All sections of Math 150 are self-paced. You do most of the studying and test-taking on your own, based on the instructions given on the course web site.
There is one scheduled meeting every week, in small sections in a computer lab. During that time, a TA will present the material for that week. You can ask questions about the computer system, about the mathematics, or just work on your homework problems on your own.
As long as there is room in the computer lab, it does not matter which meeting you go to. Click on the Schedule link to get a complete list. You can go to more than one lab meeting if you want. However, if we run out of room in the computer lab, the people who are officially scheduled for that time will take precedence.
It is important that you attend one of the scheduled meetings the first week of classes. If you can't make it at your scheduled time, go to one of the other meetings. We will show you how to log into the main web site for this course. Before you go, read the section Before the First Meeting in the Getting Started file.
There will be Supplemental Instruction meetings for this class. Details will be posted in the Schedule once they become available. SI is a time to work through homework and talk with other students in the class. There is an SI leader available to help you.
You can add this class until the end of the third week of the semester. We will not sign in anybody after that because it is too hard to catch up. If the section you want is full, you can register for some other section and attend at the time you prefer, as long as there is room. We don't sign people into sections that the registrar shows as full. Only the course coordinators will sign add slips. If you need a drop slip signed early in the semester, also see the course coordinator. Later in the semester, the TAs are also allowed to sign drop slips. The Math Department secretaries will also do that in an emergency.
The course coordinators are Fritz Keinert and Jun Pan . The TAs are David Failing, Joy Hong, Desryan Jenson, Reza Rastegar, and Elijah Stines. The SI instructor will be Nick Hinzman.
Click on the "Instructors" heading for more information about your instructors.
Barnett/Ziegler/Byleen, Finite Mathematics for Business, Economics, Life Sciences and Social Sciences, custom edition of 11th edition for Iowa State University, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0536433704 [book site for standard edition].
The ISU custom edition is a shortened version of the full book. If you get a copy of the full book elsewhere, you can use that, you just won't be able to sell it back to the bookstore. If you have a copy of the 10th edition, you can also use that, as long as you are willing to hunt for the corresponding material in the older book. Some material has been moved around between chapters, but it is all there someplace.
We will be covering parts of appendix A (review of algebra), and chapters 1 through 8 and 11. The main topics are
You will find the details in the weekly lesson plans.
Your grade will be based on homework assignments (50%), practice exams (6%) and exams (44%). All assignments are completed in MyMathLab.
Homeworks and practice exams can be done from any computer running Internet Explorer on Microsoft Windows. Sorry, Mac and Linux users. Pearson is working on a version that runs on all machines and browsers, but it is not ready yet.
To take a quiz or the final exam, you have to use the computer lab in Carver 449 or Carver 250 during a time when no class is using the lab. Check the lab schedule. Bring your student ID; the lab monitor will sign you in and out.
You can repeat any of the assignments to improve your score (3 tries total).
You can work ahead. All the assignments for the entire term are up from the beginning. That is actually a lie, but give me a week or two. We have had students in the past who finished the class in the middle of the term. If you think you are done, talk to a course coordinator to make sure.
Every assignment has a due date. Make sure you stay ahead of the deadlines. We will only grant exceptions for verifiable and unforeseeable circumstances. That means: if you know you will be out of town for a sports meet, you have to work ahead. If you get sick, be prepared to back it up with a doctor's note.
The first two homework assignments have an official deadline, but you can actually complete them until the due date for HW 3. That is for the benefit of students who add the class late. Don't get used to it, that only works for the first two.
Attendance at the weekly meetings is recommended, but not required.
It doesn't matter which session you attend, as long as you attend at some point during the week. You can go at a different time than what is listed in your schedule.
Homeworks are done in MyMathLab. Every homework contains 20 problems, worth 2 points each. The problems can be done in any order, independently of each other.
You have all sorts of help available during the homeworks: you can call up an online version of the relevant textbook section, you can ask for a solved similar problem, you can ask to be walked through the problem step by step. Some problems have videos attached.
