Most of the course material will consist in detailed notes that will be handed out in class. These weights are fixed - improvement on later exams will not retroactively raise your grades on earlier exams.
Late homework loses one point.
Late homework is no longer accepted after I pass out my suggested answers for a given assignment. My proposed schedule for the semester follows. If it proves too ambitious, I will try to simply say less about each topic rather than cut the topics for the final weeks.