Math 112 General Information
Spring 2008


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Course Guide and Syllabus: printable pdf version of the handout distributed on the first day of class. The course guide includes information on office hours, homework, grading policy, exam dates, etc.


Course Description

The topics we will cover include:

Please bring your textbook to class every day.


Course Homepage

http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Math/Paquin/math112.html


Professor

Name Office E-mail Phone Office Hours
Dana Paquin RBH 309-A paquind@kenyon.edu 740-427-5267 Monday 1:30-3:00

Tuesday 1:00-2:00

Wednesday 4:00-5:00

Friday 1:30-3:00


Course Time and Location


Section 1: Monday 10:10-11:00, Wednesday 10:10-12:00, Friday 10:10-11:00; Peirce 001

Section 2: Monday 3:10-4:00, Wednesday 2:10-4:00, Friday 3:10-4:00; RBH 311

You can find a detailed schedule by topics on the Course Schedule page.


Maple

There will be some work done (both in class and outside of class) with the computer algebra system Maple. I will not assume that you know any Maple functions or syntax, so you will learn what you need to know as we go along. Calculators will not be used in a systematic way. We will have a great time using Maple to visualize concepts and to simplify computations! Click on this link for some online Maple references. Maple is available in RBH 311 and RBH 203 (when classes are not in session). Maplbe is also available for installation on your personal computer; contact Terry Klopcic if you are interested in installing Maple on your personal computer.

Textbook

Calculus from Graphical, Numerical, and Symbolic Points of View, Second Edition, Volume 2, Arnold Ostebee and Paul Zorn. The textbook should be available in the bookstore. Please let me know as soon as possible if you have any trouble obtaining a copy of the textbook. Occasionally, we will cover material taken from other volumes of your textbook (most notably, sections 4.2 and 2.5), or material from other textbooks. When this happens, I will photocopy the relevant text and distribute the photocopies in class.


Homework

The best way to learn mathematics is by doing mathematics; thus, homework will be assigned daily. Homework to be graded will be collected once per week, typically on Mondays. It serves as your opportunity to make sure that you can not only solve the problems, but also explain your solutions carefully, as this is the only way to be sure that you understand the underlying concepts. It is your job to explain your solution to the reader, not the reader's job to search for a right idea buried in what you have written. Although you are encouraged to work with other students on homework problems, you must write up your final solutions on your own, as the homework is intended to be preparation for the quizzes and exams. Homework may involve computer exercises as well as hand-written and computer explanation. Homework should be legible with explanations written in complete sentences. Illegible homework will not be read or graded.

Homework must be turned in by the beginning of class on the given due date. No late homework will be accepted. If you know that you will be missing class, you must turn in your homework before you leave. Extensions may be granted for extenuating circumstances, but these must be discussed with me as early as possible.

In addition to the weekly homework that will be graded and collected, I will also post daily practice problems for you to work on. Although these problems will not be graded or collected, I strongly encourage you to solve the practice problems. You should work on the practice problems after each lecture (on the same day as the lecture). Problems on quizzes will be taken verbatim from the suggested daily homework problems. Note that you should also be reading the textbook sections as you do the daily homework--the examples are a great help.

Homework assignments and additional information about the homework are on the Homework page.


Writing Projects and Lab Exercises

The ability to express your thoughts coherently in writing is an important mathematical tool. During the semester, you will be asked to complete one laboratory exercise which will require the submission of a written report. This assignments will be discussed in more detail in class.

Quizzes

On most Wednesdays, there will be a short quiz consisting of a few problems taken from the suggested daily homework problems (verbatim). Quizzes and their solutions are on the Quizzes page.

Exams

There will be two in-class exams and a comprehensive final exam in this course. The exam dates are as follows:


Note that the final exam is 3 hours in length!

Information regarding the exams can be found on the Math 112 Exam Information page.

The Gateway Exam

The Gateway Exam will consist of five problems (substitution in an indefinite integral, integration by parts, partial fractions, substitution in a definite integral, and one integral involving combinations of these topics) that will test your ability to apply integration rules correctly without the aid of technology. To pass the Gateway Exam, you must present flawless solutions to all five problems on the exam. By "flawless", I mean that a solution must be 100% correct in terms of computation AND presentation. A misplaced equal sign or an omitted parenthesis would make a problem incorrect. The Gateway Exam is worth 10% of the final course grade. Since perfect solutions are required, a reasonable number of retakes of the Gateway Exam are permitted according to the following guidelines:
   

  1. You may take the Gateway Exam starting on January 23, 2008.
  2. Retakes will be of similar format to the first Gateway Exam, but will consist of different problems.
  3. You may take no more than 3 retakes per week, and at most 1 retake in any given day. You may not retake the Gateway Exam after 5PM on February 29, 2008 (the last day before spring break).
  4. A student who scores perfectly on the Gateway Exam on his/her first attempt will receive 12 points out of 10 (or an extra 2% for the total course grade) for this portion of the course.
  5. A student who passes a retake on or before February 29, 2008 will receive 10 points (i.e., full credit) for this portion of the course.
  6. A student who fails to pass the Gateway Exam on all attempts will receive 0 points out of 10 (i.e., no credit) for this portion of the course.

Grades

The basis for your grade in this class has the following components:


There are no predetermined numerical cutoffs for letter grades.



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