Math 141: Calculus I - Fall 2013

• Instructor, TAs and General Info:
  • Instructor
  • Office Hours
  • TAs
  • Textbook
  • Prerequisites
  • Classtime and Room
  • Recitations
  • Exams Dates and Times
  • Grade Calculation
• Exams :
  • Midterm I Info
  • Midterm I Results
  • Midterm II Info
  • Midterm II Results
  • Final Exam Info (NEW!)
  • Final Results
• Course Description and Information
• Course Content
• Chapters and Topics
• Homework Policy
• Missed Work
• Email Policy
• Blackboard and Feedback
• Legal Issues
• Conduct
• Disabilities
• Sexual Harassment
• Campus Syllabus
• Course Goals and Outcomes
• Course Relevance
• Course Value
• Student Learning Outcomes
• Links
• Videos
• Handouts

Instructor: Luís Finotti

Office: Ayres Hall 251

Phone: 974-1321 (don't leave messages! -- e-mail me if I don't answer!)

e-mail: lfinotti@utk.edu

Office Hours: MW 9-10 or by appointment.

TA/Section: Lindsey Fox (009, 011)

Time and Location (009): Th 2:10pm-3:25pm at TBA.

Time and Location (011): Th 3:40pm-4:55pm at Humanities and Social Sciences 111 (011).

Office: Ayres 109

e-mail: fox@math.utk.edu

Office Hours: M 10am-12:30pm. (Please make an appointment before coming to those hours.)

TA/Section: Brian Allen (010)

Time and Location: Th 2:10pm-3:25pm at TBA

Office: Ayres Hall 247

e-mail: allen@math.utk.edu

Office Hours: TuTh 11am-12pm.

TA/Section: Anthony Zamberlan (012)

Time and Location (012): Th 3:40pm-4:55pm at Humanities and Social Sciences 111.

Office: Ayres Hall 315

e-mail: zamberlan@math.utk.edu

Office Hours: MW 1pm-3pm, TuTh 9:30am-1pm.

Textbook: J. Rogawski, ``Calculus: Early Transcendentals'', 2nd Edition. W.H. Freeman, 2011. (You can also buy an electronic copy from WebAssign.)

Prerequisite: Math 130.

Class: MWF 2:30pm-3:20pm at Walter Life Sciences Building M309. (Sections 009, 010, 011, 012.)

Recitations:

• Th 2:10pm-3:25pm (section 009 -- with Lindsey Fox) at TBA
• Th 2:10pm-3:25pm (section 010 -- with Brian Allen) at TBA
• Th 3:40pm-4:55pm (section 011 -- with Lindsey Fox) at Art and Architecture Building 325
• Th 3:40pm-4:55pm (section 012 -- with Anthony Zamberlan) at Humanities and Social Sciences 111.

Exams: Midterms: 09/27 (Friday) and 11/08 (Friday); Final: 12/12 (Thursday) from 2:45pm to 4:45pm.

Grade: 25% for HW (lowest score dropped) + 20% for each Midterm + 35% for the Final. Note the weight of the HWs!

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Last updated: 09/24 -- 7:25pm.

I have just written the (preliminary version of the) first exam. Here is some info about it:

