MATH 111 SYLLABUS: WINTER 2009 College Algebra Instructor: Dr. Hamid Behmard Phone: 503-838-8864 Office: MNB 119 Email: behmarh@wou.edu WINTER 2009 TIME Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 8:00-8:50 9:00-9:50 MTH 358 MTH 358 MTH 358 MTH 358 10:00-10:50 MTH 111 MTH 111 MTH 111 MTH 111 11:00-11:30 12:00-12:50 MTH 253 MTH 253 MTH 253 1:00-2:00 2:00-2:50 OFFICE OFFICE 3:00-4:30 OFFICE OFFICE Please feel free to drop by my office during my office hours for help. You do not need to make an appointment to come to office hours. At times other than my listed office hours you are welcome and encouraged to call or email me with questions about the course. If you have direct scheduling conflicts with my office hours and would like further help, please let me know. COURSE PREREQUISITE Math 095 or 099 (with grade C- or better), appropriate placement on the Math Placement Exam or appropriate SAT or ACT scores. REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS Functioning in the Real World: A Precalculus Experience, 2nd Edition, Gordon, Gordon, Tucker and Seigel, Pearson / Addison-Wesley (ISBN:9780201383898) A graphing calculator with at least the capabilities of a T. I. 83 or a T. I. 84 is required for this course. A TI-83 or TI-84 is highly recommended. Please see me if you are purchasing a new calculator. Cell phones MAY NOT be used for calculators during exams. CLASS WEB PAGE There will be a link for the Math 111 webpage (where many course items will be posted) on my home page: http://www.wou.edu/~behmarh/behmard.html. In particular, the class webpage: Math 111 will have links to the syllabus, tentative class schedule, and homework assignments and due dates.
COURSE STRUCTURE Classes will be a mix of an interactive lecture, activities and problem solving sessions. Please bring your textbook and your calculator to class every day. COURSE CONTENT This course is designed as a first course in Precalculus. The main topics covered will be understanding functions, working with families and extended families of functions (including linear, exponential, logarithmic, power, inverse and polynomial functions) and fitting functions to data. The main goals of the course will be: Solidify your problem solving, algebra and graphing skills Develop an appreciation of the power of mathematics to solve real-life problems READING THE TEXT You will be expected to carefully and completely read each (assigned) section in your textbook. It is a good idea to briefly read the assigned section before class and then to carefully read the section before you start your homework. Most students find it very helpful to write out the examples in the text as well as to just read the examples. If you carefully write out the examples and work out all of the steps you will find that you have a deeper understanding of the material. Writing out the examples is also a successful technique for pinpointing exactly where you become confused on a problem that you do not understand. I encourage you to ask questions about the examples presented in the book. You may ask questions about the text both in class and during office hours. Make sure you read Ideas for MTH 111 success. ATTENDANCE Daily attendance is required for your success in this course. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to ask a classmate for notes on the material that you have missed. I will not have discussion notes available if you have missed class, nor will I repeat my discussion during office hours. ALGEBRA SKILLS TEST For Math 111, in order to pass the class with a grade of D or better, you must pass an Algebra Skills Test with a score of 7 or more correct (out of 10). If you don't pass the Algebra Skills Test by the Friday of Dead Week, you will earn an F in the course, regardless of your other grades and scores in the course. An Algebra Skills Test will be given in class during the last 10 minutes of class on Fridays, Weeks 1, 3, 5 and 7. If you have not passed an Algebra Skills Test by Week 7, you will need to make individual appointments to continue taking Algebra Skills Tests until you pass--see your professor for details. Once you pass an Algebra Skills Test you are no longer required to take the Algebra Skills Tests. OFFICE HOURS: You are encouraged to use all resources possible for help; Instructor Office Hours, Tutors, etc. Suggested problems to study from the book-algebra Skill Review Questions (at the end of each section's homework under "Algebra Skills") are listed on and Algebra Skills Information Page linked to your course webpage.
