Thomas Hunter's Homepage
Table of Contents
Office Hours and Appointments
Office hours for students are great times to talk one-on-one or in small groups about mathematics. Every student (or anyone else) should feel totally free to meet with me for any reason whatsoever or no reason at all. Advance preparation for meeting with me can be useful, but is not required.
To make an appointment visit the google calendar appointment page where you can find available slots and make an appointment.
Feel free to schedule as far in advance as you like. If you need to cancel just do it through google calendar and the slot will be available for someone else.
When you come to an appointment, feel free to bring a friend.
Feel free to stop by any time without an appointment, but your mileage will vary: I may be busy or away; scheduled students will have first priority when I am available.
Always feel free to email me and ask for more blocks if none of the times listed on the Google calendar work for you. In your email let me know what times work for you and I'll try to schedule a new block during one of those times.
Contact Information
- Swarthmore Location
- Science Center, Room 157
- Postal mailing address
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Swarthmore College
500 College Ave
Swarthmore, PA 19081 - mailto:thunter1@swarthmore.edu
- Phone Number at Swarthmore
- 610-328-8244
Additional Information for any of my students
Support and Accommodations for students with disabilities
If you believe you need accommodations for a disability or a chronic medical condition, please contact Student Disability Services via email at mailto:studentdisabilityservices@swarthmore.edu to arrange an appointment to discuss your needs. As appropriate, the office will issue students with documented disabilities or medical conditions a formal Accommodations Letter. Since accommodations require early planning and are not retroactive, please contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. For details about the accommodations process, visit the Student Disability Services website. You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged, in advance, through Student Disability Services.
Collaboration
Collaboration on everything other than tests is encouraged. At the same time collaboration must always be explicitly acknowledged. Whenever you work together with another student or consult a source outside of our text, make a brief explicit note of the fact. Make such notes in the notes you keep for yourself and on anything you hand in and at the beginning of any presentation of the material. Typical such notes are "This work is joint with Jack and Jill," or "The idea for this solution came from [give url here]."
The internet and other online resources are vast. Some of these resources are good. Learning from a wide variety of resources is a good thing. At the same time finding solutions to exercises online (or elsewhere) so you don't have to find them for yourself is counterproductive. If you find a solution online (or elsewhere) you must document any use you make of it in your write-ups and in your discussion of it in class or the weekly lab section.
Tests will be closed book; no collaboration or sources are allowed.
Late work
Generally speaking, I will not accept late work and exams may never be taken late. In each class, one or more homework assignments may be dropped with no penalty and no questions–see your courses Moodle pages for details. If you are too sick to finish or hand in a homework (or are unable for another reason), take advantage of one of these free drops. In the case of irreconcilable academic conflicts you may schedule an exam earlier than the official time, but make up exams will not be given after the regularly scheduled exam except under extreme circumstances.
Computers and Phones during class or seminar meetings
Phones, tablets, computers, et cetera, should all be turned off or put in "do-not-disturb" mode during class or seminar meetings; accessing the web and both incoming and outgoing communication are prohibited unless a special exception is made. You may use a laptop or iPad for note-taking if that is your preferred method. Audio or video recordings of the lecture or other classroom interactions are not allowed. Exceptions to these rules may be made, but requests for such exceptions must be made in advance.
Math Clinic
Math Clinics are drop-in study sessions run by friendly and knowledgeable upperclassmen every Sunday-Thursday night 7-10pm in SC145 starting the first day of classes. Clinics are a wonderful opportunity to study, do homework, meet/work with classmates, and ask questions about mathematics. Because clinics are drop-in, you are welcome to come and go as you please, but be sure to sign-in when you are there. To make the most of your time at clinic be sure to first try problems on your own, or bring questions you have from your text or lecture. Bringing your textbook and lecture notes is essential because these are helpful resources for both you and the Clinician working with you. There will likely be other students at Clinic with questions for the Clinician, so do not expect to get individual attention the entire time you are at clinic. Be open to working on other problems, thinking about and trying to work through the question you have for the Clinician, working with classmates, or doing other coursework while you wait to speak with the Clinician. For questions about Math Clinics please visit https://www.swarthmore.edu/math-stat-academic-support/math-and-stat-clinics or contact Danielle Ledford, the Academic Support Coordinator for the Math/Stat Department.
Computer Facilities
In almost all of my classes, neither a calculator nor a computer is required. At the same time, you may use either while doing homework if you find it useful. However, exams will be pencil and paper only.
When I need a computer for algebraic calculation I use SAGE. A free web version of SAGE is available online. Also, you can download sage for free and install and run it on your own computer. When I use a computer to create typed mathematics, I use LaTeX. The online sage link given above also allows for LaTeX authoring. Another user-friendly on-line LaTeX authoring tool is Overleaf. As with sage, you can download and install latex for free to run on your own computer. Another tool, well suited for numerical calculation, visualization, and presentation is Pluto.
Some course information from previous semesters
Classes for Spring Semester 2020
The links below provide basic information about the classes. Students in the courses should refer to the corresponding Moodle pages for more detailed information, assignments and so on.