Math 161-003

Calculus I

23 August 2000

One should not forget that our term calculus is derived from calcule, "pebble", a reference to counting with pebbles. --Annemarie Schimmel, from  The Mystery of Numbers

Class meeting room and time: Darwin 139, MW 10:00-11:50 a.m..

Instructor: Ben Ford, Darwin 133D, 664-2472, ben.ford@sonoma.edu

Class web page: http://www.sonoma.edu/People/F/Ford/M161F00/

Office hours: MW 9:30-10:00 in the Math Lab, Darwin 127; MW 1:15-1:50 in the Commons (at a table in the Southwest Corner); Thursdays 9:00-9:50 in my office; by discovery; or by appointment.

Text: Calculus by Ostebee and Zorn.

Workshop and Math Lab: Math 161W, the Calculus Workshop, is offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:50. This is highly recommended as a source of extra practice, concept review, question answering, etc. You also earn two units of credit for it, without additional homework load.

The Math Lab is a study/help room in Darwin 127. There are usually tutors or professors there who are available to help you when you get stuck.

Schedule and Grading. We will cover chapters 1 through 6 in the text. Here are some important dates for us. These are tentative, and may be changed.

There are 300 points possible. Grades will be assigned as follows: 270-300: A; 240-269: B; 201-239: C; 165-200: D; 0-164: F.

Any test, quiz, or project that is not finished on or before the scheduled time counts as a zero. There will be no makeups. However, the grade on the final may be used (proportionally) in place of the lowest score on a test. For example, if Test 1 is missed by student A, then of student A's score on the final will be substituted for the zero on Test 1. Extra credit points may be used to supplement any zero on a quiz.

Projects and Writing. It is the policy of the Department of Mathematics that each General Education course in mathematics include a writing component. Irrespective of the requirement, writing is important because it focuses the mind and heightens understanding and analytical skill.

The projects in this course will require writing. Included in each project must be an introduction, commentary, and a conclusion. The project may also include a description of your thought process as you solve a problem. Your project should also give you a getter understanding of the process of doing mathematics.

As a writing warmup, write a 1-2 page description of a particularly memorable experience that you have had concerning mathematics. This is due on Monday, August 28.

Reading the text; daily quizzes. The reading assignments for each class are posted on the web page. You must do the readings as they are assigned. I am amazed that, for some students, this somehow has become unexpected in Mathematics classes -- imagine attending a literature seminar without doing the reading before attending the class at which it will be discussed!

To facilitate your reading, you have access through the web page to ``reading outlines'' to accompany each reading, which consist of questions you should think about as you read. You should fill these out as you go.

On at least half of the class days ( including Monday, August 28), there will be a brief quiz during the first few minutes of class. The quiz will always consist of one or more questions that are identical to or slightly chaged from questions on the reading outline for the day. On these quizzes, you may use your notes, but not your text. If you have done your reading, writing down your responses to the questions on the reading outlines as you go, these should go smoothly.

On some other days, we will have a quiz towards the end of the class on material we have worked on in class. Again, you may use your notes but not your text.

Homework. Homework is posted on the class web page, and is collected each Wednesday. A grader will correct several problems, that I select, from each assignment.

You are encouraged to work with classmates both in and out of class. Discussing your approach to a problem, articulating questions, sharing thought processes, and explaining and justifying conclusions all contribute to problem solving ability and increase your analytical skills. Remember that ``discussing'' includes both listening and talking.

You must write up your own homework solutions, however.