Course Syllabus

MATHEMATICS 20 Fall 1998 Prof. J. Grabiner

Office: Fletcher 222, x. 73160; secretary (to leave me a message), x. 73061.
Office Hours: MWF 9-10, 11-12. Also by appointment--just ask!

Textbook: David Cohen, Precalculus: A Problem-Oriented Approach (5th edition, West Publishing) We will cover chapters 2-4, parts of 1 and 10, and some material in the Appendices. It will be worth your while to have a graphing calculator, or access to a graphing utility on a computer.

Topics: The theme of the course is the relationship between algebraically-expressed functions and the properties of their graphs. We'll do: algebra review, real numbers, polynomials and factoring, quadratics, functions and graphs, linear and quadratic functions, straight lines and linear equations, and applications of all of these to solving real-world problems.

Purpose: This course is designed to prepare students who want to take calculus for the second semester of the pre-calculus sequence, Math 23. It isn't a general education course for liberal arts students, who would be better served by Math 1, 7, 8, or 10.

Prerequisite: Placement score. If you have NOT taken the placement test, you must see me!

Calendar notes: The class will not meet on Sept. 21, Rosh Hashana, or Sept. 30, Yom Kippur.
Monday, Oct. 19, is Fall Break. The Final Exam is Thursday, Dec. 18, at 8 A. M.

Course policies (learn these! you are responsible for knowing them):

Homework: Assigned daily, counts 1/3 of course grade. Also, you MUST do the homework in order to master the material.

Late homework: Homework is due at the START of class. If you come in late, hand it in right when you come in. Otherwise, it will be treated as one day late.
One day late: 10% off your score.
More than one day late: 50% off your score. Exceptions to this (for instance, if you've been sick) must be ok'd by me IN WRITING. The grader cannot make exceptions.

Working together: I encourage you to work with other students to help each other understand. But you must do your writeup by yourself. The guideline is this:
DISCUSS with your classmates, teach pieces of mathematics to each other, but write up your OWN solutions, organizing it your own way and in your own words.

Midterms: Probably three in-class one-hour exams. Dates will be determined by how the class moves through the material. (I may call them exams, or quizzes, or tests,
or midterms -- it's all the same thing.) The average of these exams will count 1/3 of the course grade. Study guides will be handed out before each exam.

Final: 3 hours, covers the whole course, 1/3 of course grade. Thursday, Dec. 18, 8 A. M.

Grading algorithm: 1/3 homework, 1/3 hour exams, 1/3 final, except that if there is
significant improvement, I'll weight your later work a bit more.

Tips: Later material in a math class depends on understanding earlier material--
so don't get behind, and ask questions whenever you want. It helps!
Come see me during my office hours, or drop by the office,
or see me after class to arrange a time. That's what I'm here for!