ASTR 1220 Homework

General Instructions

• Most of these deadlines are on a Sunday at midnight (more exactly, 11:59pm). The deadlines are set electronically so they are firm. Recall, full credit drops by 20% if you go past the deadline, and decreases by a further 20% for every day late up to a maximum of 50%.

• Most Homeworks require about 1 hour to complete, but obviously you're inviting trouble if you start them at 11pm on Sunday!

• The Mastering Astronomy website also includes other important materials: an electronic version of the textbook (if you chose to purchase that option), many tutorials that lead you through individual topics, and many additional images, animations and videos. I encourage you to make use of these materials to the extent that your interest, and your need to gain a robust understanding of the material, dictates.

• Here are some other tips for answering the homework questions:
  • Pay attention to the number of significant figures asked for in the quantitative questions (usually 2 so, for example, 5.6 is OK but 6 is not). Make sure all your input numbers have one digit more precision and then round back down when you get to the final answer.
  • Be careful of units (e.g. meters or light years). Pay attention to the units of the quantities given, and make sure your answer is in given in the units requested.
  • In the questions that ask you to rank items, don't forget that you can rank two (or more) items together, with the same rank.
  • Many questions are in parts. You won't get any credit recorded until you submit answers to all parts of the question.
  • You may use hints without losing credit, but you will not gain extra credit for answering questions within the hint.

Homework Deadlines (Spring 2012)