• It is this coming Friday (09/27), during class.
• I will have extra office hours this week, Friday from 9am to 10am. You can also get help from the TAs or at the MTC.
• No calculators will be allowed! But you should not expect difficult numerical computations either.
• You will need to show work! Of course, you can't show work on WebAssign, but in the exam a correct answer with no work is worth zero! (Unless I explicitly state you don't have to justify or show work.)
• It covers sections 2.1 to 2.8 and sections 3.1 and 3.2. Also, the Worksheet on Infinite Limits will be part of the exam.
• The exam has 6 questions, including one worth 26 points on computing limits. Three questions (worth 44 points) are from Chapter 3. The other questions involve various topics covered.
• You can bring questions to class Wednesday (09/25). It will not be a review, as I'll just answer questions. If there are no questions, I will continue with new material. (You will also be able to ask questions during your TA recitation on Thursday.)
• To study, I recommend:
  • Start early, so that you have plenty of time to ask questions and the assimilate answers.
  • Quickly review your notes and read the book. Review the definitions/terminology/notation and theorems/rules. It is very important that you remember all tricks to compute limits and formulas/rules of differentiation. Also, review theorems like the Squeeze Theorem and Intermediate Value Theorem.
  • If necessary, write the rules and formulas in a different sheet of paper so that you don't have to browse your book every time you need to refresh your memory.
  • Look for help (from friends, TAs, me, or at the MTC) if you are having difficulties.
  • Look at all examples and solved problems (from book and class!).
  • Look at my first midterm and make-up midterm from my Spring 2011 Math 141 course. But be careful that the material covered was slightly different. On the Midterm 1, you cannot do questions 2, and 5, and on the Make-Up Midterm 1, you cannot do questions 2, 4 (you can do 4(a) with only velocity) and 5.
  • Look at my first midterm from my Spring 2012 Math 141 course. But be careful that the material covered was slightly different: you cannot do problems 2 and 3.
  • Review your old HWs. Redo all problems that you've missed. (You should always learn from your mistakes!) Always look for exactly what went wrong so that you do not repeat the same mistake!
  • Look in solutions of examples (class and book) for ideas that can make a calculations shorter or simpler. Even if you can compute it right, there might be a faster way.
  • Do as many problems as possible from the book.
  • When you first start studying, you can look at the book or notes, but by the end, you should be able to do problems without looking.
  • Try to choose five problems to work on as if you were in the exam: no notes, allow only 50 minutes, etc. This might give you an idea if you are prepared.

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Here is the Midterm I and the Midterm I with solutions.

The exams were graded and were be returned in recitation on Thursday (10/03). (You can check your grades in Blackboard.) If you are not in recitation that day, you have to contact your TA pick up yours. The results were rather good. Statistics are available at Blackboard.

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Last updated: 11/06 -- 3:50pm.

I have just written the (preliminary version of the) second exam. Here is some info about it:

• It is this coming Friday (11/08), during class.
• I will have extra office hours this week, Friday from 9am to 10am. You can also get help from the TAs or at the MTC.
• No calculators will be allowed! But you should not expect difficult numerical computations either.
• You will need to show work! Of course, you can't show work on WebAssign, but in the exam a correct answer with no work is worth zero! (Unless I explicitly state you don't have to justify or show work.)
• It covers sections 3.3 to 4.4. (Limits and L'Hospital's Rule are not in the exam!)
• The exam has 6 questions, two worth 20 points each and four worth 15 points each. One of the 20 points one is direct computation of derivatives, using rules and formulas from sections 3.3 to 3.9. The other questions are one from each of the sections 3.10 to 4.4.
• You need to know all rules and formulas, except hyperbolic functions (pgs. 184-185) and their inverses (pg. 186) and for arcsec, arccsc and arccot. Note that, for trig functions, if you know the formulas for sine and cosine, you can deduce the others quickly with the quotient rule, so no need to memorize them all.
• You can bring questions to class Wednesday (11/06). It will not be a review, as I'll just answer questions. If there are no questions, I will continue with new material. (You will also be able to ask questions during your TA recitation on Thursday.)
• To study, I recommend:
  • Start early, so that you have plenty of time to ask questions and the assimilate answers.
  • Quickly review your notes and read the book. Review the definitions/terminology/notation and theorems/rules. It is very important that you know how to compute derivatives!
  • If necessary, write the rules and formulas in a different sheet of paper so that you don't have to browse your book every time you need to refresh your memory. You can also use it to help memorize them.
  • Look for help (from friends, TAs, me, or at the MTC) if you are having difficulties.
  • Look at all examples and solved problems (from book and class!).
  • Look at my second midterm from my Spring 2011 Math 141 course. But be careful that the material covered was slightly different, as there is no question on maximum/minimum, increasing/decreasing and concavity. EDIT (11/06 -- 3:50pm): You also cannot do problem 3 from this exam. Note also the textbook was different, so in the solution of problem 5 I refer to that other text. (You can find a similar problem in our textbook: Example 1 on pg. 195.) You can also do problems 2 in both Midterm I and Make Up Midterm I of that semester.
  • Look at my second midterm from my Spring 2012 Math 141 course. You can also do problems 2 and 3 from Midterm I of that semester.
  • Review your old HWs. Redo all problems that you've missed. (You should always learn from your mistakes!) Always look for exactly what went wrong so that you do not repeat the same mistake!
  • Look in solutions of examples (class and book) for ideas that can make a calculations shorter or simpler. Even if you can compute it right, there might be a faster way.
  • Do as many problems as possible from the book.
  • When you first start studying, you can look at the book or notes, but by the end, you should be able to do problems without looking.
  • Try to choose about six problems (similar to my description) to work on as if you were in the exam: no notes, allow only 50 minutes, etc. This might give you an idea if you are prepared.

