Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 1:19 PM
To: PHIL666 (37523) Fa07 - DL
Subject: homework and class-participation scores
Hi everybody,
Since today was the last day for homework problems (problems for credit) to be
turned in or class-participation points to be earned, I have computed the
corresponding components of your grade and entered the scores into the online
gradebook at the Blackboard site for the course.
I mentioned previously that I might compute your homework score as a weighted
average of a score for correctness and a score for completeness, rather than
basing it solely on correctness. I have decided to do that - specifically, to
give completeness one third the weight of correctness. This raised everyone's
homework score, and raised the class average by about 3.5 percentage points.
(More numerical information is below.)
Your correctness score is the higher of the following two numbers:
1. the number of homework problems you got right divided by the number of
homework problems (60)
2. the average of (a) the number of utility theory problems you got right
divided by the number of utility theory problems (20), (b) the number of game
theory problems you got right divided by the number of game theory problems
(17), and (c) the number of social choice theory problems you got right divided
by the number of social choice theory problems (23).
Your completeness score is the number of homework problems you turned in
(regardless of correctness) divided by the number of homework problems (60).
In case you are interested in how you did relative to the whole class, here are
all of the scores, in descending order, with the median score marked with an
asterisk. (Their mean is 86.05.)
99.38, 99.38
98.18
91.25
87.48
86.02 *
85.13
80.95
76.21
74.63
67.95
So that's the story concerning your homework score. Things are simpler with your
class-participation score. This score is just a function of the 1's and 0's that
I wrote on your your index card (1 when I called on you and you answered in a
way reflecting what I judged to be a good-faith effort to be prepared to answer
correctly, 0 otherwise). Your score is the number of 1's on your card divided by
the total number of 1's and 0's on your card.
Again, here are all of the scores, in descending order, with the median score
marked with an asterisk. (Their mean is 85.76.)
100, 100, 100
94.12
91.67
88.24 *
83.33
76.47
75
71.43
63.16
See you Friday, for the test on social choice theory.
Best,
Ben
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 1:19 PM
To: PHIL666 (37523) Fa07 - DL
Subject: game theory test recap
Hi everybody,
I have graded today's test, have posted an answer key on the course web site
(http://web.ku.edu/~utile/courses/rct3), and have posted the scores on the
online gradebook at the Blackboard site for our course. The scores were not
curved.
In case you are interested in how you did relative to the whole class, here are
all of the scores, in descending order, with the median score marked with an
asterisk:
100
95
91
91
90
85 *
79
78
75
70
70
The average of the scores is 84.0, more than 2 points higher than the average of
the scores on the first test. I am pleased with this level of performance.
I will return the tests in class on Friday, though you are welcome to pick yours
up sooner if you'd like.
Best,
Ben
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 9:07 AM
To: PHIL666 (37523) Fa07 - DL
Subject: syllabus update and test on game theory
Hi everybody,
I wanted to let you know that I just updated the syllabus (on the course web
site, at http://web.ku.edu/~utile/courses/rct3). It now shows the plan we'll
follow for the rest of the game-theory part of the course and the date of the
test on game theory (Wednesday, October 24).
Best,
Ben
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 1:35 PM
To: PHIL666 (37523) Fa07 - DL
Subject: correction to problem for credit #31
Hi everybody,
Nathan just pointed to me that in problem 31 (in the problems for credit), the
specified strategy pair is mis-stated if it is to be an equilibrium pair (as it
is claimed to be). The '5/9' and the '4/9' that appear in the specification of
the column player's strategy need to be reversed. I apologize for this mix-up.
I'll make a note of this correction on the web page containing the problems for
credit.
Best,
Ben
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Yesterday I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 10:30 PM
To: PHIL666 (37523) Fa07 - DL
Subject: RE: confused by problems 23 & 24
Hi everybody,
Usually I don't write substantive responses to e-mails inquiring about course
material (finding that much less efficient than answering questions in real-time
spoken conversations), but tonight I wrote a short substantive e-mail to one
student in our class in response to some questions about two of the problems
that are due tomorrow. It occurred to me that considerations of equity warrant
sharing that same message with all of you, so I've appended it below, anonymized.
Best,
Ben
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
-----
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Thu 10/4/2007 10:07 PM
To: [name]
Subject: RE: confused by problems 23 & 24
[name],
I'm not going to say much about this here - trying to explain these things by
e-mail is too time consuming to do much of it - but I do want to mention that
using dominance considerations to identify equilibrium outcomes will lead you
astray. There can be equilibrium outcomes in dominated rows and columns, and not
all outcomes in undominated rows and columns are equilibrium ones. So just
ignore the concept of dominance and look at each outcome from the point of view
of each player asking himself or herself whether he or she has any incentive to
unilaterally deviate from a strategy leading (in connection with the other
person's strategy) to that outcome.
This is probably all I'll have time to write about this before class - good luck
with it.
Best,
Ben
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 12:20 PM
To: PHIL666 (37523) Fa07 - DL
Subject: utility theory test recap
Hi everybody,
I have graded today's test, have posted an answer key on the course web site
(http://web.ku.edu/~utile/courses/rct3), and have posted the scores on the
online gradebook at the Blackboard site for our course. The scores posted there
include a curve of 8 percentage points.
In case you are interested in how you did relative to the whole class, here are
all of the scores, in descending order, with the median score marked with an
asterisk:
108
98
88
88
83
78 *
78
78
76
68
53
The average of the scores is 81.5.
I will return the tests in class on Monday, though you are welcome to pick yours
up sooner if you'd like.
Best,
Ben
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 1:45 PM
To: PHIL666 (37523) Fa07 - DL
Subject: next week in Rational Choice Theory
Hi everybody,
Three bits of news, none remarkable on its own but collectively maybe meriting
this message:
1. You can plan on the test on utility theory being next Friday, September 21.
2. There won't be any more problems for credit before the test next Friday.
3. I've posted the last reading assignment on utility theory on Blackboard, and
will hand out hard copies of it on Monday, for discussion of it on Wednesday.
Best wishes,
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students:
From: Eggleston, Ben
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 5:49 PM
To: PHIL666 (37523) Fa07 - DL
Subject: problems for credit corresponding to section 14
Hi everybody,
As I mentioned in class today, section 14 might be a little harder than most of
the previous ones. If, in response to that information (or for any other
reason), you get started on it sooner and finish it in time to work on the
problems for credit that are based on it, I wanted to let you know that those
problems - which will be due this Friday - are now available on the course web
site, at http://web.ku.edu/~utile/courses/rct3. Following my usual practice,
I'll provide hard copies of them in class on Wednesday. I just wanted to let you
know they were available in case you'd like to get started on them sooner than
that.
Best wishes,
Ben Eggleston
eggleston@ku.edu
http://web.ku.edu/~utile
3070 Wescoe Hall
(785) 864-2332
mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
3090 Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Today I sent the following e-mail message to all enrolled students: