MATH 114
ALGEBRA AND TRIGONOMETRY
LECTURE 1, FALL 2009
Lecturer: Dr. David Camacho
Office:321 Van Vleck
e-mail:
Phone:263-6817
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1:15 PM – 2:45 PM.
Lectures: MWF 8:50 – 9:40 AM in B102 in Van Vleck.
Text:Precalculus by Sheldon Axler, 1st. edition, Wiley.
Course content: Math 114 is a course on the mathematical fundamentals required for success in calculus. If you are not planning to take ( Math 211 or Math 221), you probably do not want to be in this course. For most ( if not all ) of you this course will look like a review of the algebra and trigonometry that you took in high school, but according to your placement scores, did not learn well enough to move directly into our fast-paced calculus courses. You should not be lulled into thinking that you know it all and can just coast in this course. We will be covering the topics at a deeper level and at a much faster pace than you have encountered before, and we will have higher expectations for your grasp of the material and your ability to reason with it clearly and efficiently.
There will be three midterm exams and a final examination. Please note that there will be NO MAKE-UP exams unless there is a compelling reason for missing an examination. There will be absolutely no make-ups without documentation.
The date and time of the final examination are set by the University Registrar. We will NOT reschedule or give a make-up for the final exam.
Calculators: It is crucial that you learn how to do simple numerical computations and algebraic manipulations, curve sketching, etc. on your own without a calculator or computer. Thus, you will not be allowed to use calculators on the exams in this course. All problems on the exams will be designed so that they can be done without calculators. You can use calculators to check your homework answers, but you must learn to have confidence in your own calculations.
Students with Disabilities: Students of the McBurneyDisabilityResourceCenter who are recommended for some accommodation should contact their TA about this no later than September 23.
Math Help: You should try to get as much help as you can. Besides the lecturer’s and TA’s office hours there are several other options:
Math Lab
Math Tutorial Program
Private Tutors.
Examination dates: Midterm I Sept. 30 in - class exam.
Midterm II Oct. 28 ” ” ”
Midterm III Dec. 4 ” ” ”
Final December 22 at 2:45 pm.
EXAM Rooms to be announce later.
Discussion Sections: In addition to the lectures, you are also required to attend your discussion session twice a week ( Tuesday and Thursday – check your schedule ). Your TA will help you in getting a good grasp of the material and answer questions that you may have about the material and about the assigned homework. During these discussion sessions you will hand in assignments and/or take quizzes. Your TA will collect and selectively grade completed assignments on days specified by the TA. NO LATE WORK will be accepted. We expect all assignments to be written neatly and handed in on time.
Grading:Your work in discussion is worth a maximum of 50 points, each in-class exam is worth 50 points, and the final is worth 100 points. Your final grade will be based on your score out of the maximum possible total of 300 points. At the end of the semester, everyone who has not withdrawn from the class will get a grade. A grade of Incomplete will NOT be given in order to avoid F’s.
THERE WILL BE NO EXTRA-CREDIT AND NO BARGAINING FOR GRADES WILL BE TOLERATED!
The grading scale will ROUGHLY be:
A:15%
AB:6%
B:30%
BC:6%
C:25%
D:12%
F:6%