labs each have 1-4
problems, a take-home style problem set individually graded weekly. Attendance is taken each
Thursday, by Rebecca Terry. She determines 50 percent of the final letter grade, because of lab
and exam grading.
Quizzes
These are take-home problem sets, an advantage if you are traveling or have a full work schedule.
The 14 quizzes will be produced on the fly, as the semester progresses. Quiz topics are fundamental
math and application topics which may not be not directly from any textbook.
Similar quizzes have been given by Professors Nicholas Korevaar and William Nesse; see their math
department web sites for published past quizzes and solutions. This pilot course currently uses historical quizzes
from other instructors and newly created sample quizzes which are part of the lecture.
Midterm Exams
They will parallel historical 2250 exams, 2013 and earlier. Sample exams will be posted when first
available. There is a rich history of midterm exams available on the course web site. Changes in
exam structure will reflect a focus on the Thursday lab topics. Exam problems are created from
the take-home quizzes (14) and the Thursday labs (14), plus homework problems and textbook
theory.