MAT 171 course page

All lectures take place in VV B102 on TuTh 2:30pm-3:45pm, unless otherwise indicated.

Textbooks Thomas' Calculus 11th Ed. and Axlers' Precalculus: A prelude to Calculus

Course Requirements Two Midterm exams(20% each) ,weekly problem sets (20%), and a Final exam (cumulative, 40%) .

Schedule of Lectures

DATE	READING	TOPIC
Th 3 Sep	Axler: pgs. 34-70 (chptr. 1)	Review of basic algebra. Functions and Graphs Discussion of syllabus, course requirements. The real number system, integers, rationals, and irrationals. The real numbers visualized as the points on a line. Functions and Graphs.
Tue 8 Sep	Axler: pgs 34-41 (chptr. 1)	Functions cont'd Function transformations and Graphs, Composition of functions.
Th 10 Sep	Axler: pgs 62-71 (chptr. 1)	Functions cont'd. We will discuss function transformations: shifting functions.
Tue 15 Sep	Axler: pgs 87-100 (chptr. 1)	Composition of functions, inverse functions. Lecture objectives: Computation of the composition of two functions. Decomposing a complicated function into simpler functions.
Th 17 Sep	Axler: pgs 118-127 (chptr 2)	Linear functions Equations of lines: slopes, Y-intercepts, point slope form.
Tue 22 Sep	Axler: pgs 118-127 (chptr. 2)	Linear functions cont'd. We will continue our discussion of lines, we will define perpendicular lines.
Th 24 Sep	Axler: pgs 134-141 (chptr. 2)	Quadratic Functions We will study quadratic functions. In particular we will learn how to compute the: vertex, axis of symmetry, minimum/maximum, and roots. Key is completing the square.
Tue 29 Sep	Axler: pgs 134-141 (chptr.2)	The quadratic formula-cont'd The quadratic formula and its applications cont'd.
Th 1 Oct	Axler: pgs 147-153 (chptr. 2)	Integer Exponents We will study the rules of manipulating integer exponents.
Tue 6 Oct	Axler: pgs 159-170 (chptr. 2 (section 2.4))	Polynomials Degree of a polynomial, algebra of polynomials, zeros and factorization, behavior near infinity, graphs.
Th 8 Oct	Axler: pgs 175-177 (chptr. 2)	Rational Functions Ratios of Polynomials, algebra of rational functions, polynomial division.
Tue 13 Oct	Axler: pgs 175-177 (chptr. 2)	Rational Functions cont'd. Polynomial division continued.
Th 15 Oct	Midterm I	NA NA
Tue 20 Oct	Axler: pg. 183 (chptr. 2)	Graphing Rational Functions Techniques for sketching the graph of a rational function: vertical and horizontal asymptotes, zeros.
Th 22 Oct	Thomas: pgs. 73-77	Introduction to Limits Instantaneous velocity and tangent lines: the notion of a limit is required to make these ideas precise.
Tue 27 Oct	Thomas: pgs. 77-84	Limits of functional values Limits continued: we continue with an informal discussion postponing the (difficult) precise definition until the next lecture.
Th 29 Oct	sec. 2.3 pgs. 92-101	precise definition of limits We will go through the epsilon-delta definition of limits and look at examples of how to apply it
Tue 3 Nov	Thomas sec. 2.3 pgs. 92-101	precise limits cont'd We will discuss more examples and introduce the continuous functions.
Th 5 Nov	Thomas sec 2.7 pgs. 134-141	Tangents and Derivatives The precise definition of a tangent line to the graph of a function.
Tue 10 Nov	Thomas pgs. 147-155	The derivative as a function. Rules of differentiation. Basics of trigonometry and basic trigonometric differentiation. We develop techniques to calculate derivatives easily and study the derivative as a function-not just at a point on the graph.
Th 12 Nov	Axler sections 5.1-5.2	Intro. to Trigonometry Basics of the unit circle, angular measure, sin and cosine functions.
Tue 17 Nov	Axler section 5.3	sin and cos continued Graphing sin and cos on the real axis.
Th 19 Nov	Midterm II	NA TBA.
Tue 24 Nov	READING	TOPIC TBA.
Th 26 Nov	Thanksgiving Break	TOPIC TBA.
Tue 1 Dec	READING	TOPIC TBA.
Th 3 Dec	READING	TOPIC TBA.
Tue 8 Dec	READING	TOPIC TBA.
Th 10 Dec	READING	TOPIC TBA.
Tue 15 Dec	Last Class day of Semester	TOPIC TBA.