Math 124 Materials Website

• the "Note to the student" -- IT  IS  VERY  IMPORTANT  THAT  YOU  READ  IT.
• the list of weekly homework and worksheets. (Click on the outline for each week to access that particular week's homework and worksheet.)

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Math Study Center

The MSC is one of the best resources at your disposal: a place that's almost always open, where you can speak to and get help from tutors, professional mathematicians, and fellow students. Unless you are 100% comfortable with this class, check the MSC out.  The MSC is located at B-014 CMU (the Communications Building, across the street from Padelford).

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• Worksheets  (total)        5%
  
• Homework   (total)       15%
  
• Quizzes        (total)       15%
  
• Midterm 1                    15%
  
• Midterm 2                    15%
• Final                             35%   
  

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• Your TA will will keep a record of your participation and performance in the worksheet sessions--they count toward your grade.
  
• The lowest weekly worksheet score will be dropped.

• Homework assignments for each week can be found on the Math 124 webpage. (Click on the outline for the week.)
• These assignments are to be turned in on Thursdays in your Quiz section.     Homework 1 is due on Thursday, October 2.
• The lowest weekly homework score will be dropped.
  
• No late homework will be accepted.

• There will be a 15-minute quiz most Thursdays (about 5 per term). There will be no quizzes in the weeks with Midterms or Final. These will usually cover the preceding homework, and will be very similar to the homework problems. The TA's will grade them and return them to you the following Tuesday.
  
• During your first Quiz Section, you will take a self-assessment Quiz, which you will grade yourself, and will not count toward your course grade. This will help you figure out what parts of the Precalculus material you should review.
  
• The quizzes are closed book/closed notes and you cannot use a graphing calculator. 
• There are no make-up quizzes.
• The lowest quiz score will be dropped.

Midterms and Final

• There will be 2 midterm exams. They will be given on the dates listed below. They are meant to take 50 minutes but you can take the full 80 minutes of the Quiz section. 
  • Midterm I : Tuesday, October 21 in Quiz section.
  • Midterm II : Tuesday, November 18 in Quiz section.
• The final exam will take place on Saturday, December 6, from 1:30-4:20pm (170 minutes), in ARC 147
  
• You must bring a Photo ID to all exams.
• For both midterms and for the final, you are allowed to use one (double-sided) handwritten 8.5x11 sheet of notes.
• See Calculator Policy below.
  
• There are no make-up exams. If you have a compelling and well-documented reason for missing a test, speak to the professor about it.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays you will meet with a Teaching Assistant in a smaller group. This gives you a chance to get more of your questions answered.

The Tuesday sections are 80 minutes long so that, in addition to getting help with your homework, there will be time for working on the Worksheets. The midterm exams will be administered during the Tuesday sections, on October 21 and November 18.

Most weeks there will be a quiz on Thursday. You will hand in homework at the beginning of each Thursday session to your TA and they will return it to you, probably a week later.

The TAs are:

Note about the 5th edition: We DO NOT recommend that you get this edition. However, if you have already acquired it, you can get by with it, BUT IT REQUIRES A LOT OF EXTRA WORK on your part. The problem numbering is different from the 6th edition, which means that after you get the homework (from the 6th edition), you'll have to "translate" it to fit your own edition (and you are solely responsible for this, i.e., if you do the wrong problems because you're using edition 5, you'll get no credit). You can get help with the  "translation" from the editure, but it will require you to fill out various webpage forms. For more detailed instructions, go HERE.

Note about the Course Packet: I encourage you to buy the Math 124 Homework/Worksheet Packet (available at the Bookstore). It contains all the information available online, including all the homework assignments, midterms and worksheets. If you choose not to buy it, you will most likely have to print out all the information yourselves, so having the Packet is convenient (but, again, not required).

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Calculator Policy

• You will need a scientific calculator for Math 124. The scientific calculator must have trigonometric functions, like sin and cos, as well as logarithms and exponentials (ln and exp).  
• Graphing calculators are not allowed on quizzes and exams. A graphing calculator is any device with a multiline display that has the ability to graph mathematical functions. Examples are the TI-86 or the HP-49G. See your instructor before the first quiz if you are not certain if your calculator is acceptable.

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Expectations

• You are expected to read this Note to the student.
• You are expected to read the appropriate chapters in the book in addition to coming to lectures.
• You are expected to understand the concepts, in addition to being able to apply them to numerical problems.

Tips for getting a better grade

• Read the book. Knowing recipes to solve numerical problems is helpful, but not enough. You need to understand the concepts; you will be asked questions that test this understanding.
  
• Due to the amount of material that needs to be covered, this class goes at a very fast pace (and neither I nor your TA can do too much about it).  This is why the "Note to the student" stresses the fact that you need to put in an additional 15 hours per week (aside from the time spent in class), working on your own. Take that very seriously.
  
• A good way to find out if you understand something is to explain it to someone else. You might be surprised to find out how hard it is to accurately reproduce/explain something that you think you understand.
• Write clearly and correctly. Be logical in your arguments, and learn the definitions and theorems accurately. Due to the size of the class, we can only evaluate you based on your written work--so it is very important to convey your knowledge precisely in your writing.
• Do the homework problems. Even if you do understand the material, it is hard to reproduce it on a test if you have not practiced. Working quickly is important in this class, and speed cannot come without practice.
  
• Come to office hours (both mine and your TA's), go to the MSC, and come talk to me or to your TA if you are having trouble. Let me know early in the quarter if you are having problems with the course for whatever reason.
  

• You must show all your work in order to get full credit, therefore you need to explain all your steps and methods clearly.
  
• It must be apparent to the grader that you did this work by yourself, and he/she must understand your logic. This sort of completeness is especially necessary on the homework, when the answer to the problem is given to you either at the back of the book or on the Math 124 website. Unless you show your work, it will be assumed that you copied the answer from the aforementioned sources.
  
• You are urged to use words to give such explanations as needed.
  
• Try to put yourself into the grader's shoes when writing: after writing up a solution, ask yourself is someone else in the class could follow it. Is the solution clearly organized, or must one look for it in various corners of the page?  Is it clear how each step follows from the previous? Are there any "miraculous" transitions that require further explanation?...
  
• Make it easy to grade your work. Keep in mind that, as much as one always tries to be objective, statistics show that a grader who is frustrated with a writeup can sometimes involuntarily be harsher.
  

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