Math 221: Calculus and Analytic Geometry (Fall 2006)


Times and Locations

What   Where   When
Lecture 1   B130 Van Vleck   TR 9:30-10:45am
Discussion section 301 B305 Van Vleck MW 7:45-8:35am
Discussion section 310 B203 Van Vleck MW 2:25-3:15pm
My (Jason's) office hours 418 Van Vleck M 3:30-4:30pm
R 2:00-3:00pm
F 1:00-2:00pm

With regard to office hours, I am also available by appointment--just send me an email or talk to me after class to set up a time to meet.

General Information

Your performance in this course is based on exams (three midterms and a final), quizzes, homework, and participation in discussion sections. The breakdown is as follows: 40% of your grade comes from the final exam; another 40% comes from your two best midterms (so your worst midterm is dropped); 10% comes from weekly quizzes given in discussion sections; and the last 10% comes from weekly homework assignment and from participation in discussion sections.

Homework

There will be weekly homework assignments, collected on Mondays. Most problems will be taken from Professor Robbin's course lecture notes, though I may also assign problems from the textbook, Thomas' Calculus. In any case, the problems for each assignment are intended to coincide with what is covered in lecture the week before the assignment is due. Hard copies of the course lecture notes will be distributed regularly, but they are also available online for your convenience.

A provisional list of homework assignments is as follows; it will be revised as necessary depending on how the lectures proceed:

Homework Due Date Problems
1 September 6 From lecture notes: section 1
2 September 11 From lecture notes: sections 2, 3, 4, 5
3 September 18 From lecture notes: sections 7, 8
4 September 25 From lecture notes: sections 9, 10, 11, 12
5 October 2 From lecture notes: sections 13, 14, 15
6 October 16 From lecture notes: sections 16, 17, 18, 19
7 October 23 From lecture notes: sections 20, 21
8 November 6 From lecture notes: sections 22, 23, 24, 25

Quizzes

Quizzes will be given most Mondays at the end of discusssion sections. You can expect about half of each quiz to come from a problem on the homework due that day, possibly with minor changes. The quiz schedule is as follows:

Quiz   Date       Quiz   Date    
1 September 11 (solutions) 6 October 23
2 September 18 (solutions) 7 November 6
3 September 25 (solutions) 8 November 13
4 October 2 (solutions) 9 November 20
5 October 16 10 December 11

Quizzes will be evaluated not only on correctness, but also on the clarity of exposition. For example, you should write in complete sentences, using words to explain your steps. A page containing just equations is difficult to follow and should be avoided.

Exams

The exam schedule is as follows:

Exam   Date   Time
Midterm Exam I Thursday, October 5 9:30-10:45am
Midterm Exam II Thursday, October 26 9:30-10:45am
Midterm Exam III Thursday, November 30 9:30-10:45am
Final Exam Wednesday, December 20 7:45-9:45am

Note that the midterms are all scheduled during regular, 75-minute lecture periods. If possible, we will be finding additional rooms for the midterms. Watch the main course page for instructions as to which room you should go.

Professor Robbin guarantees that 80% of the problems on each exam will come either from problems in Chapter VIII of the course lecture notes or from exercises and examples in the main chapters of the course lecture notes. (There may be minor changes and the hints may not be included.) In addition, a score of 80% on any exam is guaranteed to be at least a B.

I plan to hold review sessions shortly before each exam. Details will be announced as each exam approaches.

Other Policies

It should be noted that calculators are not allowed on exams. The idea behind this policy is that arithmetic mistakes make grading difficult, and we do not wish to penalize you for hitting the wrong key when computing something using a calculator. In accordance with this policy, you are encouraged to leave arithmetic unsimplified on exams--you will not be penalized for doing so. This applies both to answers that are numeric (for example, "1 + 5") and to answers that are symbolic (for example, "5x + 3x").

On the other hand, intelligent calculator use outside of exams is just fine, and is even encouraged. Such use can be helpful in checking your reasoning, or in building your intuition.