Assignments Overview

How Assignments Work in PHY 321

Assignments in this course are designed to deepen your understanding of the concepts in lectures and notes. They combine pencil-and-paper problem-solving with numerical computation. You’ll work on them individually or in groups (up to 3), and you’ll submit them on Gradescope as a single PDF.

We have three types of assignments:

• Weekly Homeworks (8 total) - Short problem sets due most weeks

• Midterm Projects (2) - Larger investigations of specific topics

• Final Project - Culminating project with presentations and written essay

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📝 Assignment Structure

Weekly Homeworks

Each homework typically includes:

• Individual Exercise (10 pts) - Submit on D2L only; worked alone

• Pencil and Paper Exercises (60 pts) - Work alone or in groups of up to 3

• Numerical Exercise (40 pts) - Jupyter notebook work, converted to PDF

Key guidelines:

• Individual exercises must be your own work

• Pencil/paper and numerical exercises can be done in groups (up to 3 people)

• Beyond your group, you may discuss concepts and approaches with others, but write your own answers

• All submissions go to Gradescope as a single PDF (see instructions below)

• Come prepared: Homeworks are available ~10 days before the deadline

📤 How to Submit

For Pencil & Paper + Numerical Exercises:

Submission Instructions

1. Scan handwritten solutions into a single PDF file

2. Convert your Jupyter notebook to PDF:

   • File → Download As HTML

   • Open HTML in your browser

   • File → Print → Save as PDF

3. Combine files:

   • Open scanned PDF in your PDF reader

   • View → Thumbnails

   • Go to last page of handwritten solutions

   • Edit → Insert → Page from File

   • Select the notebook PDF

4. Upload to Gradescope with your name(s)

Detailed Instructions

For Individual Exercises:

Submit only on D2L through the assignment titled “HW# Exercise 0”

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📚 Recommended Workflow

For each homework:

1. Read the lecture notes and work through examples

2. Attend the workshop day (Fridays usually)—solve problems together

3. Start early (homeworks available ~10 days before due date)

4. Form your group if working in groups (no more than 3)

5. Work through pencil & paper first, then numerical

6. Scan and combine your PDF files

7. Submit to Gradescope before the deadline

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❓ Questions About Assignments?

• Content questions: Ask in class, office hours, or discussions

• Grading questions: Contact Danny directly or submit a regrade request on Gradescope

• Technical questions about submission: Ask Mihir or Danny during office hours