MAT 168 Syllabus

Text: Essential Calculus: Early Transcendentals, by Stewart, Thomson Brooks-Cole, 2007.

Course Description: Definite and indefinite integrals, integration techniques, application of integrals, improper integrals.
(We aim to cover chapters 5-10.)

Grading: The semester grade will be determined by a weighted average, according to the weights listed below. At any point during the semester, you may determine your standing by computing your grade. This can be done by multiplying the average for each category by the category's weight, then adding the product in each category. See me if you would like this shown to you.

Makeup work: I do not give makeup tests/quizzes/etc. without an excused absence. If you must miss class, then you must also produce documentation of the reason for your absence. If you were sick, you can show me the receipt from the hospital or doctor; if you had a sports event, you can show me the schedule; if someone died, you can show me an obituary notice; if the tire on your car blew out, you can show me the receipt from the mechanic.

Homework: I expect you to do the homework. If you do not do the homework, you will probably fail this course. The homework is online, hosted by WebAssign; you will need to purchase an access card if you do not have a spare one.

Tutoring and study groups: I encourage you to work together on homework assignments, to look at each other's solutions, and to explain answers to each other. This is not the same thing as copying each other's homework. You take the tests alone and without help, so if you cannot explain to your tutor, classmate, or teacher how to solve the problem, then you have not learned how to solve it, and you need to study it more (perhaps by visiting me, the professor).

My philosophy of the instruction: I want you to pass this course. You can learn this material, and I am happy to assist any student who genuinely needs help.
That said, you are the primary agent of your learning. I cannot learn the material for you; I already learned it many, many years ago. It required a lot of work, and sometimes it was difficult enough that I needed help from other people. Today I am a professor of mathematics. If I can learn it, you can, too.
Almost twenty years ago, I earned a 2 on the AP Exam. Our goal is that by the end of this course, you can do better than I did.

For personal use, however, they a curse on the human race. We lived for thousands of years without them and never once felt a pressing need to interrupt a class, a worship service, or a business meeting so as to remind someone of our undying love. The vast majority of communications sent by mobile phones constitute a waste of time and an insult to human intelligence. Why else would the manufacturers invest so much energy selling them to teenagers?

Imagine! Lovers once waited days or even weeks before a letter arrived from one's beloved. They then waited days or even weeks to send and receive replies. This includes people who lived down the street! We once considered it a virtue to reflect silently before speaking. After all, an intelligent answer requires one to think before speaking.

By contrast, modernity's morons consider a silent pause before someone answers a question to be a mark of ignorance, dishonesty, even mental deficiency. How can a person care more about a phone's looks than about the quality of the words breathed into that phone? As the enemy of elegant speech and intelligent conversation, mobile phones, along with popular music and television, have done more to contribute to the decline of discretion, intimacy, and privacy than any common gossip, media outlet, or government surveillance program could hope to do.

No one will ever appoint me world dictator, so I cannot ban them from the face of the earth. I am, however, the classroom dictator. As such, I hereby ban them from my classroom, so: turn off your phone before entering the classroom. Text messaging, wearing an earpiece, etc. are prohibited and will lead to expulsion.

Note: The last day to drop a full-semester course without academic penalty is Friday, February 6, 2009. The Business Office deadline for students to receive financial credit upon dropping a course is Monday, January 26, 2009.

Tests	40% of total
Homework (Webassign)	10% of total
Attendance	10% of total
Final Exam	40% of total

MA 168H-01: Honors Calculus with Analytical Geometry II

Spring 2009