If you use the step-by-step solution, or if you type in the wrong answer 3 times, you don't get credit. Simply click on Similar Problem for a new version of the same problem. You can repeat each problem until you get it right.
There are two different ways to enter the homework. If you click on Do Homework, whatever you do will be done for credit. If you choose to do a problem for which you already have a score, the old score will disappear. If you click on Gradebook and enter a homework from there, whatever you do will not be recorded. Use the second option if you want to practice without changing your score.
There are 4 homeworks labeled as Excel Homeworks. we are still working on composing those. They will contain very few problems, but big ones. Problems that are too big to solve by hand.
The intention is that you will learn to do those problems using Excel. We will teach you in class how to do that, and there are also Excel tutorials to teach you. However, we have no way of checking what you actually use. Some of them can be done with a graphing calculator, or other means. Either way, they require some kind of technology.
There will be four quizzes spread through the term, corresponding to the evening midterms in the classroom sections. They have to be taken in the computer lab in Carver 449 or Carver 250 during a time when no class is in session. The lab monitor has to sign you in, so you need to bring your student ID every time (or some other picture ID). The quizzes have a 60 minute time limit.
The theoretical deadline is midnight on a Friday. In practice, the deadline is whenever the computer labs close on Fridays, which currently is 8pm. You should start no later than 7pm, to make sure you have the full time available.
On Fridays, the lab in Carver 250 is available for test taking 2-8pm. The lab in Carver 449 is available for test taking 4-8pm. We recommend that you take your tests earlier in the week, to avoid overcrowding.
The policy on academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. You are responsible for reviewing it before taking a test.
The homeworks and the quizzes are quite similar, and come from the same problem banks, but past students have complained that the jump from having all sorts of help on the homework, to getting no help and no feedback on the quizzes, is quite large.
The practice quiz is quite similar to the actual quiz (just a little shorter), but you can use it to get used to the actual quiz. It has a time limit, and a limit of 3 tries, just like the real quiz.
Practice quizzes carry a little credit. Not much, but it is an incentive to do them. The real payoff will be doing better on the actual quiz.
Practice quizzes can be taken from any machine. You can type in the password yourself. The password for all practice quizzes is "practice".
The final exam is comprehensive, with a 120 minute time limit. The final will be available until Friday afternoon of finals week, whenever the computer labs close that day. There is no specific time for the final exam. You can take it before Finals Week if you want.
All rules about quiz taking apply to the final as well.
There is a link to Overall Score in MyMathLab, but that is just an approximation to your actual standing.
I will prepare a spreadsheet for grade calculations. You can download that and type in your scores, to find out how you are doing. Check back here later in the term.
If you need help with the material, you can go to any lab meeting and ask the TA there, or go see one of the TAs during office hours. All office hours are in the same room (Carver 463) near the computer lab, not in the TAs own office. Look at the Schedule for details.
The line of students waiting for office hour help has gotten quite long a few times, usually right before a test. In such cases, the TA holding the office hour has the right to impose rules that guarantee that everybody gets a turn within a reasonable time.
The TA may work with students in groups, he/she may set up some students to work on something together while he/she helps other students, he/she may limit the time for each student to 5 minutes (after which a student would have to go to the end of the line and wait their turn again).
The course coordinators also have office hours, but those are not for help with the material. See your course coordinator if you need special permissions, need a form signed, if you think your scores are not recorded correctly, etc.
The duties are divided between course coordinators. If you have a question or problem with the web site or anything computer-related, see Prof. Keinert. If you have a different question, see Prof. Pan. She will handle add/drop slips, requests for make-up assignments, special accommodations, etc.
If you have a disability and require accommodations, you should obtain a Student Academic Accommodation Request (SAAR) from the Disability Resources office (Student Services Building, Room 1076, 294-6624 or TDD 294-6335, disabilityresources@iastate.edu or accommodations@iastate.edu). Please contact your Math 150 course administrator early in the semester so that your learning needs may be appropriately met.