In the first parts of this homework, the single general idea is straightforward: describe your mathematical background. The details aren't in the thinking - they are in the directions we've written. Read them carefully and follow them carefully!

The last question asks you to look critically at some numbers. There the thinking matter more.

• Part 1 (email) is due midnight Thursday, September 4.

• The rest is due Tuesday, September 9, at the beginning of class.

  Your answers to the rest of the questions must be typed (nowadays that means printed from a computer file) and clearly labelled on the first page with your name, the course name, the assignment number and the date. Staple the pages together. Just in case they come apart, number the pages and make sure your name appears on each one.

  Proofread your paper carefully before you submit it. Use the spelling and grammar checker in your word processor (it's not always right, but it is very helpful). Ask a friend or classmate to proofread it too.

  You cannot submit this work as an email attachment.

1. email contact information. We will use email regularly to communicate with you. So the first order of business is to make sure we can reach one another that way. (If you do not have an email account UMass will provide one free: to sign up visit www.umb.edu/it/comm/mail/student_email.html.) That requires three steps:

   1. From the email account you plan to use for this course (UMass, or gmail, or yahoo, or comcast, or verizon, or anything else you choose) write your instructor: Professor Bolker (eb@cs.umb.edu) or Professor Mast (maura.mast@umb.edu). The subject line should look like this:
      Subject: Math 114Q [your full name]

   2. When we receive your email we will respond.

   3. When you get a response, reply to it.

   When we have received your reply you will have completed this part of the assignment. We will make sure our spam filters let mail from you through, and we will put your name on the class mailing list. We will let you know that we've done so - you don't need to respond yet again to the response!

   Note: Your email provider should offer you the choice of sending mail as plain text or as a web page (with html). Please always use just plain text when writing us.

2. Your qr autobiography. Write a short essay about your experiences dealing with numbers and learning and doing mathematics. Here are some questions you may consider. You need not address them all and you can add others. Don't just answer them one after another as if this were an exam. Treat them as a guide when you organize your answer.
   • What numbers do you pay attention to when you see them? (tuition costs, sports statistics, stock reports, credit card interest charges, tax rates, speed limits, gas prices, efficiency ratings of appliances and light bulbs, ... none?)
   • What numbers do you ignore when you see them?
   • How much mathematics have you studied in school?
   • Have you ever used mathematics other than in school work?
   • Do you enjoy math? Hate it? Tolerate it?
   • What are your fondest hopes for this course? Your worst fears?
   • How might quantitative reasoning fit (or not fit!) into any long range life or career plans you have?
   Clearly these are not questions with right or wrong answers (except for you), so there's no point in trying to figure out what we want you to say. Honesty is the best policy.

3. Your computer background. Write a few paragraphs describing your experiences using a computer. Here are questions (like those in Part 2 above) you might consider.
   • How often do you use a computer?
   • What do you do with a computer? email? Surf the internet? Play games? Write papers? Use a spreadsheet? Manage digital photos? Listen to music?
   • Where do you use a computer? Whose computer is it? What kind? How old is it? What software does it run?
   • Are you a good touch typist or do you hunt and peck?
   • Do you enjoy computer work? Do you find it annoying and frustrating?

4. Acknowledging intellectual debts. Visit the course home page at www.cs.umb.edu/~eb/114/. Explore the links you find there. Look around for the discussion of plagiarism. Read it carefully. Then write a brief summary, in your own words, so that we know you have read and understood it.

5. Building on skills/ideas from the first two classes . Watch this space on the web: www.cs.umb.edu/~eb/114/hw1/hw1.html We will post a question or two here after the first class. Here are the extra questions for this first homework.