• 18 December 2006 - Final exam scores as well as final grades have been released in WebCT. If you want to see a copy of your final exam, please email me after the semester starts in January, and we'll arrange a time for you to do so. Happy holidays!
• 17 December 2006 - The grade distribution for the final exam was a mean of 2.22, median of 2.16, minimum of 0, first quartile of 1.42, third quartile of 3.00, and maximum of 4.74. Individual scores on the final will be released in WebCT at the same time the final grades are released, which will be sometime before noon tomorrow. I'll post an announcement when they're released.
• 15 December 2006 - The final exam will be graded over the weekend. I will post an announcement here when final grades (both for the exam and your final letter grade in the class) are available in WebCT. That will be no later than 1200 on Monday, 18 December 2006. I have decided that I will drop your lowest test score when computing your final grade, making your top three test scores worth 20% each instead of 15%. Final exams will not be returned, but if you would like a copy of yours, please email me in January and we'll arrange a time for you to come by and pick it up. Finally, please remember to fill out the course evaluation if you haven't already done so! Course evaluation cutoff time is 2359 on Sunday, 17 December 2006.
• 10 December 2006 - My office hours this week will be 1100 to 1200 on Monday, 1600 to 1700 on Tuesday, 1100 to 1200 on Wednesday, and 1100 to 1200 on Thursday. Feel free to email me to arrange another time if you have questions and are unable to attend any of the scheduled times. Also, don't forget to fill out the course evaluation!
• 7 December 2006 - Supplemental homework problems for the final exam are now online. Also, there will be two review sessions for the final exam. They will be Sunday, 10 December 2006, from 1730 to 1930, and Tuesday, 12 December 2006, from 1800 to 2000. We'll aim for Skiles 249, but if we've moved, there will be a sign outside that room as well as on my office (Skiles 138A) office door. The final exam is Thursday, 14 December 2006, from 1450 to 1740 in Boggs B6, our usual lecture room.
• 6 December 2006 - The grade estimator spreadsheet (Excel format) is now available. As I indicated in class today, I'm leaning toward dropping your lowest test, so the estimator allows you to see both scenarios. Beware, you need to put in 0 for any quiz that you didn't take, as otherwise the formula won't work right. Furthermore, be sure to read the cautionary note, as a strong performance on the final exam can and will help you out more than this spreadsheet will indicate.
• 6 December 2006 - It's course evaluation time! At some point between now and 2359 on Sunday, 17 December 2006, please complete the anonymous course survey. I will not be able to see these until after final grades have been assigned, but at that point, I will review them carefully and consider suggestions you make on how I can be a more effective teacher.
• 6 December 2006 - I've gotten a number of questions about problem four on Test IV, so I should provide some clarification. The earlier solution I posted said that the solution was 5π/3. That was incorrect. I had failed to finish evaluating the integral when I typed up that solution. The correct solution is 4π/3. This solution has now been posted. You may need to refresh the solutions in order to see the updated version. For those of you who did the problem by the shell method, notice that since "up" is to the right, the "height" of the shell is now 1-y and not y as many of you put.
• 5 December 2006 - Sorry for the late notice about this, but my office hour on Wednesday, 6 December 2006, will be 0900 to 1000. If this doesn't work for you, send me an email. My schedule is very clear Thursday afternoon, so we'll find a time then.
• 5 December 2006 - Grades for Test IV have now been posted in WebCT. Be sure to check your grades (preferably for all four tests and all eleven quizzes) to ensure that they are correct in WebCT. If they are not, bring the graded item either to me or your TA to correct the record. For Test IV, the mean was 2.22 and the median was 2.17. The minimum was 0 and the maximum was 5. The third quartile (meaning one quarter of students scored this score or higher) was 3.17, and the first quartile (meaning three quarters of students scored this score or higher) was 1.17. By score interval, the breakdown is 2 in [5,5] (congratulations! the first perfect scores of the term), 12 in [4,5), 17 in [3,4), 27 in [2,3), 27 in [1,2), and 16 in [0,1). These scores are considerably better than what we had on the previous exam, although still not as good as I would have liked to see. There were a number of students who exhibited nice improvement however, and so keep on working, and you can do well on the final and improve your grade even further in the class!
• 3 December 2006 - The solutions for Test IV are now online. Also, my office hour for 4 December 2006 will be 1000 to 1100 due to a meeting I must attend.
• 1 December 2006 - We will again make a slight change to the course schedule. We will not cover section 6.6, but rather move directly to complex numbers. The notes and homework for this material are now available. This means that we'll review for the final on Wednesday and Friday next week in lecture, and probably part of Monday as well.
