Discussion sessions:
Instructor: Wolfgang Kliemann
Assistant: Konstantinos Chrysafinos
Go to
Textbook and other supporting
materials
The rough grading scale that will be used is:
The grade for the course is then determined as follows.
| Week | Dates | Sections | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8/23 to 8/27 | 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 | |
| 2 | 8/30 to 9/3 | 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 | |
| 3 | 9/6 to 9/10 | 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 | No class on 9/6 (Labor Day) |
| 4 | 9/13 to 9/17 | 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8 | Hour exam on 9/13 in class |
| 5 | 9/20 to 9/24 | 5.9, 5.10, 6.1, 6.2 | |
| 6 | 9/27 to 10/1 | 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6 | |
| 7 | 10/4 to 10/8 | 6.7 | Midterm exam on 10/7 at 8:00PM (room TBA); No class on 10/8 |
| 8 | 10/11 to 10/15 | 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 | |
| 9 | 10/18 to 10/22 | 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8 | |
| 10 | 10/25 to 10/29 | 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5 | |
| 11 | 11/1 to 11/5 | 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 | First gateway exam on 11/1 at 8:00PM (room TBA); No class on 11/1; second gateway exam on 11/6 (time and place TBA) |
| 12 | 11/8 to 11/12 | 10.5, 10.6 | Hour exam on 11/8 in class; Third gateway exam on 11/13 (time and place TBA) |
| 13 | 11/15 to 11/19 | 10.7, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4 | |
| 14 | 11/22 to 11/26 | No classes (Thanksgiving) | |
| 15 | 11/29 to 12/3 | 11.5, 12.1, 12.2 | Last gateway exam on 12/4 (time and place TBA) |
| 16 | 12/6 to 12/10 | 12.3, 12.4 | |
| 17 | 12/12 to 12/17 | Final exam (date, time, and place TBA) |
Homework assignments for the first seven weeks are posted below.
| Week | Dates | Section | Exercises |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8/23 to 8/27 | 4.1 | 4,7,16,17,25,31,32,38,46,53,59,72 |
| 4.2 | 4,8,11,18,23,26,31,35,42,47,54,61 | ||
| 4.3 | 4,7,15,18,23,28,32,39,40,43,48,58 | ||
| 2 | 8/30 to 9/3 | 4.4 | 8,11,18,24,28,34,35,41,42,48,57,61,62,88 |
| 4.5 | 3,12,13,18,20,28,35,37,40,49,52,55,62,68,86 | ||
| 4.6 | 4,5,13,17,18,24,27,28,37,40 | ||
| Chapter 4 review | 2,5,8,12,20,23,30,32,39,44,54,62 | ||
| 3 | 9/6 to 9/10 | 5.1 | 21,28,46,60,72,76 |
| 5.2 | 5,7,12,18,24,29,36,48 | ||
| 5.3 | 16,43,48,76,82,89 | ||
| 5.4 | 6,19,20,21,22,34,38,48,59,80,85 | ||
| 4 | 9/13 to 9/17 | 5.5 | 12,20,34,39,51,74 |
| 5.6 | 4,16,22,34,56 | ||
| 5.7 | 10,27,32,36,44,52,59,90 | ||
| 5.8 | 8,14,25,28,44,51,54,57 | ||
| 5 | 9/20 to 9/24 | 5.9 | 2,6,8,13,16,17,26,29,38,41 |
| 5.10 | 18,24,39,47 | ||
| Chapter 5 review | 8,10,15,22,23,25,34,44,51,56,66,71,76,78,78,95 | ||
| 6.1 | 6,12,16,24,32,38,43,50,63,68 | ||
| 6.2 | 2,6,9,10,11,14,21,25,28,34,43,54 | ||
| 6 | 9/27 to 10/1 | 6.3 | 2,7,14,17,20,22,25,28,34,40 |
| 6.4 | 4,6,13,16,21,28,32,35,39,42 | ||
| 6.5 | 4,9,10,15,23,24,34 | ||
| 6.6 | 2,8,10,18,23,25,34 | ||
| 7 | 10/4 to 10/8 | 6.7 | 4,7,8,10,12,13,17 |
| Chapter 6 review | 2,8,13,15,18,23,26,29,30,34,37,42,47,50,51 |
Doing well in any course, and especially in caculus, requires a commitment on your part. Your performance, i.e., how much and how well you learn and therefore your grade, will be largely determined by factors under your control! Numerous studies of what are the important factors in successful student learning in calculus point out that two such factors are dominant: adequate preparation for the course and doing homework. Other factors, e.g., the textbook, the instructor, class size, testing policies, etc., are of secondary importance.
Hopefully, you are adequately prepared for the course, i.e., you have the necessary skills in algebra, trigonometry, and differential calculus. You should keep in mind that mathematics is not segmented, but that new mathematical concepts build upon previous ones. For this reason, one cannot be successful in a course such as Math 166 without a thorough knowledge of what leads up to it, namely algebra, trigonometry, and differential calculus. There is not doubt that your ability to learn the material in Math 166 and your performance on exams and quizzes will be seriously impaired if you do not have adequate facility with those subjects.
Doing homework regularly and in a timely manner is by far the most important thing you can do to succeed in Math 166. The more exercises you work through, the better off you will be. If you have trouble with the homework, seek help, but only after you have made your own serious attempt at understanding the material. You will benefit much more from any help you seek from the instructor, teaching assistant, or help room personnel if you have actually looked over the material and tried to do the homework or exercises before seeking the help. By the way, it is OK, and in fact, it is beneficial, to talk to other students about the homework and the course materials in general. However, it will not do you any good to do so if you do not, in the end, make sure you understand the material and can write out correct answers to the exercises on your own.
Although you should always try to understand the material on your own before seeking help, do not wait too long before doing so. It is very important that you do not fall behind in your understanding of the material; catching up will be hard to do.
Mathematics is not a spectator sport. You can only truly learn the subject by: (1) coming to class and paying attention in class (being an active listener); (2) reading the text and other supporting materials with a pencil in hand, filling in the missing steps; and (3) as has already been pointed out above, working as many homework exercises as you can. The general rule is that you should spend at least two hours outside of class concentrating on the class material for every hour spent in class. For Math 166, this requires a time committment of at least 8 hours per week outside of the classroom.
Two other things many students find helpful are: read the upcoming material before it is covered in class and copy over your notes each evening. You may not understand everything you read, but reading the material before coming to class will help you better understand (and keep up with) what goes on in the classroom. Rewriting your notes each evening is a good way to review what went on in class that day. In the recopying process, fill in the steps that you need to better understand what was done. This means filling in some missing algebra or trig, using your calculator to verify some calculation, etc.
All of you took lots of math in high school, and many of you took calculus there as well. A word of warning: things are a little different in college. Do not expect all exam questions to be "just like the homework," i.e., the same as the homework problems with perhaps a few numerical values changed. In college, you are expected to think for yourself, or at least to learn to do so. So, do not be surprised if you are confronted with a problem on an exam that isn't exactly like those you have seen before. However, the best way to prepare for such problems is still to do as many exercises as possible, so that you learn a variety of techniques and approaches to solving problems.
last updated Thu Sep 16 22:19:02 CDT 1999 by kortbein@iastate.edu