Text
Logic: Techniques of Formal Reasoning, second
edition, by Kalish, Montague and Mar.
This is a beginning course in deductive logic, with
an emphasis on developing skills in reasoning.
We will cover the first three chapters of the text,
and part of chapter four, with some additional material from the
lectures.
There are no prerequisites except for a commitment
to work steadily.
Sections
Sections meet M and W. See web page "
Link
to Sections" for time, place and instructors.
Homework
Homework will be assigned
each week,
usually on Tuesday. It is due the following week, in your
discussion section. Homework will count toward
the final grade. (See Grading below.)
Homework
for weeks 1 and 2 (see "
Homework"
link for a complete list):
Week 1:
Read Chapter I, Secs. 1, 2, 3.
Do problems 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
9, 11, 13, 16 (pp.7-8 and 12-13).
Week 2:
Read Chapter I, Secs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Do problems 18, 21, 22, 24, 28,
29, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37 (pp. 27, 34-35, & p.43).
Exams
There will be a brief quiz in class every Tuesday
starting on Tuesday, April 15.
The subject will generally be that of the homework discussed in section
the preceding week.
For example, the first quiz will be on translations
in conditional logic. There will be eight quizzes in all.
There
is
no midterm and
no final exam.
Make-up
exams
There will be
one and only one
opportunity to make
up missed quizzes, but no more than two.
Anyone who doesn't
need a makeup for missed quizzes but wants to improve an old score (or
two)
may use the makeups
to try to do so on a no penalty basis.
The
day for makeups is Thursday, June 5.
There will be no other opportunity to
makeup a missed quiz.
This means that if
you are unavailable to take the makeups on
June 5,
for whatever reason,
you will not get another chance.
No excuses. Please mark your calendars.
Grading
In determining the grades each quiz will be worth 50
points. There will be eight
quizzes, to make a total of 8 x
50 = 400 possible quiz points. We will adjust that grade (but
not to exceed 390)
by adding a
bonus of 20 points if you have
handed in all nine homework assignments complete,
and we will
add 10 points if 5-8 homeworks have
been handed in complete.
Divide the total by 100 (round
off: 345 goes to 3.5; 344 goes to 3.4) and you get your course grade.
You can check that the bonus for
homework can make a difference to your course grade; so homework really
counts.
That is intentional, for the only
way to learn a skill is by practice.
Homework is your practice in
reasoning, and I want there to be incentive to do it.