MATH 152                       More Calculus!              Fall 2009

 

First of all, congratulations on making it through the first semester of calculus.  That in itself is quite an accomplishment, and you now understand the basic ideas that Newton and Leibniz developed 300 years ago.  This semester we'll delve deeper into these ideas, covering a variety of topics. The main goal will be this:

Using Calculus to Predict the Future

Along the way, we’ll cover these topics

  • Transcendental Functions Exponential and logarithmic functions are needed to understand and model many natural phenomena.
  • Applications of Integration Last semester you learned some basic integration techniques – now you’ll learn what you can do with them.
  • Techniques of Integration Last semester, you learned how to undo the sum rule and chain rule for derivatives.  Now we’ll undo the product rule and figure out some more complicated integrals.
  • Approximations of Functions How does a calculator figure out sin(35˚)? It doesn't draw a triangle and measure the opposite side and the hypotenuse.  Instead, it uses an approximation.  To understand this topic, we’ll spend a fair amount of time covering sequences and series, leading to power series.
  • Differential Equations The culmination of Calculus, solving differential equations lets use our knowledge of how things change to predict the future.

 

Class Philosophy: One learns math by doing it, not by watching other people do it.  Consequently, you will be required to participate actively during class, and work very hard outside of it.  The payoff is big: Calculus is one of the truly monumental achievements of the human species, and by the end of this class, you will understand it better.

 

Throughout the semester, I will be giving each of you ideas about what you need to do to improve your understanding of Calculus.  Some of these apply to everyone: read the section we will cover before coming to class, try some of the homework problems ahead of time, answer the Textbook Question that you’ll get on email, do lots and lots of homework problems (more than I assign to hand in), don't fall asleep in class, etc.  Others will be more directed, and probably suggested to you when you come to my office hours (see below).  The flip side of this is that you need to give me ideas about the course, and how to make sure you get the most out of it.  I will give a survey at some point, but if at any time you have something to share with me, just let me know (anonymous note, phone, email, getting a friend of mine to write on my wall, etc). 

 

Where to go for help: You have three main resources to draw on when you need help in this class.  The first and most important is your fellow classmates.  Calculus will go much smoother for all of us if you start getting to know them and start studying with them outside of class early in the semester.  The second is me.  Your third resource will be your TA, Lucia Randazzo.  We can be reached at:

 

Dave Kung

x4433

175 Schaefer

dtkung@smcm.edu

Lucia Randazzo

 

 

lmrandazzo@smcm.edu 

 

Office Hours:  Here are my official office hours.  In addition to these, I am in my office most of the time.  If you’d like to meet, stop by or drop me an email.

 

Monday

10:40-11:40

Thursday

9:00-10:00

Thursday

2:00-3:00

 

 

Problem Sessions: On Tuesday evenings when we don't have exams (see below), there will be a problem session.  These will be run by Lucia, and will largely consist of finishing the worksheets that we start in class on Monday. Like for our normal class meetings, attendance at these evening sessions is expected.

 

Grading:  Calculus can be learned at two levels.  At the basic, mechanical level, you will learn how to do calculus (e.g. techniques of integration, proving convergence of a sequence, finding Taylor series, etc.)  Achieving this only this level of competency will earn you roughly a C.  Higher grades will be earned by understanding Calculus at a deeper, theoretical level.  This includes understanding why we do the calculations, why they work, and why they apply to so many of the physical situations around us.  Your ability to explain the concepts of calculus will continually be tested, both in class and on exams.

 

There will be a variety of ways to show that you are learning Calculus.  They will contribute to your final grade as follows:

 

Assessment                                    Date                                Percent  

Exam I                                           September 22nd                 13 

Exam II                                          October 20th                     13 

Exam III                                         November 17th                 13 

Group Project                                Due Wed. Dec. 9th            16 

Homework                                     all semester                         10 

Class Participation                          all semester                         10 

Textbook Questions                       all semester                           5

Final Exam                                     Thurs., Dec 17th, 9am        20      

Total                                                                                      100 

 

The exams are in the evening starting at 6pm and are essentially untimed.  Be sure to mark these on your calendar now.  Information about the Group Project will be distributed later in the semester.  Roughly 24 hours before most classes, I will email you all a question or two regarding the reading (a Textbook Question).  After doing the reading, you should reply to the message, answering as best you can.  Grades for the emails will be based on participation – although if your answer makes it clear that you didn’t read the section at all, it will not count. 

 

Learning in this class is considered to be everyone's shared responsibility.  Part of that responsibility is attendance; when you are not here, not only do you miss important work, but the entire class misses out on your contribution.  The Class Participation portion of your grade will reflect that.  In class, we will be working in groups roughly at least once a week (typically on Mondays); how well you work with others will also factor into the Class Participation portion of your grade. 

 

Extra Credit: You can earn a 1% increase in your grade by attending and writing a one page report on any NSM Colloquium talk or MathCS Club talk. This can be repeated up to three times for a total of 3% extra before calculating your final grade. Talks are for a general audience of science majors in the areas of Mathematics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The NSM lectures are in Room 106SH every Wednesday at 4:40 (announcements will come by email).  MathCS Club talks are posted several days in advance on the walls of Schaefer.

 

 

I would love to give everyone an A this semester!

 

Let's all work toward that goal!