2005 december 30 / e-mail me
Math 32-05/06, Fall 2005
- Dec 12: Our final is Friday, Dec 16, 7-10 PM, in room 111 of Biological Sciences. This week I have office hours Mon/Wed/Thu, 1-3 PM. The results of the fourth exam have been posted below. The final section of homework (the last review section) will not be collected.
- Dec 5: I have posted PDFs of series convergence tests and common Taylor series below.
- Nov 8: The third exam is on Friday. I am having
extended office hours this week, Mon 3:05-3:55, Tue 9:00-11:00 (AM), Wed
11:40-1:40, Thu 12:30-2:30. The test is cumulative. Make sure that you know
how to do every problem from our old exams well; they can be downloaded with
or without answers from Blackboard (go to Math 32, then Course Documents,
then Joshua Davis). Also, there may be one or more problems in which you
must interpret a story, set up an integral or differential equation, and
solve it.
- Nov 8: I have posted PDFs of the homework problem sheet, answers to even problems, and the Taylor polynomial handout.
- Oct 27: I have posted the old exams at the end of the page. (Revised: Now they're on Blackboard.)
- Oct 13: I am having extra office hours this week: Wed 11:40-1:40, Thu 1:30-2:20, Fri 2:00-4:00. Now the second exam will not be cumulative, since I feel I didn't make this clear early enough; of course you need to know basic skills (such as substitution) from the first part of the course, but I will not be testing you specifically on the early material (such as work). All future exams are cumulative, but focused on recent material. Also, homework next week will again be collected on Friday, since we will not have had a chance to discuss things on Monday.
- Oct 4: Our second exam is now scheduled for Monday October 17. It will be cumulative, but focused mainly on the material not covered on the first exam.
- Oct 4: The approximate grade ranges for the first exam were A 100-70, B 69-59, C 58-42, D 41-31, and F 30-0. The mean was about 56.
- Sep 18: Our first exam is Friday September 23. It will take place in class and last 50 minutes. I will hold extra office hours this week to help students prepare; drop in any time from 12:00 to 4:00, Monday-Thursday.
- Sep 2: Next week the Math and Physics Departments will celebrate Einstein Week. There are lectures and an undergraduate competition with prizes up to $1000.
- Aug 30: Office hours have been set. See below.
The textbook is Calculus, 6th edition, by Edwards and Penney. Here's how you get in contact with me:
- Dr. Joshua Davis
- E-mail: see here
- Office: 022A Physics/Math (on west campus, directly behind the chapel, at the end of Science Dr.)
- Office phone: 660-2823
- Office hours: Mon 3:05-3:55, Wed 11:40-12:30, Thu 1:30-2:20, and by appointment; to make an appointment, pick a free time from my weekly schedule and e-mail me
Here are the key web pages:
Here are some handouts, in PDF files:
Your final grade is determined as follows.
- 10% homework (due every day/Wednesday)
- 15% first exam (Fri Sep 23)
- 15% second exam (Mon Oct 17)
- 15% third exam (cumulative, Fri Nov 11)
- 15% fourth exam (cumulative, Wed Dec 7?)
- 30% final exam (cumulative, Friday Dec 16, 7-10 PM)
Class participation is considered in borderline cases. The final exam is uniform across all sections of Math 32 and Math 41. Your semester letter grade (A, B, C, etc.) is assigned after the final, according to an approximate curving process. On Oct 14 mid-term grades are reported for first-year students (and some others); these are estimated grades, based almost entirely on your first exam.
Calculators are not permitted on any exams. In lectures and homework, they are optional. But note well: Unless otherwise specified, we are interested in exact answers (simplified as much as possible), and calculators rarely give exact answers. Use them with care.
You have work due every time we meet:
- Attend class, with your textbook, ready to participate in discussions and group work.
- Have the homework problems from the previous class (as listed on the syllabus) worked out; be ready to ask questions and answer them. We typically spend our first 10 minutes on this homework.
- If it's Wednesday, have the problems from the previous week ready to hand in formally. See the homework guidelines below.
- Read the textbook before or after class to get another perspective on the material.
