More on how it works

First, I live in the Eastern time zone in North America (GMT -5:00), and keep typical hours. So, if you are in London, you're 5 hours ahead of me. New Delhi is 9 hours ahead. Hong Kong is 12 hours ahead. Though I check my email many times a day, a response may be delayed just because your message arrived to me in the middle of the night my time. Also, I take some time off on weekends, especially Sundays.

When I get an email from you, I'll first check to see that I am able to give the help that you request. Most of my business is from students who keep coming back to me because they are pleased with the help they are getting. If I don't know about some area, I won't pretend I do. If I'm not able to help, I'll email you back right away and tell you so.

If you are requesting a live session, you will need to have some technology set up for us to communicate smoothly. Here's a list of some things, some of which are optional, depending on what your needs are.

• A computer with a high-speed internet connection. The link between us needs to be fast enough for clear voice communication, and for our writing to appear quickly on our shared whiteboard at vyew.com.
• Voice communication works best if you have a headset (microphone and headphone(s) combination) attached to a computer. I use Skype to talk by voice to students. It is a free program, downloadable from the internet, and we can talk together for free. If you don't have Skype yet, please download it, install it, and get your free account.
• A session usually involves us looking together at a problem, at explanations in a text, or reviewing student work. I need to have some means of getting my hands on whatever materials my students are working with, before each session. Then I upload pictures of them to vyew.com, and we can look at them together. Our shared workspace there allows us to point to, highlight, write on, erase, etc., the uploaded materials. It's much like sitting side by side looking at a book together, with a pad of paper between us. If you have a scanner, then you can scan and email me pictures of the text sections, problem assignments, or whatever you want to work on with me. If such materials are already online somewhere, just tell me where and how I can get access to them. If you wish, we can start with a blank whiteboard between us and you can just ask your questions. Having something visual in front of both of us is often more efficient.
• Depending on how much writing you intend to do during sessions, it may be helpful to have a tablet attached to your computer. Writing with a mouse is terribly awkward for most of us. I, myself, use a tablet, and my writing is much better than could be done with a mouse. (It still is a bit wiggly, like I have some nervous condition, but it is quite legible.) I bought mine for about USD$60. I got the "Wacom small bamboo tablet with pen only". (They sell one with a mouse that costs substantially more.) Here's a link to see it at amazon.com: click here. Most university students who want my help mostly want me to solve and explain things for them, so a tablet for them is unnecessary. However, for younger students, it's important that I see how they work out problems, to be able to see their thought processes and pick up on mistakes in form, calculation procedures, etc. For such students a tablet really is necessary.

Once we have arranged a time for a session, the length of the session, and made arrangements for whatever materials need to be passed on to me beforehand, it's just a matter of paying the fee, and then everything can progress. More on that below.

If you are requesting solutions to problems via email, I will email you back, telling you 2 things:

• how much it will cost. How to make payment is discussed below. I will give you the price in Canadian dollars (CAD). There are many currency converters online to show you how much that amounts to in your own currency. Here is one that I have used.
• how long it will take me to send you the solutions after I have received payment.

How to Make Payment

I will give you the cost of my service in Canadian dollars (CAD). There are many currency converters online to show you how much that amounts to in your own currency. Here is one that I have used.

I use Paypal for transactions. If you don't have a Paypal account of your own yet, it is easy to get one, and one can arrange that any money you send through it comes from either your credit card, or from your bank account, whichever is more convenient. Billions of dollars flow through the Paypal system across the world. It's easy and trustworthy. Just make sure you're dealing with the real Paypal, and not some impersonator. If there is any doubt, just type www.paypal.com into the location bar of your web browser, and you'll go to the US site. From there you can get to any of the other national sites.

Unfortunately, I need payment before I perform services. Once there is an established relationship, things can get more flexible, but I need to protect myself from those who see me as an opportunity to get a free hour or two of service. So, once you've made payment, please email me that you have done so. I'll check my account, and once the payment shows up, we can have our session, or I'll get to work on writing out solutions.

About the Solutions I give

Because there are so many symbols in math, and I need to work quickly, I have found that writing out my solutions by hand, scanning them, and then sending you the pictures is the most efficient way to work. Computer typesetting using something like LaTex is pretty, but it takes much longer. I have never had any complaints that people can't read my writing. So, when you get the solutions, they will come as photos attached to an email. (I use the .gif format, which nobody should have trouble opening.)

Hopefully you'll read through what I've given you and find everything both correct and helpful. If there is some problem, or something isn't clear, just email me back to explain. I'm good, but I'm not perfect. If anything is my fault, I'll correct it, free of charge. However, sometimes a student doesn't understand something because they are missing a piece of knowledge that is assumed. Any math course assumes that the student understands the material taken in previous courses, or earlier in the same course. That, as we know, is not always the case. So, quite often, the student who seeks help in one area winds up needing help to plug a number of holes in their earlier learning. This is a natural part of tutoring, and should be paid for accordingly. So, I hope it's clear that it's not my fault if, for example, my solution to a calculus problem is not understood because the student has forgotten some basic rule of algebra. I'm happy to help remedy their situation, but that must be considered as additional work, worthy of the extra time that I need to put into it.

I enjoy doing math, explaining math, and helping others to understand it as well. Generally, the most efficient way to learn is to sit down together at a table, side by side, to discuss things, one-on-one. Computer technology and the internet has made it possible to do much the same thing, even when both parties are across the world. It's better to sit down face-to-face, but there are many situations where good tutors at reasonable prices are very hard to find, so doing it this way is the best that can be done. For my part, I will do the best I can to make it succeed.