Course DescriptionThis course is a five (5) hour introductory honors calculus course designed for math, science and engineering majors and certain other technical majors. It satisfies five hours of the General Education Analytical Reasoning requirement. This course is a General Education course in the analytical reasoning area because it includes the following area learning objective: “LSU graduates will employ scientific and mathematical models in the resolution of laboratory and real-world problems.” Students should expect to spend ten hours on homework outside of class per week, for a minimum time commitment of 15 hours, counting the five hours of classwork each week.We will cover most of the subject matter in chapters 1-6 and some of chapter 8 of the assigned text. Attendance is required and will be counted in your final grade.Every student's presence and participation in class is an essential part of this course. Most LSU students are conscientious and sensible about coming to class unless there is a serious, excusable reason for not being able to do so. However, there is an unfortunate tendency for some students to become discouraged as the term progresses and to cease regular attendance. This happens despite the fact that a student who is feeling discouraged has an especially great need to be in class and to ask questions. The attendance policy is intended to ensure that every student comes to class even when the going gets tough.Attendance will be taken and recorded daily and unexcused absences will reduce your final average as follows. If UA is the number of your unexcused absences, UA/7 will be subtracted from your final average. If you need to be absent you must tell me why so that I can determine whether or not such an absence is excused. Depending on circumstances I may require documentation for your absences and documentation will always be required if you are absent from an hour test or from the Final Examination. Organization of this ClassPlease understand that it is from the effort of working your way through assigned problems on paper that you learn mathematics. It is by no means sufficient to read solutions in a solutions manual! Although I hope you benefit from seeing solutions presented in class, you must not expect to learn how to solve problems just from watching. You must work out problems yourself, the hard way, in order to learn this work. Examination problems will be very similar to assigned homework problems. Thus your daily effort on homework problems will be strongly reflected in your test grades. It is very important that you maintain a notebook with all your homework problems worked out fully by yourself. If you email me about a pending assignment, I may send a hint to the whole class in answer to your question, not giving your name of course!It is very important to come to class every day from the first class of the semester to the last day, and to do all the assignments on time to the best of your ability. Lax attendance or laxity in doing the homework are two of the earliest warning signs of academic failure. Please arrive on time for class. However, anyone may need to be late on some days for reasons beyond your control---such as transportation breakdown or a preceding class running overtime. If you need to be late, please do not wait outside in the hall. Please come in right away, late or not, and take a seat. You should not miss any more class time than necessary and no apology is needed for being late. Just come in right away --taking care to minimize noise-- and be sure to sign the attendance sheet after class if you have not done so already. When class begins, be sure to put away all cell phones, smart phones, head phones, wrist watch communication devices, tablets, laptops, etc. Your attention needs to be on the work of the class. When should you ask questions?You should ask questions every time you do not understand something and also every time you are curious about something. Ask questions in class. If I am looking the other way and you have a question--PLEASE call out to me so I can have the opportunity to answer your question! Ask questions after class. Ask questions in my office. Ask questions by email. Please consider this: If you are approximately 20 years old, then I have been teaching this subject for approximately 2 and 1/2 times as long as you have lived thus far. So I ask you to consider that I just may be able to help you with whatever is causing you difficulty if you will permit me to do so. Please give me a chance to help you to the best of my knowledge and ability.TestsThere will be 5 in-class closed-book hour tests (100 points each) and a two hour final examination (200 points). No cell phones, computers, or internet devices are allowed during hour tests or the final exam. You must keep your eyes on your own paper and do your own work. Do not communicate with your classmates during an examination. No books or notes are permitted, electronic, paper, or on any other medium. No electronic devices are permitted on tests other than a scientific calculator (with no symbolic calculations or graphing capability) and a watch to check the time. The problems will be similar to those in the homework. There will be no short-answer questions. All tests will be graded by me and there will be partial credit, since the work is at least as important as the answer.AbsencesIf you miss a test, it is your responsibility to speak to me as soon as possible to determine whether or not your excuse is acceptable. Here is some General Guidance regarding appropriate reasons for absence from a test or examination. If you are in doubt, ask me as soon as possible. However, please note that leaving early for a holiday, making plane reservations to leave early while classes or examinations are scheduled by the University, or planning to attend a social event during University scheduled class times is not a legitimate excuse for missing a test.GradesThere will be five in-class hour tests, worth 100 points each. One half your final exam grade (which has a 200 point maximum score) will replace your lowest hour test grade if there is an hour test grade lower than one half your final exam grade. But beware: The final exam will be comprehensive so please do your best to prepare for each hour test! I will grade your hour tests and return them to you the very next class meeting each time. Your Test Average (TA) will be the sum of all your test grades and the final exam grade divided by 7. Your Final Average will be FA=TA - UA/7, where UA is the number of unexcused absences. The minimum Final Average (FA) for each letter grade is as follows:A+, 97 A, 93 A-, 90 B+,87 B, 83 B-, 80 C+, 77 C, 73 C-, 70 D+, 67 D, 63 D-, 60 F, below 60 You should save all your graded work for future study and in case you think your final grade is in error. Unhappy with your grades in Math?Click here for a Plan to improve your grades! RemarksIt is especially important not to fall behind. It is very important to attend class and to ask questions. Please do not assume you can take care of difficulties later---see me for help as soon as possible if there is something you do not understand! You are responsible for all assigned problems---not just those which we go over in class!It is not possible to anticipate each student's difficulties so you need to bring them to my attention. Calculators, Collaboration, and Computer SupportYou can use any technology available to help with homework, and you may collaborate with others while doing homework, provided that you maintain a notebook with your own handwritten solutions of each homework problem. However, on in-class exams you may only use a scientific calculator that does not do graphing or symbolic manipulation, such as solving equations and symbolically calculating derivatives and integrals. Also, work on in-class exams must be your own work with no assistance from anyone else. During an exam, attempts to look at other students' exams and the use of crib sheets or formula sheets will be considered to be a violation of the LSU Code of Student Conduct and will be reported to the Student Advocacy and Accountability Office.The full power of Mathematica is available on many LSU computers, including those in the Math Department's computer labs and in the Library as well. Students can access Mathematica on Tigerware through their MYLSU accounts. There is a simplified Web Mathematica which is free to use online if you click on the link in this sentence. If you have not already had the Math Department's course in Mathematica, you might find it simpler to figure out how to use the Web Mathematica. However, it is not as versatile as the full version. But do remember, this is an auxiliary resource. The time you spend working on problems on paper is the most important part of homework when it comes to learning the subject. With that understanding, Mathematica can be fun and helpful too. Assignment and Test CalendarThe Assignment and Test Calendar in the table below will be updated regularly as the semester proceeds. Be sure to reload this page from the website each time you visit, since it is updated as the semester proceeds!
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