HOMEWORK & POSSIBLE CLASS PROJECTS You will be assigned daily homework from your textbook. Completing your homework in a timely fashion will be integral to your success in this course; the concepts in this class are quite cumulative and your understanding of course materials in class will depend on your previous study and practice. I suggest you set up a homework and reading schedule for yourself and follow it carefully. You will find that if you do not do all of your homework you will not succeed in learning the material covered in this course. We might have one to two projects during the term. These class projects will be assigned to small groups and they need to be completed primarily outside of class. Detailed instructions about these projects will be passed out when they are assigned. WRITE UP PROBLEMS (WUP): We will have several Write Up Problems (WUP) during the term. These problems are part of your homework assignments, but they have more points than your regular assignments. See the information sheet about WUP. QUIZZES, HOUR EXAMS AND THE FINAL EXAM There will be occasional short unannounced homework quizzes at the beginning of class. These quizzes cannot be made up under any circumstance. Doing your homework on the day that is assigned is sufficient study for the homework quizzes. There will be three in-class exams and a final exam in this course. All exams will be timed exams. Make-up or early exams will only be given in the case of a documented emergency or university sanctioned absence from class. These exams must be made up within two class days after the exam is given. Prior notification and my agreement are required. My voice mail and email are always on; there is no excuse for not contacting me prior to missing an exam. TIME SPENT ON MATH 111 OUTSIDE OF CLASS It is a standard academic rule of thumb to spend at least two to three hours out of class for every hour in class while studying mathematics or science. This class meets 3 times per week for 1 hour and 10 minutes each time. The expectation is that you will at least spend 8 to 12 hours per week outside of class studying and working on the content of Math 111. Set up a regular schedule for yourself and stick with it. Success in mathematics is often directly linked to effort and regular practice. COURSE GRADING CLASS ITEM COURSE PERCENT Pass Skills Test Required Chapter Homework Exams 45% Homework & Class Projects 20% WUP 10% Final Exam 25% TOTAL PERCENT 100%
STANDARD GRADING SCALE FOR THIS COURSE % Range Grade % Range Grade % Range Grade 93 100 A 80 82 B- 60 69 D 90 92 A- 77 79 C+ Below 60 F 87 89 B+ 73 76 C 83 86 B 70 72 C- NON ACADEMIC ELECTRONIC ITEMS (INCLUDING CELL PHONES) Cell phones and non-academic electronic items will be referred to as electronic items. The university classroom is an electronic item free area. Using any electronic device for text messaging, receiving or sending a message or listening to any recording during a university class is completely inappropriate classroom behavior.* Electronic items should remain turned completely off and should remain completely out of sight at all times throughout all of your classes. Quiet or vibrate settings are not turned completely off 1. Electronic items may not be used for any reason during class or during exams and quizzes. Electronic item use during exams or quizzes will be treated as cheating and you will receive a zero score on that exam or quiz. APPROPRIATE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR You are ultimately responsible for your own attendance and performance. Disruptive classroom behavior of any kind, such as talking during lecture or consistently coming to class late etc., is not appropriate. Proscribed Conduct for all students is described in the University Student Conduct Code. In particular for this course any student found cheating on an exam or copying from another student's exam paper will receive a zero score on that exam. LEARNING DISABILITIES If you have a documented learning disability, please talk to me during the first few days of class, I will be more than happy to accommodate you in any way that I can. If you have a documented disability which requires any academic accommodations, you must go to the Office of Disability Services (ODS) for appropriate coordination of your accommodations. You can drop by APSC 405 or contact ODS at (503) 838-8250 (V,TTY) to schedule an appointment. INCOMPLETE POLICY An Incomplete can only be granted for a student who is passing a class and has a documented emergency preventing them from completing the course. The WOU catalog states: A grade of I may be assigned when the quality of work is satisfactory but an essential requirement of the course has not been completed for reasons acceptable to the instructor. For this course satisfactory means you are earning an overall course average of 70% or higher at the time of the documented emergency. 1 If you are in an emergency situation in which you need to have your cell phone on quiet; please speak to me about it before class.
