Math 1050 - Precalculus - Spring 2013
Edward Boggess

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Syllabus, Detailed Course Info

Course Overview:

The first several weeks of this course will consist of a review of Algebra II - concepts that are a prerequisit to this Precalculus course. There will be a "review" quiz given, (probably Fri, Jan. 25). This quiz will count for 5% of the final grade and will cover these Algebra II concepts. This review quiz will give both the student and instructor an understanding of the student's knowledge base near the beginning of the semester.

This course will roughly follow the text but will skip some sections and do some others out of order. This is so that the most important and required concepts will be covered. The first several weeks of this course will consist of a review of Algebra II - concepts that are a prerequisit to this Precalculus course. There will be a "review" quiz given early in the course (probably Fri., Jan. 25). This quiz will count for 5% of the final grade and will cover these Algebra II concepts. This review quiz will give both the student and instructor an understanding of the student's knowledge base near the beginning of the semester. Pg XVI of the text's preface lists an optional student solutions manual (for odd numbered problems) for those who may wish this supplement, The first chapter (Chapter R) of the text (pgs 1 - 57) is a review chapter for concepts that the student needs to be familiar with for this course. They include:
- Real numbers, notation
- exponents, scientific notation
- algebraic manipulation of polynomials
- factoring
- solving linear and quadratic polynomials
- algebraic manipulation of rational and irrational expressions

It will be assumed that the student is familiar with these concepts. However, I understand that familiarity does not necessarily mean that these concepts are fully baked in. Please feel free to ask questions in class or schedule office time if clarification of these concepts is needed.

NOTE:
The material covered in this course is very important to more advanced math as well as many areas of science, engineering, business, etc. Some think this material is "hard". However, I believe that "tedious, but important" is a better description. Many people think this is hard because they may get a lot of wrong answers. However, this is usually due to the student not faithfully carrying out the rules that they already know as opposed to them not knowing the material. Many times, playing "dumb computer" (i.e. simply doing all steps without skipping any) is the key to getting the correct answer.

Homework and Grading:

Homework will be assigned most days meaning that there will usually be 3 separate homework assignments assigned each week. All homework assigned on a given week are due the following Tuesday. I highly recommend that you don't wait until the night before it is due to start the homework, but instead, you work on it as soon as it is assigned. Not only will this help you to complete the homework, it will also help you to better understand the lectures. Roughly half the points for each assignment will be earned by simply putting in a good effort on the entire assignment. The other half of the points will be earned by accuracy. I DO NOT ACCEPT LATE HOMEWORK, NO EXCEPTIONS!! I will, however, not count your lowest homework score.

Homework Grading Specifics:
Each day's homework will be worth 20 points. Due to the volume, I will only be grading 3-4 randomly selected problems from each homework. Each graded problem will be worth 3 points with partial credit being awarded to incorrect answers that have reasonable work associated with them. These graded problems' total worth will be 9 or 12 points. The other 11 or 8 points will be awared based on eyeballing the rest of the student's homework. Full credit will be given if it appears that all questions were reasonably answered.
Students are encouraged to work together on homework. However, if I sense that someone is simply copying another's homework without doing the work, credit will be adjusted accordingly.

CLASS GRADING (% of course grade):
Review Quiz (On or about Jan. 25, 2013): 5%
In class work, attendance: 5%
Homework: 20%
Test #1 (about Feb. 21): 15%
Test #2 (about Mar. 21): 15%
Test #3 (about Apr. 16): 15%
Comprehensive Final: at least 25%

In class work/attendence: Attendance will NOT be taken but STRONGLY encouraged because:
1) on most days, I will work some of the EVEN numbered (those without answers in the back) homework problems on the board
2) on some days, I will assign a short one question problem, given 10 minutes before the end of the class period. Those who turn them in will get credit for this one problem. All of these problems added together will be worth 5% of the total grade.
Comprehensive Final: for most, this will count as exactly 25% of the total grade. If a student's final exam grade is significantly better than the earlier mideterm tests resulting in a border line final grade, I will award a higher final grade based on the fact that performance has improved.
For ALL Tests, Exams: No calculators, computers, phones, headphones, other electronics can be used in any way. Students may use such devices to help with homework but all homework must be hand written.

MAKE UP TEST POLICY:
Generally, a missed exam will result in a 0 given for that exam. However, sometimes events are so out of the student's control that a make up test attempt is warrented. In such a case, the student must contact the University Testing Center (255-3354), fill out their form, give at least a 24 hour notice and pay the associated $10 fee. If a student knows of a commitment that conflicts with a given test, it is their responsibility to tell me as soon as this is known. If I am approached about something that the student had long known about only a day or two prior to the test, I will not be accomodating. I will judge the merit of whether or not a make up test attempt is warrented on a case by case basis. Be advised that I might require independent verification (such as a doctor's note) if I sense that the situation is anything but completely out of the student's control. Note that a sudden commitment the night before a test will generally not be sufficient cause; the student needs to be studying continuously instead of waiting until the night before a test.

Topics Covered:

Functions: definition of,
Linear, quadratic, general polynomial, rational, algebraic manipulation of
exponential, trigonometric, function inverse
Systems of equations
Conic Sections
Modeling / problem solving