Math 131, Fall 2013
Calculus I
Instructor
John E. McCarthy
Class
MWF 10.00-11.00 in Brown 118; or 11.00-12.00 in Brown 118.
Office
105 Cupples
I
Office Hours McCarthy: M 1-2, W 2-3, F 12-1.
Phone
935-6753
TA's:
Genival Fernandes da Silva
Alexandru Papiu
Ben Passer
Tian Wang
Text Single Variable Calculus 7E Early Transcendentals Hybrid by J. Stewart, Chapters 1-4
You need to purchase a WebAssign Access key for the homework
assignments. You can get this bundled with the book,
or purchase it separately.
Instructions on how to enroll in
WebAssign are at http://www.webassign.net/manual/WA_Student_Quick_Start.pdf
To
enroll in WebAssign, you also need a course key. Make sure you enter
the key for the
Section in which you are enrolled:
Course Key for Section 1 (meets 10-11): wustl
8952 8481
Course Key for Section 2
(meets 11-12): wustl 0332 5773
The non-hybrid version of Stewart
has the same text, but more printed exercises. You don't need the extra exercises
with WebAssign, but if you
can find a copy cheaply, you can get it instead.
Do not get the Solutions Manual. This is not just a waste of money, it is Kryptonite - every
time you open a Solutions Manual, it sucks intelligence right out of your brain.
Exams There will be four exams in the course:
Exam 1 : 7.00 p.m.- 9.00 p.m.
September 18
Covers: Chapter 1 Exam 1 with Answers
Exam 2 : 7.00 p.m.- 9.00 p.m.
October 16
Covers: Chapter 2 Exam 2 with Answers
Exam 3 : 7.00 p.m.- 9.00 p.m. November 13 Covers : Chapter 3 Exam 3 with Answers
Exam 4 : Final Exam 3.30-5.30 p.m. December 12th Covers: Chapters 1-4 Final Exam with Answers
To find your room and seat assignment for an exam, go to
the Math Dept home page on exam day, www.math.wustl.edu/seatlookup.
Remember to bring your Washington University student ID with you.
No notes or calculators are allowed for exams.
Homework
There are weekly homework sets during the semester, to be done on WebAssign:
These are due every Friday; the first assignment is due Sep 6th.
Other homework (which will not be graded) is here: http://www.math.wustl.edu/~mccarthy/teaching/131Fall13HW.html
If you can do these HW problems with the book shut, you are on top of the material.
Note: Doing a homework problem by looking for a similar example and following that does not give much insight. Instead, try to do the problem without looking anything up. If you can't, reread the entire section, and then try again to do the homework problems without following worked examples.
If you have really tried to do a homework or WebAssign
problem and need a hint, email your TA.
Note: If you wait till Friday, you won't get a response in time for the submission.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with trigonometry, polynomials, and
their graphs.
In particular, be very comfortable with lines and slopes!
Content
Limits. Differentiation.
Finding maxima and minima. Graphing functions.
Basis for Grading
Each midterm and the WebAssign will be 18% of your
grade, the final will be 28%.
If you do well on the final, the final grade can be substituted for one of your
midterms.
Final Grades :
A: 88% - 100% A-: 84% - 87.9%
B+: 81% - 83.9% B: 73% - 80.9% B-: 69% - 72.9%
C+: 66% - 68.9% C: 60% - 65.9% C-: 56% - 59.9%
D: 51% - 55.9%
Missed Exams: If you are unable to take one of the midterms for legitimate reasons (such as verified illness or serious family emergency) you will be given an excused absence for that exam.
NO IN-TERM MAKEUP EXAMS ARE GIVEN.
Your grade for the missed midterm exam will be calculated by a statistical
procedure which uses your scores on the other taken exams, including the Final.
Not coming because you overslept or forgot the time of the exam is not a
legitimate reason .
Homework
Homework is an extremely important part of the course. Make sure you stay current with it, or you will find it extremely difficult to catch up.
Class
I do expect you to come to class every day, and to participate in class discussions. I also expect you to stay abreast of the material we are covering, and may call on you at any time to answer a question.
Help is Available!
Your TA has office hours there, but you are welcome to go at any time.
There is also the Calculus Help Desk run by Cornerstone in the South 40 - see
http://cornerstone.wustl.edu/
My office hours are listed at the top of this page. You should feel free to come in and talk about any
material.
Peer-led Team Learning: Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) is a voluntary
study group program that is
offered for Calculus 131. You can sign-up to be considered for a
spot using the online application, which will open at 5pm on August 28 and close
on September 1.
An attempt will be made to accommodate all students who apply, but there are
a limited number of spots available. If necessary, students will be
selected via a lottery. Placement e-mails will be sent out by September 5th,
and the first group meetings will be the weekend of September 7th/8th.
To learn more about the program, visit http://calcpltl.wordpress.com/ or
contact Lisa Kuehne, lmkuehne@wustl.edu.
To enroll go to http://cornerstone.wustl.edu/pltlapp.aspx
Calculus Study Group: Study groups are organized as needed by The Center for Advanced Learning located in Cornerstone (in Gregg Hall on the south 40). They are conducted by graduate and undergraduate math students. If you want to belong to such a study group you must make a commitment to attend the group regularly (not just "come when you feel like it"). For more information you can look on the website cornerstone.wustl.edu or call them at 935-5970 .
Old Exams: Old Exams and solutions are posted on the web as a study
guide (go to www.math.wustl.edu ).
Here is a direct link:
http://wumath.wustl.edu/node/858.
Copies of some of these exams should also be
available to view or copy at the Reserve Desk of Olin Library.
Links:
Applets: http://www.math.psu.edu/dlittle/java/calculus
Collatz Conjecture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collatz_conjecture
Function Tables: http://www.math.wustl.edu/~mccarthy/teaching/FunctionTables.pdf
Excel Tablef: http://www.math.wustl.edu/~mccarthy/teaching/FunctionTable.xlsx
Fibonnaci ratio: http://www.math.wustl.edu/~mccarthy/teaching/Fibonnaci.pdf
Earthquakes: http://www.math.wustl.edu/~mccarthy/teaching/Earthquakes.pdf