• 27 November 2006 - There will be a review session for Test IV on Tuesday, 28 November 2006, from 1800 to 2030 in Skiles 249.
• 25 November 2006 - Supplemental homework problems for Test IV have been posted. They include some advice on how to approach volume problems (at least in terms of choosing which method to use). Monday's lecture will be the last new material for Thursday's test. The remaining lectures will all be fair game for the final exam, however.
• 21 November 2006 - Some scanned notes from James Stewart's Calculus are now on WebCT. The section I scanned details a strategy for approaching integration problems when you don't know if you should use substitution or integration by parts or trig substitution or partial fractions or some combination. I thought that it was a good summary that some of you might want to look over in preparing for next week's test. Please email me ASAP if you are unable to open the file. Also, I've noticed the on-screen quality of the file isn't so great, but it prints just fine. Supplementary homework problems will be coming soon, but to get you started, there are some problems in the scanned pages. The solution to Quiz 11 is also now available.
• 16 November 2006 - The solution to Quiz 10 is now posted.
• 15 November 2006 - Two housekeeping announcements to get started. First, my office hour on Friday of this week (only) will be 0900 to 1000. Please email me to set up an appointment if that time is not convenient for you. Second, Test IV will cover sections 8.1 through 8.5 and 6.1 through 6.4. The course schedule inadvertently said 8.4 instead of 8.5. We conclude with information about Test III. First, remember that regrade requests are due at 1400 on Tuesday, 21 November 2006. They must be submitted to me as described in the syllabus. Please treat any questions about deductions due to forgetting your name or section as a regrade request. For Test III, the mean was 1.866, the minimum was 0, the first quartile was 0.833, the median was 1.583, the third quartile was 2.667, and the maximum was 4.833. By score interval, we had none in [5,5], 7 in [4,5), 14 in [3,4), 23 in [2,3), 31 in [1,2), and 27 in [0,1). The performance on this test was unacceptable, and you must do better on Test IV and the Final Exam! See me or your TA if you struggled on the test, as it's only going to get worse if you don't put in substantial effort to improve in the brief time remaining.
• 10 November 2006 - The solutions to Test III have been updated to correct a typo in the third problem. The limits of integration on the second integral should be 1 and 2, not 0 and 1 as on the original set of solutions. You may need to refresh the solutions PDF in your browser to see the updated version. (Posted at 0754.)
• 9 November 2006 - Test III was given in recitation today. The solutions are now available. The tests will be returned in recitation Tuesday, and grades will be available in WebCT Monday or Tuesday of next week.
• 3 November 2006 - There will be a review session for Test III on Sunday, 5 November 2006, from 1600 to 1800 in Skiles 249. There are also some supplementary problems posted for Test III.
• 1 November 2006 - We're rearranging (slightly) the order of topics again. On Friday of this week, we'll do 7.7 on inverse trig functions, and then on next Monday we'll do 7.6 on exponential growth and decay, since that section will be review for most of you. They will both remain possible test topics.
• 28 October 2006 - My office hour for Monday, 30 October 2006, are rescheduled to Tuesday, 31 October 2006, from 1400 to 1500. I apologize for the inconvenience. Office hours for Wednesday and Friday will proceed as usual. As always, feel free to email me to set up an appointment if you are unable to attend office hours.
• 26 October 2006 - Quiz 8 was taken in recitation on Tuesday. The solution is now available. On a completely unrelated, but much more fun, note, Dr. Lew Lefton of the GT School of Mathematics and Prof. Pete Ludovice from the GT School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering will be presenting (with a couple other comics) a stand up comedy show on Sunday, 29 October 2006, at 1900 at Brittain Rec. More information is available online. I encourage you all to attend!
• 13 October 2006 - There's a new column in WebCT called "Avg 13 Oct". This is your average to date, including your quiz average and your two tests. The statistics on this information in WebCT is a bit misleading right now, as it includes students who have already dropped or didn't take Test II. The accurate statistics, across all three sections are: mean 2.02, max 4.06, third quartile 2.68, median, 1.93, first quartile 1.37, min 0.56. By score range, the breakdown is 1 in [4,5], 12 in [3,4), 37 in [2,3), 47 in [1,2), and 10 in [0,1). Because of Test I, this is lower than we want it to be at the end of the term, but more tests like yesterday's (or better) will move this on up, especially since right now there are several people verging on breaking the barrier to move up into the next range. Things are looking up for most of you, so if you're thinking that you need to drop this class, come see me first!
