Math 131

Math 132 Spring 2006 Syllabus

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

A scientific calculator (such as TI-86) is required for the course. Bring it to every class and exam.

Instructor: Professor John Montgomery Office: 224 Tyler Hall

Phone: 874-4448 Email: jmont@uri.edu

Office Hours: MW 2, R 11, and by arrangement.

Text: Applied Calculus, (Second Edition) by Hughes-Hallet, et al.

Free tutoring is available: Check the Academic Enhancement Center site and the math department’s home page for tutoring schedules.

About the Course: Math 132 is the second semester of the calculus sequence intended primarily for students in the life sciences. It is different from the four-credit calculus sequence, Math 141-142, designed for students in the physical sciences, engineering, and math. The emphasis in Mth 131-132 will be on the theory and interpretation of calculus in numerical, graphical, and algebraic terms. The authors of the textbook have gone to great lengths to fill the book with many exciting examples that illustrate how calculus is involved in real-life settings. The main topics of the course are integration and applications, probability, multidimensional calculus, and geometric series.

Testing and Grading: Your grade will be determined by your score out of 600 points. Three semester exams will be worth 100 points each, the cumulative final exam is worth 150 points, and your classwork grade will be worth 150 points. The classwork grade will be based on weekly quizzes. No makeup exams will be given unless you have a University sanctioned excuse. No makeup quizzes will be given; instead, your lowest quiz grade will be dropped. Final Exam: Monday, May 8, 11:30-2:30 in our usual room. A rough guideline for grading is as follows: A is approximately 93%,A- : 90%,B+ :87%,B: 83%,B- : 80%,C+: 77%,C : 73%,C- : 70%,D+: 65%,D : 60%.

Homework: Homework plays a central role in the class and in your understanding of the material. It is fair to say that most of the learning that you achieve during any math course is from your homework. This is particularly true in Calculus, since the problems are often applications of the concepts in lecture, and include far less drill and routine than in a traditional calculus class. The exams will reflect the variety of the homework problems, but do not expect that you will be asked on exams merely to solve homework problems with the numbers changed. The best way to prepare for the exams, and to develop confidence in your ability to solve problems, is to work in the homework problems. You are expected to try to solve all the problems, and to ask questions about the ones you don’t get. The homework sets will be collected and evaluated occasionally, but not usually. The end-of-week quizzes will be based on the homework of the previous week. Homework Assignments

Attendance: You are expected to attend every class. Poor attendance can result in a lowering of your final grade.

Read the textbook: An important part of your mathematical education is acquiring the knack of learning mathematics on your own, from books. You may not be used to reading mathematics texts, but you will be actively encouraged to read this one. By reading the text before class, even if you don’t understand everything the first time, you will have a better chance of making good use of your time in class. Reading the text after class is a good way of reinforcing the material in the lecture, nailing down what questions you need to ask in the next class, and learning material that was not gone over during class time. The text is very well written, with the beginning calculus student in mind. Calculus is much easier if you keep up with the classes and homework. You also retain the material longer and better if you review material frequently rather than just studying at exam time. One way I encourage you to keep up is with the end-of-week quizzes, which, in totality, count as much as 1.5 exams.