Astronomy 183: Homework help for Homework 1

(3 Feb 2010)
Some clarifications for question #5: (1) Please make sure that you supply the complete URL or citation for whichever article you choose to read. Just writing "CNN" is not enough -- I need to be able to find and read the article that you read. (2) I asked for one page of summary, review, and discussion -- that's one page total, not one page for each.

(2 Feb 2010)
A student asked me "Do we need to show all of the calculations for question #1 on the homework?" The answer: Yes. Always show all your work.

(28 Jan 2010)
For the radius of the Skydome, an approximate answer is fine. I can think of at least two different ways to figure it out.

(28 Jan 2010)
Some potentially useful advice:
(1) These problems are not web research problems. You should not be spending minutes and hours on Google searches. Misery lies that way. Instead, just think about what you know and what you don't know. (2) You need to show all work for the math problems. If you just write down the answer, you will not get credit.

Other things to keep in mind:
(1) I will never give you a homework question where the answer comes directly from the notes, the book, or the web. (2) Mostly, I will ask you questions that are designed to make you think. I will want to you synthesize and think logically about the material.

Struggling with some of the problems? Here's some advice: If you're not sure how to start or where to start, try these steps: (1) read through the entire problem; (2) write down what you know; and (3) find the question. By "find the question" I mean that you should look for the question mark (and/or the sentence where I actually tell you what I want).

Writing down what you know and what I want you to answer can go a long, long way toward helping you figure out what to do.


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Last modified 2 Feb 2010