Sean Raleigh

Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, Miramar College

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Syllabus for Mathematics 150, Calculus/Analytic Geometry I
Summer, 2005

Instructor:  Sean Raleigh (please call me Sean)

E-mail:  sraleigh@sdccd.net
    E-mail will be the only way to contact me outside of class. On the other hand, math questions are almost always impossible to answer over e-mail, so please restrict those types of questions to class time. Otherwise, feel free to contact me about anything else any time you need. I check my e-mail regularly.

Office:  I have no office on campus so I won’t have office hours. I promise to devote lots of class time to going over homework questions so that you won’t need additional hours from me. Also, I encourage you to form study groups to work problems and prepare for tests.

Time:  MTWTh 6:00 p.m.–8:35 p.m.

Location:  S5108

Required Text:  Calculus, Larson, Hostetler, Edwards, Seventh Edition. (Since we won’t cover anything past chapter 5, you can purchase the cheaper version, Calculus of a Single Variable, but if you are going to take Calculus III then you'll need the full text anyway.)

Optional Text:  Student Solutions Manual accompanying the main text.

Topics Covered:  Chapter P (review chapter), chapters 1-4, chapter 5 except sections 5.6, 5.7, and 5.10.

Homework:  Homework is due on Mondays unless otherwise indicated. We will plan to spend a significant part of Mondays’ lectures working homework problems and answering questions from the assignment.
    Homework is graded on completion only. Points are awarded on an "all or nothing" basis. This means that you must at least attempt a majority of the problems to get credit ("majority" being subject to my judgment) and if you haven't met this standard, you will get no credit for the assignment.
    Since individual problems will not be graded, it is your responsibility to make sure you understand the assignment and ask questions about anything that remains unclear after working the assignment. Most of the assigned problems will be odd-numbered since the answers to these problems appear in the back of the text. This can be a blessing or a curse. The ability to check your work and make sure you are on the right track is invaluable. Nevertheless, the temptation is strong to limit yourself to doing a minimal amount of work and then copying down the answer. Keep in mind that the homework only comprises 10% of the final grade, so its purpose is to help you learn, practice, and reinforce the material you need to perform well on the exams.
    You will be able to drop one homework assignment from your final grade. There will be no late homework accepted under any circumstances. If you miss class on a day homework is due, that will be the homework assignment you drop. (You can always turn in a homework assignment early if you know you are going to be gone.)

Quizzes and Tests:  There will be a pre-test, five quizzes, a midterm, and a final exam. With the exception of the 10% contribution of the homework assignments to your grade, quiz and test performance is the sole indicator for your grade in the course. It is therefore crucial that you keep up with the material and study effectively for quizzes and tests.

Pre-Test:  The pre-test will be given Wednesday, June 22 (the third day of class). You will have an hour and a half to complete the pre-test. It will count for only 5% of your final grade since its main purpose is to help me get a sense of your basic algebra and trig skills coming into the course. Check the Resources page for some helpful web pages that you should review before the pre-test. The pre-test will be graded and returned to you the next day, Thursday, June 23. Those who do poorly on the pre-test may want to consider dropping the class and returning to a pre-calculus course for better preparation. The drop deadline is the following Monday, June 27. No calculators or notes are allowed for the pre-test.

Quizzes:  The quizzes will be administered on Thursdays unless otherwise indicated. You will have one hour to complete a quiz. Quizzes will cover the material from the homework assignment of the previous Monday. As a general rule, the quiz questions will be taken directly from the homework, although some of the numbers might be changed. You are allowed to drop one quiz. Calculators are allowed on quizzes, but no other notes or materials.

Midterm:  The midterm will be administered on Thursday, July 14, and will cover chapters 1 and 2. The test will be designed to last about two hours, but you'll have the whole class period to work on it. You are allowed to use a calculator and one normal-sized piece of paper (both sides) as a "cheat sheet".

Final:  The final exam will be administered on Thursday, August 11 (the last day of class), and will be completely cumulative, although there will be more emphasis on the material covered since the midterm: chapters 3, 4, and 5 (except sections 5.6, 5.7, 5.10). Like the midterm, it will be designed to last about two hours, but you'll have the whole class period to work on it. You are allowed to use a calculator and two normal-sized sheets of paper (both sides) for the final exam.

     There will be no makeup exams except in the case of an extreme emergency. What constitutes an extreme emergency will be at my discretion and will require some kind of documentation. There will be no makeup quizzes at all: if you have to miss class on a quiz day for any reason, you will have to drop that quiz, even if the absence is "legitimate".

Calculators:  You are encouraged to have a graphing calculator, although a graphing calculator is not strictly necessary. Some homework questions will require at least a scientific calculator. You will be allowed to use calculators on quizzes and tests (except the pre-test), but quizzes and tests will be designed in such a way that calculators will not be necessary or even advantageous. This is because all questions will require you to show all your work and not just the result of a calculation.

Grading:  The grade distribution will be whichever of the following two distributions yields the higher score. (A spreadsheet will automatically assign the higher of the two calculations.)

OR

Your letter grade will initially be based on the following scale:

I say “initially” because I always curve the final grades. However, this won’t be a strict bell curve where the majority of the class earns a C with a few A’s and a few F’s. The ultimate grade distribution will be based on a B- average with no quotas for any individual letter grade. Also, you are guaranteed to earn at least the grade indicated on the above scale. So, for example, suppose you get 85% in the class, but the class average is 90%. You will still earn a B in the class and a large percentage of the class will be in the A range.
    At the end of the summer session, it's natural to be anxious about your final grade, but it is not practical for me to respond to grade requests. Please use the resources provided by the college to obtain your final grade. If you still have questions after learning your grade, feel free to e-mail me.

Academic Honesty:  Cheating will not be tolerated. This includes but is not limited to copying homework, using unauthorized materials in tests, looking at someone else’s paper during a test, collaborating with another person during the test, and other similar activities. You are all adults and you know what constitutes cheating; therefore, I will never accept an excuse of “I didn’t know.” If there’s any question as to what constitutes cheating, please ask before it becomes a problem. I reserve the right to assess a penalty for cheating as the severity demands. The minimum penalty will be a zero on that particular test or assignment. More likely, though, is that you will receive an F in the class. You will also be reported to the dean for any violation. Having said that, I encourage you to work together on the homework problems (this is not the same thing as copying another’s completed homework) and study together for tests.

Attendance:  Attendance is required. I reserve the right to drop anyone from the class for excessive absences. Anyone who does not come at all in the first two weeks of class will be dropped.
    Attendance will not count toward your grade. It is your responsibility to be in class every day and keep up with the material. There will be no makeup exams, so it is also crucial that you check your schedules far in advance and make sure that you're there on test days.

Changes to the syllabus:  I reserve the right to change the syllabus as circumstances necessitate, but no new policy will be enforceable until after you have been notified in class.

Last modified: 06/15/05