Syllabus for "Analytic Geometry and Calculus II"

Ma241-007 Fall Spring 2005

When ? Where ?
MTWTHF 11:20am – 12:10pm HA 335

 

Prerequisites : You must have completed MA 141 (or it's equivalent somewhere) with grade of C or better to take this class. The reason for this is simple, you'll need it! If you need a review of MA 141 please consider working thru my tests from last semester.

Overview : This is the second in a 3-semester course on Calculus. The methods and concepts presented in this course are fundamental to most if not all technical disciplines. It is important that you master the techniques of MA 241, I look forward to helping you toward that goal, but ultimately you must think for yourself. The ability to think in math comes from practice ( for most of us anyway ) so make sure you set aside plenty of time thoughout the week to work out the subject for yourself.

Course Essentials :
  • Required Text is: Calculus Concepts and Contexts, 2nd NC State University edition, by James Stewart, Brooks/Cole, 2001.
  • Recommended Supplementary Text: Thomas' Calculus , 10th edition, by George B. Thomas, Jr.,Addison Wesley Longman 2001.
  • No calculator is required for this course. Maple can do much more than even the best graphing calculator.
    Note: I will allow (basic) scientific calculators during tests, but no graphing calculators. You will (or should) not need them anyway!(for my tests)

    • Information about your instructor : Instructor: Mr. James Cook
    Office: everywhere & nowhere but usually I'm in HA somewhere
    Office Hours: thursday 2:30-3:30 in withers 138 and thursday 10-11am in HA 209 and by appointment
    I am available in the tutorial center (HA 244) on monday and wednesday 10-11am
    Email: testbetter@yahoo.com

    Grading :
  • Gateway 1: If your overall webassign score is less than 50% you will get an automatic "F" in this course.
  • Gateway 2: If your overall MAPLE score is less than 50% you will get an automatic "F" in this course.
    • Otherwise, your final average will be computed as follows:
    40% Tests (there will be 4 tests) ***Your lowest test score may be replaced by your final exam score (if helpful).***
    20% Webassign Homework
    10% Maple Lab Assignments (there are 6 maple assignments)
    5 % Class Participation and Quizzes
    25% Final Exam (the final exam will be cumulative)

    Letter Grades will follow:
    98+ --->A+
    93-97--->A
    90-92--->A-
    86-89--->B+
    82-85--->B
    78-81--->B-
    74-77--->C+
    70-73--->C
    66-69--->C-
    62-65--->D+
    58-61--->D
    54-57--->D-
    <53 --->F

    Homework The homework list for the whole semester is posted online. The homework has 3 types of problems
  • 1.Webassign (each of these corresponds to an even problem in the text)
  • 2.Recommended (these are the problems on the list that don't appear in webassign)
  • 3.Bonus Webassign ( hard or off-topic problems in the webassigns)
    • Practice makes perfect, there is no magic pill. I may on occassion actually collect some of the recommended homework and the parts of webassign such as graphs that "your instructor may collect" exc... I am also going to hand out several additional assignments which are not listed in the schedule.

    MAPLE :
    Maple is divided into six assignments. They can be found at www.math.ncsu.edu/calculus . Maple no longer has a lab, it is self taught and automatically graded by the "egrader" Most students do not need help with Maple because the assignments are self-explanatory for the most part, however just in case there are several help sessions offered every week at TBA.

    Tests/Final Exam
    Test 1 : Monday, Febuary 7th
    Test 2 : Monday, Febuary 28th
    Test 3 : Monday, March 28st
    Test 4 : Monday, April 22nd
    Final Exam: Monday, May 9th, 8:00am - 11:00am

    Attendance and Class Participation : Attendance is required, it goes towards your class participation grade. The rest of your participation grade comes from "good" and "bad" participation. What is bad participation? Basically anything which distracts your fellow students from learning, just to be explicit from the start let me make a list of common problems:
    1. Talking out of turn
    2. Talking and or audibly wispering to your neighbor
    3. Leaving Early
    4. Coming Late
    4. Working on a Laptop ( Please no Laptops during lecture )
    5. Complaining
    If you make a habit of any of the above you will loose points from class participation. Sorry, for all the rules but they're for your protection. What is good participation? Basically anything which encourages and or helps your classmates to learn, for example:
    1. Pointing out typos on the board
    2. Asking questions (often your not the only one who doesn't understand)
    3. Noticing errors on the course web page
    4. Sharing the format that webassign needs the answer to be in.
    I don't require you to ask a question, but if you have one please raise your hand. I'd rather not make these comments but experience has taught me otherwise.

    Absences & Excused Tests : IF YOU HAVE AN UNIVERSITY APPROVED ABSENCE, then you may make up the test on the final exam.
    This means for example if you missed 1 test then the final exam will be weighted 35% .
    There will be no makeup quizzes or extensions to webassign or MAPLE.

    Disabilities : If you have any special needs, please contact me as early as possible to make arrangements.
    Please do not wait until the test. It's your responsibility to tell me now so I can help you. Thanks.

    Disclaimer : While I have attempted to completely specify the content of this course, I reserve the right to change this sylabus if necessary.

    Outline of Topics

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