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Here is the Midterm II and the Midterm II with solutions.

The exams were graded and were be returned in recitation on Thursday (11/14). (You can check your grades in Blackboard.) If you are not in recitation that day, you have to contact your TA pick up yours. The results were not as good as the first one, but not bad at all. Statistics are available at Blackboard. If I were to curve these grades, a C would likely be about 65 and above (instead of 70).

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Last updated: 12/03 -- 8:20pm.

I have just written the (preliminary version of the) final exam. Here is some info about it:

• It is on Thursday (12/12), from 2:45pm to 4:45pm in our usual classroom.
• My office hours until then will be only by appointment. You can also get help from the TAs or at the MTC.
• No calculators will be allowed! But you should not expect difficult numerical computations either.
• You will need to show work! Of course, you can't show work on WebAssign, but in the exam a correct answer with no work is worth zero! (Unless I explicitly state you don't have to justify or show work.)
• It covers sections 2.1-8, 3.1-11, 4.1-7 (no 4.8) and 11.1. Also, infinite limits (for which I gave you a worksheet in the section Handouts below) is part of the exam. Note that whenever possible, you can (and probably should) use L'Hospitals Rule to compute limits.
• The exam has 8 questions, one worth 5 points, four worth 10 points, two worth 15 points and one worth 25 points. 55 of the 100 points are from new material, i.e., from Sections 4.5-7 and 11.1. The remaining 45 points are from the previous material.
• There are questions on direct computations of limits and derivatives, related rates, graphing and optimization, and some questions on other topics.
• You need to know all rules and formulas, except hyperbolic functions (pgs. 184-185) and their inverses (pg. 186) and for arcsec, arccsc and arccot. Note that, for trig functions, if you know the formulas for sine and cosine, you can deduce the others quickly with the quotient rule, so no need to memorize them all.
• To study, I recommend:
  • Start early, so that you have plenty of time to ask questions and the assimilate answers.
  • Quickly review your notes and read the book. Review the definitions/terminology/notation and theorems/rules. It is very important that you know how to compute derivatives!
  • If necessary, write the rules and formulas in a different sheet of paper so that you don't have to browse your book every time you need to refresh your memory. You can also use it to help memorize them.
  • Look for help (from friends, TAs, me, or at the MTC) if you are having difficulties.
  • Look at all examples and solved problems (from book and class!).
  • Look at my final from my Spring 2011 Math 141 course and my final from my Spring 2012 Math 141 course. You can also look at old midterms.
  • You can also look at old finals from similar courses I taught in different universities posted in the section Handouts below. (Ignore questions on anti-derivatives, though.) The one from UC Santa Barbara was written by (a younger) me, while the ones from Ohio State were only partly written by me (they were written in committee).
  • You can also work (or rework) on the midterms from our these past courses (or our own).
  • Review your old HWs. Redo all problems that you've missed. (You should always learn from your mistakes!) Always look for exactly what went wrong so that you do not repeat the same mistake!
  • Look in solutions of examples (class and book) for ideas that can make a calculations shorter or simpler. Even if you can compute it right, there might be a faster way.
  • Do as many problems as possible from the book.
  • When you first start studying, you can look at the book or notes, but by the end, you should be able to do problems without looking.
  • Try to choose about eight problems (similar to my description) to work on as if you were in the exam: no notes, allow only two hours, etc. This might give you an idea if you are prepared.