• 12 October 2006 - Test II scores are now released in WebCT. Thanks to the TAs for their help in getting them graded and such. I'll be in my office 0900 to 1100, 1200 to 1300, and 1400 to 1530 tomorrow if you'd like to talk with me about your standing in the class. You'll also be able to pick up your test if you'd like to see it. The distribution of scores (on the 5-point scale) for Test II is: mean 2.31, max 4.83, third quartile 3.17, median 2.17, first quartile 1.5, min 0. By score ranges, there were 7 in [4,5], 26 in [3,4), 33 in [2,3), 32 in [1,2), and 9 in [0,1). (Remember that you divide your total from in WebCT by 6 to convert to this scale.) The solutions to Test II are also available now.
• 11 October 2006 - My email problem is resolved. You can reach me at my math email address again now.
• 11 October 2006 - Part I of the Test II Supplementary Homework had a typo in it, and it's now been corrected. Problem 16, parts (j) and (k) should have involved the left- and right-handed limits at -2 (negative two) instead of 2. If this doesn't appear corrected when you look at the PDF, refresh the page in your browser..
• 8 October 2006 - More supplemental homework problems are now available. Also, the solution to Quiz 6 is now online. We'll talk more about curve sketching tomorrow and will postpone Section 3.9 yet again. It will not be on the test this week. When thinking about curve sketching for the test, notice that I've put two types of problems in the supplemental homework problems for you to do. If you have a problem on the test where you're given a function and asked to sketch its graph, you may be given additional information (such as the first and second derivatives) to make the problem go faster for you.
• 7 October 2006 - The TAs are organizing a review session for Test II. It will be Sunday, 8 October 2006, in Skiles 249 starting at 1600. I encourage you to attend.
• 4 October 2006 - I've posted some supplemental homework problems to help you review for Test II. More (particularly of the word problem variety) will likely be put up this weekend.
• 1 October 2006 - I will have to reschedule this Friday's office hour due to the Georgia Tech Advisory Board meeting. For this week only, my office hours will be MW 0930-1030 and R 1530 to 1630. I apologize for the inconvenience. As always, feel free to email me to arrange an appointment if you cannot make it to office hours.
• 28 September 2006 - Progress Report Grades have been entered into WebCT and released for you to see. They've also been submitted to OSCAR, but I'm not sure when you can see them in there. The criteria to receive an S were (1) have a nonzero quiz average and (2) a Test I score of 5 or higher or a Test I score of 4 with a quiz average of 2 or higher. If you got a U, do not give up hope! You can still get a C or better in this class. It's just going to require more work. Please come see me or your TA as soon as possible to discuss strategies for success in this class.
• 28 September 2006 - Quiz 5 was given in recitation on Tuesday. The solution is now online. (This solution is updated from what was posted last night. A factor had been inadvertently omitted from that solution. This is correct.)
• 26 September 2006 - We've had a minor change in the course schedule. Tomorrow I will cover section 4.1, and then we'll shift all of the sections in chapter 4 up by a day. We'll cover section 3.9 on Monday, 9 October 2006, and then go back to the previously announced schedule. The date of Test II is unaffected. An updated course schedule has been posted.
• 26 September 2006 - The WebCT links for the material from How to Ace Calculus have been updated. It seems that due to an error I made when uploading the file, the document may have only been available to some students. If you had trouble accessing it, please try again and let me know if you're having problems.
• 25 September 2006 - Here are some additional notes on related rates for problems I didn't get to in today's lecture. For additional homework, you should also look at the last example from today's lecture and find the rate at which the runner's distance from third base is increasing.
• 25 September 2006 - Last day to submit regrade requests for Test I is tomorrow, 26 September 2006. Such requests must be submitted to me in person no later than 1400. See the instructions in the syllabus for more information. Regrade requests should only be used if you think a mistake in grading was made, as the amount of credit given to students who did the same things was consistent. Remember that with our five-point scale, in order to earn a score of 1 on a problem you must make at least some progress toward solving the problem and demonstrating understanding, since a score of 1 is a D.
• 23 September 2006 - We'll be covering related rates on Monday in lecture. I've scanned the chapter on this topic from the How to Ace Calculus book to give you some extra examples and guidance. This information is posted on WebCT due to copyright restrictions. Just log in and it will be there on the WebCT homepage for this course.
• 22 September 2006 - The midterm course survey is now online. Log into WebCT, click on Surveys, and then complete the anonymous survey. It's available until 0000 on 1 October 2006. Please take a couple minutes to complete this short survey to give your feedback on the course.
