In-class presentations & Rubik's cube comp

5% of your total grade will be based on a 5-10 minute in-class presentation.

The contents of the presentation could be taken from the textbook (e.g. a topic/concept/exercise I have not discussed in class), or from anywhere else, as long as it is on or related to abstract algebra.

To encourage you to start doing these presentations before we run out of class time, we will have the following scheme for bonus points:

The n-th person to email me to put their name down to present will receive an extra 2-(n/10) % to the final grade.  (So the 1st person to let me know will receive an extra 1.9%, the second person 1.8%, and so on.  However, if you let me know you'll present on a certain date and that does not materialise, I'll move you to the back of the queue.)

Here is a list of the remaining days of class, and the number of people who have signed up to do presentations on any particular day:

• Fri, Nov 2
• Mon, Nov 5 (1 person)
• Wed, Nov 7 (1 person)
• Fri, Nov 9
• Mon, Nov 12 (2 people)
• Wed Nov 14 (1 person)
• Fri, Nov 16 (2 people) (last day of class before Thanksgiving)
• Mon, Nov 26 (2 people)
• Wed, Nov 28 (tentative date for Rubik's cube comp*; we have an MC)
• Fri, Nov 30 (4 people)
• Mon, Dec 3 (5 people)
• Wed, Dec 5 (Exam 3)

*As of Fri, Nov 9, we seem to have 4 entrants for the competition.


Rubik's cube comp
As mentioned on the syllabus and in the post `Course Information', the winner (1st place) of the competition will earn an extra 5% towards the final grade.  The runner-up (2nd place) will earn 3%, and the second runner-up (3rd place) will earn 2%.