TABLE OF CONTENTS
A separate web document describes the Grading
System .
1. Algebra Skills
are Necessary
2. Homework
and Quizzes
3. Absence,
Makeup, and Leaving Class Early
4. Calculators
5. Computers
6. Writing a
Solution
7. Forbidden Forms
Misuse of the
equal sign; Confusing variables with functions.
8. Classroom
Philosopy and Decorum
9. Test
Review and Extra Credit
1. ALGEBRA SKILLS ARE NECESSARY Table of Contents
Most students have difficulty learning calculus because their algebra skills are weak. Calculus is based on algebra and geometry, so the student must have facility with the laws of exponents, factoring polynomials, solving polynomial equations, solving simultaneous equations, graphing, and solving "word" problems. For MATH 160, this is enough preparation.
If you do not know High School Algebra II, take it at a community college. (It is not offered at SU.) It is not a good idea to take MATH 140 (College Algebra and Trigonometry) at SSU, because trigonometry is not required for MATH 160. (MATH 140 is designed to prepare students for MATH 201 -- harder than MATH 160.)
But even if you are well prepared to begin, you will have to prepare each new assignment faithfully, if you want to succeed in calculus. Every time you get behind, it is hard to catch up.
2. HOMEWORK AND QUIZZES Table of Contents
You must try to do some problems before you can know whether you understand the lesson. Read and try to work homework problems as soon as possible after class, so that you will know whether you will need to get help. When you ask for help, be able to say at what point in the reading you failed to understand, or at what point in working a homework problem you didn't know what to do. The ability to formulate good questions is critical to learning.
Ask me for help before it's too late -- on every assignment, if necessary. But you must allow time to get help, and you must plan when to do it. I am available many hours during the week: both in scheduled "office hours" and at other times when I don't have a class. Read my schedule, posted on the web and outside my office door. Either see me in my office hours (no appointment necessary), or get in touch with me other times in my office by visiting, telephoning, or emailing. (In scheduled office hours, please come well before the end of the period.) Read on!
HOMEWORK will be explained at the class meeting when the lesson is introduced, and you should skim the assigned material before that class. The date on the schedule is the date the lesson was introduced, not the date of the quiz. Please ask questions, either when a topic is introduced, or between classes. (Questions will not be answered in class just before a quiz.) Begin homework as soon as possible after class, to allow time to ask questions before the next class. Either see me in my office hours (no appointment necessary), or get in touch with me other times in my office by visiting, telephoning, or emailing. (In scheduled office hours, please come well before the end of the period.) For problems whose numbers are underlined in the schedule, bring your own computer output to class; write the quiz on this paper, and turn both in together.
Otherwise, homework is not collected, but a QUIZ is given nearly every day, starting at the very beginning of a class, and the problem(s) will come from HOMEWORK on the lesson introduced in the previous class. When underlined problems are due, bring the computer printout and write your quiz on it.
Please attend the class after a test is given; you will see your test that day, and there will be no quiz that day. I will recollect the tests, and if you miss that class, you may have to come to my office to see yours.
Free tutoring by advanced students is usually available, starting a week or two after the beginning of the semester, and ending before the final exam period. Tutoring is done in the Blackwell Library Second Floor Seminar Room: Room 204 on the front of the building, toward Devilbiss Hall, in a room with a window in the door.
3. ABSENCE, MAKEUP, AND LEAVING CLASS EARLY Table of Contents
Missing class will usually make it harder for you to learn the
subject, and you will usually miss a quiz in the process. You are
responsible for information missed because of absence. You are expected
to arrange your other classes, studying for tests, employment, and appointments
with physicians or advisors at times which do not conflict with
meetings of this class.
There may be a penalty for students who
take a quiz but then leave class. Attendance may be taken later in
the period, and then three points will be deducted from you quiz grade.
Otherwise, absence will incur no special penalty.