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Here is the Final and the Final with solutions.

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This is a course in Differential Calculus. Calculus is a very important subject with applications in many areas and fundamental to physics and engineering.

In this semester we will study limits, derivatives, and applications to physics and in optimizations. The second semester deals with Integral Calculus, but it is strongly related to the content of the first semester.

We will likely cover the following: Chapters 2 to 4 (except Section 4.9) and Sections 11.1 and 11.3.

Note that this outline is subject to change slightly without prior notice.

Homework on this course will be mostly done through WebAssign. (You should login to WebAssign via Blackboard.) Note that WebAssign recommends that you use Firefox as a browser.

Here are a couple of files to help you with WebAssign (also available on Blackboard):

• First Day of Class (sort of a Quick Start guide);
• Student Guide.
• eBook Access. This is only for those who have already previously bought the ebook for our course! If this is the first time you are taking this course, you won't need this.

You can check due dates from WebAssign (or Blackboard, but if they differ for some reason, trust WebAssign), but you will have HWs mostly due on Mondays, so that you can ask for help on recitation on Thursday and work during the weekend. I strongly recommend you start working on it early! It will give you more time and will help you keep up with the lectures!

You have 10 attempts to submit an answer (in WebAssign), but after the third attempt, you are penalized with 20% of the value of the question or part! (The point is that you should not guess!)

You can save an answer instead of submitting it. This will not count as an attempt. But, do not forget to later actually submit your answer! Saved answers are not graded!!

You can turn in late HWs. A request for extension in WebAssign will be automatically granted:

• The cut off date (to ask for extension and finish the late HW) is 10 days after the HW is due. The only exception is the last HW, for which the cut off date will be the day before the final!
• You can get up to five automatics updates (within the 10 days after the due date).
• Each automatic extension granted will incur an extra penalty of 10% of the remaining value of the question. (Parts you've already answered on time and submitted will not be penalized!)
• Each automatic extension gives you two extra days from the date of your request, as long as it stays within the cut off date (10 days after the due date). So, if you ask for an extension after, say, 5 days of the due date, you will get another 2 days. If you ask for an extension after 9 day and 23 hours from the due date, you will get only one hour.

You will also turn in some extra problems directly to your TA every once in a while. (Mostly problems that cannot be graded by the computer.) You will be properly notified when these come up. These cannot be turned in late, unless you get permission from your TA in very special circumstances.

Note that I will drop the lowest HW score, so this should help with any unexpected problem you might have to complete one of your HWs.

Calculators will not be allowed in exams! Thus, you should try to avoid using it in your HW too! You should only use it if numbers get ``messy'', which I will make sure it will not happen in the exam. This is a difficult decision as computer experimentation can be quite useful. But I believe one should understand well the process before delegating it to computers/calculators.

In my opinion, doing the HW is one of the most important parts of the learning process, so the weight for them is greater than the weight of a single midterm, and I will assume that you will work very hard on them.

Also, you should try to come to my office hours (or your TA's) if you are having difficulties with the course. I will do my best to help you. Please try to come during my scheduled office hours, but feel free to make an appointment if that would be impossible.

Finally, it is your responsibility to keep all your graded Exams! It is very important to have them in case there is any problem with your grade. You can check all your scores at Blackboard.

There will be no make-up exams. If you miss an exam and have a properly documented reason, your final will be used to make-up your score.

The way this works is as follows: the points from the problems on the final involving the sections of the corresponding midterm will make your midterm grade. For example: let's say that you missed Midterm 1, which, say, involved Sections 2.1-9 and 3.1-4. If questions 1 to 3 of the final (which is comprehensive!) are the questions from those sections and you get 24 out of 30 in those questions, your Midterm 1 grade will 80 out of 100 (as 24 is 80% of 30).

