Math 107 Syllabus Spring 2017
Instructor:
Email: Office:
Office hours:
Lecture Assistants:
Course Content & Goal: Algebra and basic trigonometry; polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric functions and their graphs. The course content is designed as a Pre-calculus course for Math 131:Calculus for Life and Management Sciences.
Textbook: Pre-calculus: Algebra and Trigonometry; 1st Edition by Burns-Williams;
The book is delivered through WebAssign. Students will pay for the pdf version of the book and the homework assignments in one sum at the beginning of the semester through the WebAssign site for the course; http://webassign.ncsu.edu
The course content of the book is also on Moodle once the semester starts. This is where the interactive part of the text is housed. You will see short lectures and quizzes- both “pretest” and “try-its” on the moodle site.
Course Grade Components and Percentages
Module Pretests and Try-its 5%
Webassign Homeworks 5%
4 in class tests (15% each) 60%
Final Exam 30%
Dates of the Four In Class Tests and the Final exam-
Policy: No graphing calculators are allowed on tests or exam
Test 1 Monday, February 6
Test 2 Wednesday, March 1
Test 3 Friday, March 31
Test 4 Wednesday, April 19
Exam: According to the day and time of our class
Please note these dates now!
You can only change an exam if you have three within 24 hours and approval through the registrations office and the math department.
Make Up Test Policy: If you miss a regular test and qualify to take a make up, that make up test will be given during the last week of classes or you can opt to let your exam score replace the test score BUT you must meet the following requirements to qualify for taking a make up. I follow the University policy (http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs) that all anticipated absences must be excused in advance of the test date; these include University duties or trips certified by appropriate faculty or staff member. Emergency absences must be reported within one week of the event and can be documented by the Parent and Family Services (515-2441). Make-ups for oversleeping, car trouble, sickness can only be given on the day of the test so email or have someone email or call for you!
Getting help: Students must take responsibility for their own learning and seek help when needed. The instructor and lecture assistants all hold office hours but there is also a math help room in Sas 2105; the Multi-Media Center has tutoring on a drop in basis Mon-Friday 8am-5pm http://www.math.ncsu.edu/mmc
There is also help available through the Undergraduate Tutorial Services http://www.ncsu.edu/tutorial_center
Students with Disabilities: Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653 http://www.ncsu.edu/dso/ For more information on NCSU’s policy, see Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation.
Code of Student Conduct will be upheld. Documentation will be submitted to the Office of Student Conduce for students who violate University regulations on academic integrity. http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/stud_affairs/policies/code95.html
Blue Books: Each student is to turn in 5 blue books (small ones are standard). DO NOT WRITE ANYWHERE ON THEM! Please give them to a lecture assistant and have them check off your name.
Attendance: In accordance to university policy, we must take and record your attendance. To start with, we’ll take attendance all three days of the week; we may be able to make some days “optional homework question” days as the semester goes on and that will be announced through our moodle site each week. There is NO difference between excused and unexcused absences; five or fewer is considered “perfect” so do not use up these five “free” absences. There will be some type of “grade bonus” given for missing 5 or fewer classes.
Daily Goals for our schedule
(**Pretest for the module is due the day when it is starred**)
Date / Day / Module / TopicJan 9 / Mon / Introduction to course
Wed / *1 / Functions
Fri / *2 / Algebra of Functions
Jan16 / Mon / MLK day / No Class
Wed / *3 / Graphs of functions
Fri / 1,2,3
Jan 23 / Mon / *4 / Piecewise defined functions
Wed / *5 / Translations of functions
Fri / 4,5
Jan 30 / Mon / *6 / Writing Functions
Wed / 6
Fri / Review / Review 1-6 modules
Feb 6 / Mon / Test #1 / Modules 1-6
Wed / *7 / Quadratic Function
Fri / *8 / Polynomial Functions
Feb 13 / Mon / *9 / Rational Functions; domain and vertical asymptotes
Wed / 9 / Horizontal and slant asymptotes; graphs
Fri / 7,8,9
Feb 20 / Mon / *10 / Composite Functions
Wed / *11 / Inverse Functions
Fri / 10,11
Feb 27 / Mon / Review / Review Modules 7-11
Wed / Test #2 / Modules 7-11
Mar 6-11 / Spring Break Week – no class
Mar 13 / Mon / *12 / Exponential Functions
Wed / *13 / Logarithmic Functions
Fri
Mar 20 / Mon / *15 / Exponential and Log Equations
Wed / #14 / Using exponential functions
Fri
Mar 27 / Mon / #16 / Further exponential and logarithmic word problems
Wed / Review
Fri / Test #3 / Modules 12-16
Apr 3 / Mon / *17 / Angles
Wed / 17
Fri / 17
Apr 10 / Mon / *18 / Right Triangle Trigonometry
Wed / 18
Fri / Spring Holiday / No class
Apr 17 / Mon / Review
Wed / Test #4 / Module 17 and 18
Fri
Apr 24 / Mon / Supplement / Graphing and regions bound by functions
Wed / Review, Test 1 & 2 materials
Fri / Review, Test 3 & 4 materials
May 1 / Exam according to class time
Notes: * beside module number indicates the day we are starting the module; the pretest is due BEFORE that class meeting at 9am in the morning. If you miss it, you must do the try-its to make up the points – the pretest is to assess your level of understanding before class presentation.
“Rules of the Game” – How to navigate through the online textbook and succeed in learning these Pre-calculus objectives!
Math 107 is a class that has a class lecture AND an online component to aid in your learning of this material. The online text book is in moodle and the pdf of the online text book is also in Webassign. The moodle site is where you’ll do most of your work in the text; the webassign homework is to be done once you’ve “finished a module” and had lecture on the module. There are 18 modules in Math 107. There are 18 pretest each worth a different amount of points. For each point in the pretest, there is at least that many try it quizzes in the module that you can do later to earn back that point( if you miss any. )
You are expected to do the module pretest before I lecture (once we get going further, I'll be stricter about the due dates) and then after lecture work through the modules reading the examples and then doing the try its quizzes. After each example in the module, there is a "watch it” link or a "read it" with the solutions explained to the example by video(from a lecture) or "livescribe video".
To find these things, start on the first page of our moodle site; scroll down; you see the link for module 1.
Click on the module 1, you'll first see the "pretest"; do that ; then use the green arrow at the top right corner to scroll though the examples and you'll see at the end of the examples for a topic, the link for the try it quiz with a big question mark.
Also, you can go directly to any quiz from the first page by using the quizzes link that is in the left hand column.
The quizzes link takes you to the list of all the pretests, reviews(optional), and try it quizzes.
As explained on the last page of the syllabus - please read- the idea is to do the pretest without studying, then do as many Try it’s (or more) to get back to 100% for the module. So for example, if you got 2 out of 4 on module 1 pretest, you need to get 2 Try It’s correct within module 1 to have a 100% for that module. There are 11 Try it’s in module 1 so you have lots of chances. You can preview the quiz and get help in the help room or office hours before you submit. The Try it’s should be similar to examples in the moodle text and also in class lecture notes.
Best wishes on getting started. The more you do, the better your grades will be - Math is NOT a spectator sport - throw yourself into the material and start doing the pretest and watching the videos. The more you do, the quicker you’ll master the material.