Makeup quizzes are are built into the class schedule. For example, if 20 quizzes are "required", by the Grading Policy, and the approximate number of "extras" is 12, you have 12 makeups: opportunities to replace quizzes when you were missing or did poorly. Please do not ask for additional makeup quizzes! Nevertheless, if you miss class, you will find it harder to keep up.
Makeup tests may be arranged in case of an emergency, but you must convince me that the cause of your missing the scheduled time was a serious matter. If you know of a problem beforehand, please discuss it with me then. If you miss a test shortly before or shortly after a scheduled vacation, you must document your activities by letters from physicians or court officials. If you just extend your vacation, you will not be permitted to make up the test.
Illness the day of a test is an excuse for missing a test (not a quiz); talk to me about arranging a makeup test (not quiz). Once you have seen the test, I will not allow you to take a makeup. Schedule conflict is not an excuse: arrange your appointments so as not to conflict with class! Other instructors are not permitted to schedule tests or final exams that conflict with this scheduled class. If this happens to you, I will gladly discuss the matter with the other instructor.
Special arrangements can sometimes be made for the final exam if you talk to me early enough.
4. CALCULATORS Table of Contents
In parts of this course, every student will need a scientific
calculator for homework, quizzes, tests, and class discussions. Please
do not buy a graphing calculator. Other sections of the course may
use graphing calculators, but we will use Excel.
Besides the usual +,-,×,÷
keys, you will need the exp, ex,
or ln x key. Students in MATH 201 will also need the sin, cos, and
tan keys. Don't get too many special features, because you
won't use them in this course and they may confuse you. The following features
cause trouble, but it is very hard to avoid all of them:
(1) MODE. This allows changing the display, but if you operate it accidentally,
you may be unable to read the display.
To reset the
calculator for normal operation, press these keys: MODE, 9
To reset the
calculator for 3 decimal places, press these keys: MODE, 7, 3
(2) SCIENTIFIC NOTATION. If you square 0.03, the answer 0.0009 may
be written 9.00x10-4, meaning 9.00 with
the decimal point moved 4 places to the left. But your calculator may express
it as 1.00 - 4, which may at first appear to be a mistake. A proper
use of the MODE feature can prevent this accident, but some calculators
are not so quick to switch to scientific
notation.
5. COMPUTERS Table of Contents
Computer use is an important part of the course. Immediately after the first class, verify that your computer account works. If not, visit FH149 to have it activated. Then open Microsoft Excel and look at it.
Computer use is an essential part of the course. This requires spending time in one of the SU computer laboratories: FH102, DH242, or PP108. Or if you own a powerful enough computer, you can buy Microsoft Office 200 from the SU Bookstore for about $20. Even if you use an off-campus computer, you should set a password on your campus email account, so you can read it from off campus through the web. SU provides details of Groupwise Web Access.
When accepting a university computer account, you agree (1) to use only those files you are permitted to use, (2) to use the computer only in ways your instructor and the computer monitors tell you, (3) to keep your username and password confidential, (4) not to allow anyone else to use your account, and (5) to report promptly and fully any misuse of the computer that you become aware of.
I will send important email to your campus email account during the semester. If you want me to send these messages to another account also, email me your off-campus email address. I don't guarantee how soon I will incorporate your off-campus address.
6. WRITING A SOLUTION Table of Contents
Writing the solution to a problem in mathematics is a valuable skill which must be learned. Your solutions to graded problems will be judged by their logic, clarity, and completeness, as well as the correctness of their conclusion. Please follow these directions.
Summarize the relevant information in the problem using conventional symbols; explain unconventional symbols. Draw a table, sketch, or graph if appropriate, placing relevant symbols in their proper places. Place the steps on the paper in a reasonable order. State the final result or conclusion, using words and previously defined symbols in appropriate combination. Use three significant figures in calculation, provided the data are accurate enough.
Learn the meaning of these common symbols for numbers.
% means .01 or 1/100, while k means 1000, so kk
means 1,000,000. Avoid M, which is ambiguous.
