Saint Michael's College
Calculus 211A
Fall 2005
Instructor: Joanna Ellis-Monaghan (please call me Jo) Office:
E-Mail: jellis-monaghan@smcvt.edu Phone: 654-2660
Office Hours: By appointment MWF
Text: Calculus, Early Transcendentals,
5th Edition,
by Stewart. One of the major goals of this course is learning to read
mathematics, i.e. to be able to understand and apply the definitions and
theorems presented. Read your text repeatedly and in detail! There
are on-line student resources for the text available at
http://www.brookscole.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&discipline_number=1&product_isbn_issn=0534393217
Class Web Page: You can find a link to the class web
page on my home page at http://academics.smcvt.edu/jellis-monaghan/
I will post class communications here (a copy of this handout for example).
There are also copies of all the in-class demonstrations, as well as your Maple
labs. I will also use this page to notify you in the case of class
cancellation, homework hints, answers to frequently
asked project questions, or grade postings. You need to check it regularly.
Calculator: Since we will be using Maple, you
do not need a fancy calculator for this class. Depending on the
technology available, you will either be able to use Maple on tests, or a very
simple, non-graphing, calculator, i.e. one with trig
functions, e,
p, ln,
log, and exponents, but nothing fancier. No graphing or symbolic calculators may be used on
tests. If you bring one, you will be asked to leave the
room until you have an acceptable one. You are likely to need the instruction manual that comes
with your calculator--don't throw it out!
Study groups: You may form your own study group
(2-4 people) or wait for me to assign you to one. You are encouraged to
study/work together—prepare for exams, discuss homework and Maple labs,
but each person must turn in individual work.
Homework: There are two types of homework
sets for this class: Study and Challenges. The study problems are graded
collectively and are due the class period after the material is covered. You
will be allowed to drop the your 4 lowest grades on
the study problem sets. The study problems are representative of the
kinds of questions you can expect to be asked on an inclass
test. You should practice them until you can do such problems without looking
at the book or your notes. There is a study guide on reserve at the library.
Challenges are in-depth problems designed to stretch and deepen your
understanding of the material. You are encouraged to work on these in your
study groups. The challenge problems will be individually graded and collected
at the end of each chapter.
Homework must conform to
the following:
Maple: Maple is a Computer Algebra System
(CAS) and an indispensable computational and visualization tool. You will
use it in almost every math course at St. Mike's, and will find it useful in
other disciplines as well. There will be several comprehensive Maple labs throughout this course.
Notebook: You should keep a careful notebook containing class
and text notes, formula lists, sample problems, homework, corrected
tests, etc. A complete, well-organized notebook is vital as you will be able to
use your notebook to compile a single sheet of notes to use on each hour test,
and four sheets for the final.
Take-home preparation
tests: There will
be two such tests, one given 9/28, due 10/12, and one given 11/16 and due 11/28.
Midterm test: There will be a cumulative midterm
on 10/19.
Midterm Project: We will be exploring the seashell morphology in this
class. Details to follow.
Final Exam: The exam will be
Grading: Regular homework--12%, Maple labs--15%, Midterm project--17%, take
home test average --17%, midterm exam--17%, final exam--22%.