If you cannot make it to class, then you should check with a classmate or with me to see what was missed. If your absence is due to a serious, incapacitating illness, and you are willing to vouch for this under the Duke Community Standard, then you may do so at Short-Term Illness Notification; for then the absence is excused, and I won't penalize you for missing a class activity, such as handing in homework or taking a test.
On each Wednesday you submit the previous week's homework for grading. For example, on Wed Sep 7 you submit the homework assigned on Mon Aug 29 - Fri Sep 2. This gives you a chance to ask questions on the homework in the period immediately after it is assigned, and then to work for two more days on it. Notice that I do not hold office hours on Tuesday; if you want help on your homework, you cannot wait until the last day.
Your homework should be neat and complete, with the problems done in the order they were assigned, and clearly marked. If your paper is messy from revisions, erasures, etc., then you may need to recopy it. Show your work, and give simplified, exact answers. If a classmate were to read one of your solutions, she or he should be able to understand what the problem was and how you solved it. In other words, your solution should be self-explanatory.
Please fold your papers in half, lengthwise, and write your name and section (05 or 06); also, write and sign the short pledge:
I have adhered to the Duke Community Standard.
Keep in mind that, while you are encouraged to work with others on homework and when preparing for tests, the written work that you submit must be your own. In particular, you may not copy someone else's work or allow them to copy yours.
Depending on time constraints, perhaps only a subset of your homework problems may be graded. In order to ensure full credit, do all of the assigned problems. Also, if the grader cannot easily understand your paper, for example because it is messy or the problems are out of order, then you may lose credit.
In addition to the syllabus problems, there may also be occasional writing exercises — short essays — in which you explain a concept or problem in depth, in clear English. You will be given model essays to help you get started. (Learning to communicate your ideas is vital in every area of human endeavor. Just read a job ad — every employer wants "communication skills". It also helps me assess how the class is understanding the material.)
I want all of my students to work hard, learn a lot of math, and earn a good grade. Here are my recommendations:
- Do all of the homework problems. If some concept is still unclear to you, do more problems on it. Once you truly understand it, you will be able to make up your own problems and solve them. Unfortunately, doing problems is the best way to learn math.
- Work with other students as much as possible. This is more fun than solitary work, and explaining math to others really helps you understand it better yourself.
Well, that's it. But if you find yourself needing more help, here are some resources, in roughly the order you should try them.
- Talk to your classmates, and talk to me in office hours. Every student is expected to visit me at least once in office hours this semester.
- Visit the Math 32 Help Room, Sun/Tue/Thu 6-10 PM in 135 Carr. No appointment is necessary.
- Sign up for free Peer Tutoring.
- Try some other options, as suggested by the Math Department.
Here are the approximate grade ranges (i.e. "the curve"); I want to emphasize that these are approximate, and do not constitute a guarantee of your performance when the class is curved after the final exam. Here you can also view the old exams, both with and without answers. You may also want to visit the Blackboard site (go to Math 32/41: Course Documents) to view the midterm exams of other professors.
| Grade | Exam 1 | Exam 2 | Exam 3 | Exam 4
|
| A | 100-70 | 100-81 | 100-82 | 100-88
|
| B | 69-59 | 80-65 | 81-67 | 87-73
|
| C | 58-42 | 64-46 | 66-56 | 72-52
|
| D | 41-31 | 45-37 | 55-46 | 51-41
|
| F | 30-0 | 36-0 | 45-0 | 40-0
|
| Mean | 56 | 63 | 67 | 71
|
| Exam (blank) | 1.1.gif, 1.2.gif, 1.3.gif, 1.4.gif, 1.5.gif, 1.6.gif | 2.pdf | 3.pdf | 4.pdf
|
| Exam (answers) | 1a.1.gif, 1a.2.gif, 1a.3.gif, 1a.4.gif, 1a.5.gif, 1a.6.gif | 2a.1.gif, 2a.2.gif, 2a.3.gif, 2a.4.gif, 2a.5.gif | 3a.1.gif, 3a.2.gif, 3a.3.gif, 3a.4.gif, 3a.5.gif, 3a.6.gif | 4a.pdf
|