In most cases, you should remove parentheses and collect like terms in presenting a formula. The only exception is writing a formula for a straight line in the point-slope form.
7. FORBIDDEN FORMS Table of Contents
Even if a solution is otherwise correct,
the following mistakes may result in a partial loss of credit:
-- Using an "equals" sign between
expressions that are not equal, such as
2.5 = .4938 or x = 2x
-- Confusing variables with functions:
y=y(x). Don't use a letter both ways in the same problem!
8. CLASSROOM PHILOSOPHY AND DECORUM Table of Contents
The purpose of this class is learning in a pleasant, intellectual environment. Students should feel comfortable thinking about the subject matter and asking questions. Some questions are to clarify statements made by the instructor. Other questions are to explore difficulties encountered in doing homework. Of course, the student is expected to come to class and afterward make an effort afterward to understand the material. But certain questions of clarification are best asked as soon as they occur to the student. Other questions are best asked outside class.
To facilitate class discussion, you are encouraged to speak up without raising your hand. Simply find a pause in the lecture, as you would in a conversation. If this seems awkward, because the lecture is moving quickly, or because others are asking questions too, then raise your hand. I will be scanning the faces of students and call on you.
Private discussions apart from the academic purposes of the class may be good if they help the class members to be comfortable with each other. But they may be bad if they make others uncomfortable, interfere with class discussion, or distract the instructor. Helping another student during a class may interfere with the class if it is too loud or lasts too long. Even quiet discussions during a lecture or class discussion can be very distracting. But conversation is appropriate when class members are asked to work a problem at their seats during class. Appropriate communication is well-timed, brief, and not loud.
Sitting in the back of the classroom does not absolve a student from controlling his private discussion. In fact, sitting in the back of the room is discouraged, because it can make participation difficult, especially if the room is large. During a test, students sitting in the back row should be separated from each other by empty chairs.
Class discussion is comfortable only if participants show respect for each other. This means speaking kindly, taking others' ideas seriously, and assuming they speak with good will. It also means controlling private discussions so that they do not interfere with the class. Students who fail to cooperate with these rules are interfering with the education of others.
9. TEST REVIEW AND EXTRA CREDIT Table of Contents
When you study for a test, work a problem from each lesson on the test. (Homework problems are good choices). The lessons covered on each test, together with suggested review problems, appear on the web in the test plan for the particular test. Ask for an extra credit problem as soon as you can choose a topic.
Before each test, there will be a review class largely devoted to extra credit presentations by students. In some of these reviews, you may receive extra credit for discussing a problem as described under Test Topics . Each time, you can earn extra points to be added to your total grade. You are limited to one extra cedit per review, and there may not be time enough for all interested students on the later tests, so consider doing some extra credit for the first or second test.
The first step is to CHOOSE A TOPIC from the review list. You may make up your own problem or choose one from the list provided, but let me approve your choice, so that two people don't do the same problem. Use problems like homework problems (on the topics of the test), but not homework problems already assigned. It is your responsibility to avoid homework problems, or you will not receive the extra credit. Suggested problems will appear on the web in the test plan for the particular test. You may ask me for help if you allow enough time.
Try to fit your solution on one side of a sheet. If you are short of space, it is not necessary to state the question on your solution sheet, but do indicate where the question is to be found. When you have worked out your problem on an ordinary sheet of paper, make a master copy in ink; put your name at the top center and sort number at the top right corner of the master. Then make enough "Xerox" copies for the class (ask me how many), and bring them to me at the beginning of the review class. I expect you to make the copies in time and pay for them. Do not use a departmental machine; use copiers in places like Blackwell Library, Kinko's, or Mail Boxes Et Cetera (closest to Power Street). If you come to class without copies, you will not receive the extra credit. If you cannot do the problem, please tell me so someone else can do it.
Don't read the solution to the class, but point out the salient
features of the problem. What was hard for you about the problem?
What approaches helped you solve it? What principles and techniques
does it use?