In a nutshell: Reading and so-called oral homework assignments will motivate you to read and study part of the material before the lectures that discuss it. The lectures then motivate the topics you studied, clarify issues, examine connections with other topics, and probe into further depth. Standard homework taken after the lectures evaluate your understanding of the material.
Here is a more detailed description of how this works. Before we study, say, propositional logic, you will be asked to read Sections 1.1 and 1.2 of Rosen's book on this topic, and a list of simpler problems from the book will be posted on the web site. You will then be asked to solve those problems or answer those questions in class. I'll initially look for volunteers, but I will then ask people who do not intervene often. Class participation forms part of your final grade, as explained below.
Sometime after the lectures on logic, you will receive a standard homework assignment on logic. This will be a set of somewhat harder problems, and will be graded with a grade between 0 and 100. Make sure you explain your work, so you get partial credit for incorrect answers.
All standard homework is done individually, under Duke's Community Standard. No collaboration of any kind is allowed on standard homework.
Late standard homework assignments are penalized 10 points for each late calendar day. For instance, an assignment due on a Thursday and handed in on the subsequent Monday is penalized 40 points.
There will be three in-class exams: two during the semester, and one taken at the regularly scheduled time of Friday, December 16 from 2 to 5 PM. The last two exams cover material not covered in earlier exams. Exams are open book, closed notes, and are questions out of Rosen's text. Exam grades are between 0 and 100.
Your final numerical grade is computed as follows:
g = 0.4 h + 0.4 e + 0.2 p
In this formula, h is your average grade in the homework, e is your average grade in the exams, and p is a "participation score" that reflects my own perception of the effort and enthusiasm you put into the classes. For instance, if your homework average is 80.5, your exam average is 75, and you consistently participate in class, then your final numerical grade is
g = 0.4 x 80.5 + 0.4 x 75 + 0.2 x 100 = 32.3 + 30 + 20 = 82.3
Your letter grade is computed as follows, after rounding the numerical grade to an integer:
| Number | Letter |
| 95-100 | A+ |
| 90-94 | A |
| 85-89 | A- |
| 80-84 | B+ |
| 75-79 | B |
| 70-74 | B- |
| 65-69 | C+ |
| 60-64 | C |
| 55-59 | C- |
| 50-54 | D |
| < 50 | F |