• 19 September 2006 - Quiz 4, which was on differentiation, was given in recitation today. The solution is now online.
• 19 September 2006 - Test I has been graded and returned. Scores showed substantial room for improvement, which is something you are all capable of doing. You just need to work hard. If you think you're working hard but you still did worse than you wanted to, please see me or your TA to talk about how to study for this class. It is important that you remember that even if you averaged less than a 1 on this test, you can still get a good grade (including that elusive A) in this class. Steady improvement and a strong performance on the final can significantly help your grade, so don't give up hope. The mean score (out of 25) on the test was 5.81 (a 1.16 on the 5-point scale) and the median was a 5. Looking at the distribution of scores, the high score was a 16 and the low score was a 0. There were two tests in the interval [15,20), 21 in [10,15), 39 in [5,10), and 57 in [0,5). Let's get the mean up into the 2 range on the next test! I have office hours for a reason, and that's to help you out. Come see me, and if my office hours don't work for you, feel free to send me an email to set up an appointment. And remember that attendance at both lecture and recitation is crucial to success in this course. You never know when I'm going to give you a tip that will help you out with tests or quizzes, so you need to be there and be paying attention!
• 18 September 2006 - I realized this afternoon that I may have given some of you an incorrect web address for where to find tutoring services on campus. You probably should check out this list of tutoring services if you're looking for a tutor. The link is also in the list of General Links below. Don't forget that my office hours (0930-1030 MWF in Skiles 138A) and your TA's office hours are probably the best resources for you to take advantage of if you want more help with this course.
• 16 September 2006 - The solution for Test I is now online. We'll talk a bit about it in lecture on Wednesday after you get it back in recitation on Tuesday. the important thing to note is that several of the common mistakes on this exam (erroneously saying that the sequence in problem 2 is decreasing because you just checked the first four terms, for instance) could have been avoided by carefully listening in lecture and hearing what I say about common student mistakes.
• 11 September 2006 - In studying for the test, you might find it helpful to look at the solution to quiz 2 and the solution to quiz 3. There will be no quiz this week due to the test on Thursday. I am available for appointments tomorrow (Tuesday) between 1500 and 1700 if you'd like to clarify anything before the test. For Test I, you will not be expected to state any of the definitions or theorems from the text. You will also not be asked to prove any of the theorems. However, you must be able to use them! Be sure you know under what conditions they can be used. Theorems of particular interest are the pinching theorem, the theorem on the continuity of compositions of functions, and the intermediate value theorem. Know how to use them, and this includes knowing the conditions under which they apply. Be able to use the ε,δ method to prove that a given function has a limit at a particular point. Know how to test for continuity at a point c (function defined at c, limit exists at c (can be verified by finding the one-sided limits and seeing they're equal), and limit at c equals function value at c). Know how to identify the types of discontinuities discussed in the text. Be able to evaluate limits of functions (including trig functions) using the "limit laws" from the text. Understand what it means for a sequence to be monotonic and explain why a sequence is/is not monotonic. Be able to explain if a sequence converges or diverges using the techniques of section 10.3. (You will not be expected to give an ε,K proof for the limit of a sequence.) Be able to give the least upper bound and/or greatest lower bound of a set of real numbers. The preceding list is not necessarily all-inclusive, but should give you a good idea of what to focus on for Thursday.
• 8 September 2006 - Test I will be held next Thursday, 14 September 2006, during recitation. The test will cover all of Chapter 2 as well as sections 10.1 through 10.3. There will be no problems on the test requiring you to use induction. The test will be about four to six problems in length. Your TAs are organizing a review session for Sunday, 10 September 2006, from 1600 to 1800. The "home base" for this review session will be Skiles 249, unless there is a sign posted there to the contrary.
• 6 September 2006 - My office hour for Friday, 8 September 2006, will be held from 0900 to 1000. This is a one-time change due to the GT Alumni Association Board meeting. Regular office hours will resume next week. I apologize for the inconvenience, and please do not hesitate to contact me to set up an appointment if you have questions and cannot attend office hours.
• 5 September 2006 - The solution to Quiz #2 will be coming soonn. In the interim, please review the solution to Quiz #4 from last fall and the included comments. This will discuss some of the most common mistakes students have made in the past, and in looking over this batch of quizzes, they were made again. Key things to keep in mind for this problem on the test are (1) you must say the magic words "Let ε>0," as without them, the mathematics becomes meaningless, since if ε were negative, it could never be greater than an absolute value; (2) you must not only find δ but also must show that it works, since the steps you used in finding δ might not be reversible; (3) you will get no credit for not attempting to use ε,δ when instructed to do so (don't do it unless you're told to, however, as it will take up a lot of your time), since cancelling and using limit laws is far from giving an ε,δ proof. If you don't do those things, don't expect full credit on the test. Finally, don't be afraid to use words when writing up solutions in this class. You might have an idea of how these strings of inequalities you have written down fit together, but the TAs and I have no clue if you don't glue them together with some words. Again, the above solution to an old quiz should serve as a very nice model for you.
