Spring 2003

Maple Help Information	Learning Assistance Network	Practice graphing derivatives
Some Web resources for calculus	Tips for success	Note to those who have taken calculus before
		link to applets

MTH 141  Calculus I

Text:     Hughes-Hallet, et al., Calculus, 3rd Edition
Supplements:     Cheung, et al., Getting Started with Maple
     Hughes-Hallett, et al.,  Student Solutions Manual
Prerequisites:     MTH 111 or equivalent
Calculators:     A graphing calculator is required.  The TI-86 is recommended.
 

Course Information

MTH 141 is a demanding course for students who may later be using calculus professionally. In order to succeed in the course, you will have to work systematically and hard.  See Tips for success.

Click here for CALENDAR and SYLLABUS: Information on the material covered, homework problems, etc..

To reach your instructor, check the list of Math Faculty   or    Math Graduate students.
 

Students who require accommodations and who have documentation from Disability Services (874-2098) should make arrangements with your instructor as soon as possible.

Help Available

In addition to your instructor's office hours, the Mathematics Department has an extensive system
of walk-in help sessions scheduled in Roosevelt Hall. As soon as the help is available, you will be
able to find the schedule by clicking on the link below:

            Schedule of tutoring hours in Learning Assistance Network

Our Maple and WeBWorK helpers will be available at the Mathematics Department CyberLab,
Tyler Hall, Room 101. The schedule will be posted below:

            Schedule of Maple and WeBWorK Helpers at the CyberLab

Exams and Evaluation

There will be three evening exams given on Wednesday evenings, from 6-7:30, common for all sections, on the weeks indicated in the syllabus.  A comprehensive final exam will be given at a time to be announced later. Each evening exam is worth 100 points. The final exam is worth 200 points. Class work, including quizzes, homework, and any work your instructor may assign, is worth 100 points. Your Maple assignments will be worth 100 points. As explained in the next section, Maple is a powerful mathematical software package that we will use in this course.
 
 

Test 1	100 pts
Test 2	100 pts
Test 3	100 pts
Final Exam	200 pts
Homework/Quizzes	100 pts
Maple assignments	100 pts
Total	700 pts

  Room  assignments for our three Wednesday evening tests will be posted here:

TEST 1:
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Wednesday, 2/26/03,
 

TEST 2::
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Wednesday, 4/02/03,
 

TEST 3:
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Wednesday, 4/30/03,

FINAL EXAM: TBA
NOTE: The common final exam is at a special time and place; it does not follow the usual final exam schedule.
 

Graphing Calculators

A graphing calculator is required for class and for use on the exams, although there may be parts to the exams that do not allow use of the graphing calculator.  The recommended model is the TI-86.  For the most part, you will learn to use our graphing calculator by using it to do mathematics.  There are, however, some fundamental operations you should become familiar with before you do anything else.  The manual that came with your calculator is an excellent source for this preliminary work and you will depend on it to give you this jump start.  If you are using the TI-86, you should read the section entitled TI-86 Quick Start.  It may help to turn on your calculator and reproduce the activity on your own calculator as you read the section.  Those of you with other models of calculators, look for a similar section in the manual that comes with your calculator.
 

Applets

Try out these applets.

Professor Pakula's applet

Major G. Heath's web page

Applet by D. Eck
for this one, scroll down to see the button for the applet under: TRY THIS

Maple Assignments

Maple is a powerful computer algebra system that can perform the most complicated calculations and draw spectacular graphics at the touch of the button. Knowledge of software like Maple should help you in your future professional career as well as in understanding material in calculus.

Our work with Maple will be organized into Maple Worksheets. You will be able to download the worksheets from this web page at any of the URI computer labs or to your home computer if you have a personal copy of Maple. Student Edition of Maple 6 is readily available at bookstores and over the Internet. The student edition is reasonably priced and you may choose to purchase it for your convenience. If you already have a copy of Maple Release 5, you will be able to use it. We will make sure that our worksheets are compatible with Release 5.

There will be help with Maple available at one of the URI computer labs. The hours and names of people who will be helping you will be posted on this page as soon as they are scheduled. There is a system that will allow you to submit your Maple homework electronically.
 

Maple Worksheets

Below are instructions that you may find helpful when getting started with your first Maple assignment.

• How to use Maple in URI computer labs
• How to submit worksheets as homework.

If you open a worksheet with Maple 7, the program will ask you if you want the worksheet updated to Release 7 of Maple. Click on "YES".  The following worksheets will help you get aquainted with maple.  They are not suitable to hand in for homework.

• Download "Introduction to Maple"(intro141.mws)
• Download "Derivatives and Derivative Tests"(dertest.mws)
• Download "Summary of Calculus I Syntax in Maple"(summ.mws)

  Your instructor will assign some of the following and give you details as to which ones you may choose, and when they are due to be submitted.

• Download "More about Plotting"(plots.mws)
• Download "Average and Instantaneous Rates of Change. Limits"(ratelim.mws)
• Download "Slopes, Tangent Lines, and Derivatives"(TanLines.mws)
• Download "Using Derivatives"(derivatives.mws)
• Download "Reflections on Differentiation"(reflection.mws)
• Download "Optimization Problems"(optimiz.mws)
• Download "Pulse-Rate on a Run of Long, Slow, Distance"(Pulse.mws)
• Download "The Definite Integral"(integral.mws)
• Download "Graphs of derivatives and indefinite integrals"(fprime.mws)
• Download "First Order Differential Equations"(diffeq.mws)

Attend class and do all your homework. That's it!  That is the secret to success in calculus!  Here are a few more related tips.

• Take notes in class.  Be sure to copy down examples given in class and their solutions.  When homework problems are done in class, be sure to copy down all steps taken.
• Do all of the assigned homework problems.  Those given on the syllabus and any others that your instructor assigns.  You must make sure that you answered each problem correctly.  Answers to most of the odd problems are given in the back of the book.  Your solution manual has the worked out solution to some of the odds.   For other problems, check the answer with someone from class, your teacher during office hours or in class when there is an opportunity for that, or from a tutor at the Learning Assistance Center.
• Do the odd numbered exercises and problems first, then go back through and do the evens.  You can usually find an odd numbered problem which is similar to each even numbered problem that is assigned.
• Don't get too hung up on any one problem.  Some of the problems take much time and thought.  Do the problems that you can do easily first, then go back to the harder problems, getting help if necessary.  As you gain experience, even the harder problems will become easier.
• If you've taken calculus before, be sure to do ALL of  your homework anyway! You will most likely find the problems that we assign enough different from the ones that you are used to that you will have to practice them.  Here is a common scenario that you should try to avoid:  Alice got a high grade in calculus in high school.  She took calc 1 her freshman year at URI.  Her strategy was to concentrate on all the other hard courses that she took and not really do her calculus homework.  She would just look at each problem and in most cases say to herself, "oh I can do that one", and then go on to the next problem, without writing out the solutions.  Well Alice was in for a big surprise when she took her first exam.  She wasn't able to do most of the problems and ran out of time taking the exam because she hadn't practiced enough problems to be be able to do the ones she DID understand quickly enough.  The sad part of this story is that Alice was very good in math and was used to getting A's or B's.  That semester she pulled out of a plummet with a C in Calculus 1.  It disappointed her and affected her college career and choice of major.  The moral of the story?  DO YOUR HOMEWORK! (And attend class)
• Read the book.  Read it before class, then again before attempting the homework, and again after doing the problems.  When you read the book, do it slowly and carefully, with pencil in hand.  Pay careful attention to the definitions and examples.  Omit the proofs on a first reading.