I will assume you check your e-mail at least once a day. I will use your e-mail (given to me by the registrar's office) to make announcements. (If that is not your preferred address, please make sure to forward your university e-mail to it!) I will assume that any message that I sent via e-mail will be read in less than twenty four hours, and it will be considered an official communication.

In Blackboard you will be able to ask questions, answer (many) surveys and send me feedback.

There are forums where you can post questions about math, the course structure or Blackboard/WebAssign. (I've created a different forum for each. Please use the appropriate one!) The first one is moderated by me (your post has to be approved by me before appearing), while the others are not. All other students will also be able to read these and offer help.

I will also have surveys posted frequently to have feedback from you. These will be anonymous, except for the first one (Initial Survey). You are not required to answer them, but I really greatly appreciate it.

Lastly, there is also a link for (general) Feedback. Please, post all comments and suggestions there as often as you want. (I really appreciate your input.) These can be posted anonymously (or not). Just make sure to check the option before posting! Others students and myself will be able to respond and comment. If you prefer to keep the conversation private (between us), you can send me an e-mail, but then, of course, it won't be anonymous.

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All students should be familiar and maintain their Academic Integrity: from Hilltopics 2013/2014, pg. 46:

All students should follow the Honor Statement: from Hilltopics 2012/2013, pg. 16:

You should also be familiar with the Classroom Behavior Expectations.

We are in a honor system in this course!

Students with disabilities that need special accommodations should contact the Office of Disability Services and bring me the appropriate letter/forms.

For Sexual Harassment and Discrimination information, please visit the Office of Equity and Diversity.

Please, see also the Campus Syllabus.

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Calculus is a very important mathematical tool, with important applications in Physics, Engineering and Statistics, among others. Virtually all sciences use calculus, although some more visibly than others. Students in Physics, Mathematics and Engineering should expect to use it through out their studies.

• develop analytic and critical thinking;
• broaden their problem solving techniques;
• learn new mathematical tools which will be important in their later studies.

• compute limits and derivatives;
• apply derivatives in concrete examples, such as optimization, graph sketching and physics problems.

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• My Spring 11 Math 141 Page, My Spring 12 Math 141 Page. Here you will find old (solved) exams.
• UT Knoxville Home
• UTK's Math Department.
• Blackboard.
• Services for Current Students and MyUTK (registration, view your grades, etc.).
• Office of the Registrar
• Academic Calendars, including dates for add and drops, other deadlines, final exam dates, etc.
• UT Code of Conduct, Academic Integrity, and Classroom Behavior Expectations.
• Hilltopics.
• Office of Disability Services
• Office of Equity and Diversity (includes sexual harassment and discrimination).
• Undergraduate Catalog and Course Descriptions.
• Student Success Center.
• Math Tutorial Center.
• My homepage

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Here are the videos for the first two days of class (when I will be out of town). DISCLAIMER: It is hard to make perfect videos. And these are quite far from perfect. But I hope they will be helpful, despite some ackward pauses, English mistakes, mistatements, stutering, etc. If I had had more time, I would probably edit them, redo a few parts or even rerecord from scratch, but alas, I didn't. Again, try to overlook (and forgive) the problems and concentrate on content.

• Course Structure: in this video I go over this site and Blackboard and describe most of the policies for our course. (Youtube link: http://youtu.be/6T19cb0XDCY.)
• What Is Calculus: in this video I briefly describe what is calculus. The notions of rate of change and tangent line, which will be important this semester, are introduced. (Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pXNugsUddQ.) Slides.

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• Worksheet on Infinite Limits.
• Campus Syllabus.
• WebAssign First Day of Class (sort of a Quick Start guide).
• WebAssign Student Guide.
• WebAssign eBook Access for previously purchased textbook.
• Old Finals:
  • Fall 2002. (University of California Santa Barbara.)
  • Fall 2005. (Ohio State University.)
  • Winter 2005. (Ohio State University.)

  Here is the Midterm I and the Midterm I with solutions.

  Here is the Midterm II and the Midterm II with solutions.

  Here is the Final and the Final with solutions.

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