Math 111 Algebra Skills Information Page Algebra Skills Test For Math 111, in order to pass the class with a grade of D or better, you must pass an Algebra Skills Test with a score of 7 or more correct (out of 10). If you don't pass the Algebra Skills Test by the Friday of Dead Week, you will earn an F in the course, regardless of your other grades and scores in the course. Algebra Skills practice test information will be given out in class on the first day of class. Algebra Skills Test will be given during the last 10 minutes of class on Fridays, Weeks 1, 3 and 5. If you have not passed an Algebra Skills Test by Week 5, you will need to make individual appointments to continue taking Algebra Skills Tests until you pass--see your professor for details. Once you pass an Algebra Skills Test you are no longer required to take the Algebra Skills Tests. Office Hours: You are encouraged to use all resources possible for help; Instructor Office Hours, Tutors, etc. Suggested problems to study from our textbook under the "Exercising Your Algebra Skills" section: Solving Equations--Section 2.2, page 59 Simplifying--Section 2.4, page 87 Exponents--Section 2.4, page 99 Factoring--Section 4.2, page 273 Extra Factoring: 1) 6x^2 + 9x + 3 2) 3x^2 + 10x - 8 3) 4x^2 + 14x + 10 4) 8x^2 + 10x - 3 5) 12x^2 + 25x + 12
MATH 111 WRITE UP PROBLEMS WINTER 2009 What is a Write Up Problem? For some of the section in Math 111, you will be assigned one problem which exemplifies the material covered on that day (usually an even problem from the text). You must write the solution to this problem at a mastery level. Mastery level work includes: o Complete mathematical correctness o All work for the problem is shown o All work steps are clearly shown (even for simple answers, the reason why is always given) o The problem is presented using clear form and style o All drawings and graphs are extremely neat, clear and well labeled. o If a graph or drawing is included with the question IN THE BOOK, the graph or drawing is reproduced on your mastery problem write up How does the set of Write Up Problems affect my Math 111 grade? The set of Write Up Problems is worth 5% of your course grade. Each Write Up Problem is worth 10 points 7-8 points for correct content 2-3 points for appropriate style and form When are the Write Up Problems due? Write Up Problems are due one or two class days after a section is completed; see your course assignments web page for specific dates. Write Up Problem Turn In Procedure / Required Page Header Turn in each Mastery Problem on a new piece of 3-hole punched paper. On the top RIGHT of the front of the page, include the following: Your name Math 111 WUP 1.1 #8 (List correct text section and problem number) Due: 1/16 (List correct due date)
Before you do your homework Ideas for MTH 111 Success 1. Carefully read your textbook, there is a lot of valuable information in your book. Skim read the current section before class and read the current section thoroughly after class. 2. Get out pencil and paper and work out the example problems given in the text sections. Follow along with their presentations; make sure you understand each step and for all calculator steps, make sure you are getting the same thing on your personal calculator. Doing your homework 3. Start by re-reading the text section, looking over your notes on text examples and by looking over your class notes. Are there steps that don't make sense to you? Cross reference between the text and your class notes; can you figure these steps out? If not, do you have a study partner that you can ask? 4. Carefully do all of the odd homework questions in the homework assignment. Follow along with the examples in the book and in your class notes. After you have made every attempt to solve an odd question, look at the solution in the Student Solution Manual. Did you get the correct solution? Are there techniques in the SSM solution that you didn't use that could be helpful? Is your solution as complete as the SSM solution? Go back and fix your solutions to be as complete and correct as possible. 5. Do the even homework questions. Carefully read the question and refer to the odd problems you just did. Once your understand what you are supposed to do, solve the question. When you are finished, make sure you have a complete answer, reread the question. Did you answer all that was asked? Getting help 6. Study Groups: Working in a study group is a good way to get and give help with MTH 111. Often you will find you need help with one question, but are able to share ideas and help about another question. When you work in a study group, you should attempt to work all of the problems out on your own before discussing the ideas with your group. Don't copy down ideas that others share-discuss, understand and create your own learning. 8. Free Tutoring in the Advising and Learning Center, APS 401, drop by for details. 9. Office Hours: Take advantage of your instructor office hours. Our goal is to help you. Revised from Dr. Burton s suggestions for MTH 111 course.