• 27 August 2006 - Due to the meeting of the Georgia Tech Athletic Association Board of Trustees, my Wednesday morning office hour is rescheduled to 1600-1700 for this Wednesday, 30 August 2006, only. If none of my office hours are convenient for you, you may email me to set up a mutually agreeable time.
• 24 August 2006 - Quiz 1 was given in recitation on Thursday. The solution is now online. Your TAs will enter grades in WebCT when they're done grading them. The graded quizzes should be passed back Tuesday in recitation
• 23 August 2006 - Tuesday's precalculus test was based on a mathematics placement test used at a number of universities. I've put some information online for you to better understand what your scores on the test tell you about areas you'll need to work on and how hard you'll need to work on them in order to keep up in this class. You'll get your answer scored sheets back in recitation on Thursday. If you're worried about your pre-calculus skills, the last thing you should do is freak out. Come see me or your TA during office hours, and we can help you fill in those gaps. Just do it now before you get overwhelmed with everything else in the course! You can do well in this class with some hard work.
• 22 August 2006 - My office hours have changed. They are now scheduled for 0930 to 1030 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This change is effective tomorrow, 23 August. These hours are still subject to change until your TAs get their hours set. Final office hours should be posted early next week.
• 21 August 2006 - Today's lecture covered the course policies and Section 1.8 of Salas. We'll do another example of using the Axiom of Mathematical Induction at the start of lecture on Wednesday and then move into Section 10.1, where we'll explore a fundamental axiom about real numbers. Work on the pre-calculus review problems and the induction problems from 1.8. You'll get a chance to discuss a couple of these in Tuesday's recitation, which will also feature a 30-minute pre-calculus skills test consisting of 35 multiple choice questions. (This will be the only multiple choice test in this class.) This test will not count toward your grade, and grades for it will not be recorded in WebCT. After you've taken the test, I'll give you some idea of what areas it indicates you're strong in and any that you're weak in. This should help you focus your pre-calculus review as we kick off the term.
• 19 August 2006 - A set of pre-calculus review problems has been posted. You should be comfortable solving all of these problems, so I ask that you work them all before your first recitation on Tuesday. There, you'll have some time to ask the TA for help with them. If you find that you're having lots of trouble with the pre-calculus review, please see your TA or me right away. You'll have to put in some extra work during the first couple weeks of the semester to get all the rust off your pre-calculus skills so that you can succeed with calculus, and we can help you with that or recommend resources you might find useful.
• 17 August 2006 - I stopped by Engineer's Bookstore over on Marietta Street this afternoon, and they have an alternate bundle of books that some of you may be interested in. This bundle contains three paperback books. The first two contain all the chapters out of the hardcover Salas text that are used in MATH 1501, 1502, and 2401. (I believe that the second volume is the 2401 material.) These two also come with a student solutions manual for the Salas text. These three volumes are available only as a new package, but the cost is $102.50. This compares quite favorably to $150 for a new copy of Salas or $112.50 for a used copy plus $45.00 (new) or $33.75 (used) for the student solutions manual. My understanding is that the campus Barnes & Noble store decided not to carry this package and only has the hardback Salas text in stock. Even if you've already purchased the hardcover Salas, you should be able to return it to whichever store they bought it at and buy the paperback bundle if you'd like. If you're not familiar with Engineer's Bookstore, they're located at 748 Marietta Street, just across from campus. To get there, walk along Ferst Drive to Regents Drive (stoplight closest to the Student Health Center), then take Regents Drive across Tech Parkway and across Marietta Street. Textbooks are located in the basement. I know that Engineer's Bookstore also has the How to Ace Calculus book I've listed as optional. I'm not sure if B&N has it yet.
• 17 August 2006 - The lecture (MWF) portion of this course has been relocated to BOGGS B6. This is the chemistry building, located immediately west of the Ferst Center. To get to room B6, take the sidewalk closest to the Ferst Center (on its west side) up to Boggs and go in the glass doors. The classroom will be right there in front of you.
• 15 August 2006 - Course schedule, homework problems, and policies and expectations are now official.