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MITx: 16.110x_2 Flight Vehicle Aerodynamics

Frequently Asked Questions

    General

  • Where will frequently asked questions (FAQ) be answered for 16.110x?

      Right here! We will be updating this page frequently with more questions and answers, so stay tuned. Question that are specific to the material covered in the course will be answered in the Discussion Forums.

  • When are assignments due? When do materials become available?

      Since we have a worldwide audience, all deadlines and release times in this course will be in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). New content will be released on Tuesdays at 16:00 UTC and deadlines for assignments will also be on Tuesdays at 16:00 UTC, unless specified otherwise. Please see the complete course timetable on the calendar tab.

  • How does the grading work?

      Your final grade will be a weighted sum of the scores from the Finger exercises, Homeworks and the three Exams. Please see the complete grading policy on the grading section of the syllabus tab.

    • Website

  • Why am I seeing incomplete content on the pages? Why do I see a lot of unknown symbols and letters instead of mathematical equations?

      Incomplete content or incorrectly displayed equations might be the result of your browser's settings. Please ensure that JavaScript is enabled on your browser. We recommend downloading and using the current version of either Firefox or Chrome.

  • What do the blue clocks on the left side bar mean?

      Everything that is graded has a blue clock icon next to it. If the item also has a deadline, it is listed right below.

  • How do I use the edX platform?

      We think you will find that the edX platform is pretty intuitive to use. However, if you find that you are running into trouble with it, you may want to take the edX Demo course before jumping into 16.110x.

    • Discussion Forum

  • What is the forum? How should I use it? What are the best practices?

      The discussion forum is definitely one of the more important components of an online course such as this. The forum opens you up to the vast online community that we have in this course, and it is highly recommended that you actively take part in the discussions and learn from your peers under the guidance of the course staff. There are hundreds of people willing to help you out with issues that you may have, or with any material that you have trouble understanding. So reach out to them and learn from the community, and don't forget to return the favour. :)

      But in order to keep this valuable forum running smoothly, we need you to follow two major guidelines. First, if you need to create a new post, make sure you SEARCH for similar discussions before doing so. Chances are that someone else also had the same question before you, and we don't want to clutter our forum with redundant posts. Over and over again.

      Next, if you "do" actually need to create a new discussion, make sure that you [TAG] the title with the appropriate keywords, so that it's easier for others searching for similar stuff to find your post. More forum guidelines and the keywords for [TAG]ging are given in forums section of the syllabus tab.

  • How do I search for discussions?

      Use the magnifying glass at the upper right on the post list to search for posts with a particular tag or title. Because of the [TAG] system we have introduced, it is much easier to search for threads with a particular tag. For instance to search for discussions related to the homework in the module 1. Flow-Field Modeling, simply enter "[01][HW]" in the search bar (without quotation marks).

  • How do I enter math expressions in posts?

      You can enter math expressions in your posts by enclosing them in dollar signs and using the LaTeX format. Try these examples:
      • $5 \times 10^6$
      • $\frac{x}{2y}$
      • $\sqrt{23}$
      • $\sin(2\pi)$

    • Assignments

  • When can I see the solution solutions for finger exercises?

      The solutions to the finger exercises will be revealed after you have exceeded the maximum number of attempts, the due date has passed, or if you have answered the problem correctly.

  • When can I see the solution videos for homework questions?

      For homework questions, the solutions will only be revealed after the due date has passed.

  • What's the difference between entering answers and submitting answers?

      Entering an answer means selecting one of the multiple choice options or typing something into a box. Submitting an answer means telling the system that you have finished entering all of your answers by clicking "Check" (or "Final Check" if you have only one attempt left).

  • How do I enter formulas as an answer?

      If there is an additional grey box below the answer box, the program might expect a formula or it might expect a number, for example 0. Type in the formula for the answer. The system also recognizes "pi". The grey box underneath the answer box will show how the program is interpreting what you have typed. Given below are some useful tips to avoid errors when entering formulae:
      1. No blank spaces are allowed anywhere in your formula.
      2. You must use the multiplication sign ( * ) between every term you are multiplying together including numbers. The program does not know that "2a" means 2 times a. You need to type "2*a".
      3. Your left ( and right ) parentheses must match exactly. Count them carefully and pay close attention to the display of the formula in the grey box below your answer to see if you are getting what you intend.
      4. Use the caret ^ for powers. i.e. 2^3 means 2 to the power of 3.
      5. Arguments of functions must always be within parentheses. i.e. sin(x+c*t). No curly braces { } or square brackets [ ] allowed.
      6. Greek letters must be spelled out completely, i.e. epsilon_0, phi, theta.
      7. The constant pi can be entered as "pi". It is preferable not put in a number like 3.14.
      8. Use sqrt( ) for square root.

  • What are these errors I get when I type a formula in an answer box?

      The system prints out an error message if it cannot interpret your formula properly. Here are some of the most common error messages:
      • Invalid input: could not interpret '15 N/C' as a number. This means that no letters are allowed. For scientific notation, the exponent must be in ( ).
      • Invalid input: XXX not permitted in answer , where "XXX" is one of the symbols you included in your answer. This is really a hint since it means that the correct answer does not include "XXX" anywhere!
      • Invalid input: Could not parse BlahBlahBlah as a formula . This means that there is a mathematical error in your entry. Perhaps you did not match your parentheses ( ) correctly? Look very carefully at what appears in the grey box underneath your answer to see if it looks correct.


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