- Instructor:
- M. Randall Holmes
- Peculiarities of Schedule:
- We meet Thursday, Friday, and every
other Wednesday. Our first meeting is Thursday, August 30th. Our
first Wednesday meeting is Sept. 5. I list the dates on which we
actually meet below.
- Office and Hours:
- Office: Math/Geology 240A. Hours: To be
determined after consulting you all. See ``open office policy'' below.
- Telephone:
- My office telephone number is 3011 (426-3011 from
off-campus). My home telephone number is 345-2899: students are
welcome to call me but please no calls after 8:30 pm any day or
between 6 pm Friday and noon Sunday.
- Electronic Information:
e-mail: holmes@math.boisestate.edu
WWW (web page): http://math.boisestate.edu/~holmes
I read my e-mail constantly and respond promptly.
An electronic version of the syllabus, which will include homework
assignments, will be accessible from my web page and from the
Blackboard site.
- Title of Course:
- Math 147: Precalculus. This is section 007.
The department generic syllabus for this course is found as an
attachment to this document in its paper version or at the URL
http://math.boisestate.edu/dept-stuff/Generic/M147.html.
- Textbook:
- Stewart, Redlin, and Watson, Precalculus.
This is the same book we used last semester.
- Dates:
- The class will meet on the following Wednesdays (barring
disaster so far undetected by me): Sept. 5, 19; Oct. 3, 17, 31;
Nov. 14, 28; Dec. 12.
The add deadline (and deadline for dropping without a W) is Sept. 10.
The drop deadline is Oct. 5. Petitions to drop classes after this
date are usually unsuccessful.
Tentative dates for in-class exams (no promises here!): Sept. 20,
Oct. 17, Nov. 8, Dec. 7. I will often delay an exam a session or two.
The Pearl Harbor Day exam date is firm - it is the last class meeting
before ``dead week''.
The final exam will be Wednesday, December 19, 2001, 10:30-12:30 pm.
- Calculators:
- If you read the class schedule, you will see that
a graphing calculator is required for this course. We will use
graphing calculators, but their use will not be permitted on some
exams; thus, you must also have a scientific calculator without
graphing or symbolic computation functions before the date of the
first test. You have been warned!
- Homework:
- Homework will usually be assigned daily, and will be
due two class sessions after it is assigned (allowing one intervening
class session for discussion; homework assigned on one of the two days
before an exam will be due three sessions later to make discussion
possible). I will hand out sheets with several days' homework
assignments on them in advance; it is your responsibility to keep
track of the days on which individual assignments are actually due.
Homework assignment information will also be kept up to date on my
web site and on the Blackboard site.
I (or a grader) will grade from 3 to 5 selected problems from each
assignment (I will not tell you which ones). Each assignment is worth
100 points; 30 of these are given ``free'' for handing in the
assignment; the percentage of the remaining 70 points given depends on
your performance on the selected problems.
I disavow any consistent policy whatever on late assignments; I may at
my own discretion grade and return them as usual, return them graded
with a penalty, or return them completely unread. In the last case,
your grade on the assignment will be 30.
- How Your Course Grade Will Be Computed:
- I expect to give four
in-class exams this term. You will have the full period to work on an
exam. There will not be review days for exams, except the final,
though I will be willing to take questions about exams during the
usual time for homework discussion (within reason).
Exams will generally be linearly scaled so that the median grade in
the class corresponds to a mid-range C (75 percent) unless I am
seriously dissatisfied with overall class performance.
Each exam is worth 100 points. The total homework grade counts as an
exam (100 points). The final counts 200 points; your percentage grade
on the final may replace the lowest of the other five grades (in-class
exams and homework) if this helps you.
90 or above is an A; 80 or above is a B; 70 or above is a C; 60 or
above is a D; lower grades are F (after any scaling).
- Eligibility for this Class:
- No exceptions will be made. If the
computer tells me that you don't meet prerequisite or placement exam
standards for this course, I will free your seat for someone who does
meet them.
- Attendance:
- Attendance will not be taken except on the first
two days. If you do not attend this class on one of the first two
days, I will exercise my option to have you administratively
withdrawn.
- Waiting List?:
- If this class is full, you wait for an opening
entirely at your own risk. I will not normally admit anyone over the
official class capacity.
- Use of Maple?:
- Normally, I don't take Math 147 students into the
Maple lab. However, I am planning to use Maple to generate material for the
Blackboard site, so I may decide to have one or more sessions to familiarize
students with the Maple software. If I do this, you will receive computer
accounts. Maple is used in our calculus sequence.
- Open Office Policy:
- My office hours for these classes are
to be announced. I will almost always be in my office at the
officially scheduled times, and I will try to warn you when I will not
be. If I am in my office during a posted office hour, I am available
to help you.
Don't assume that these are the only times when you can get help! I
am generally in my office the entire working day (I take either the
4:40 or the 5:10 bus home) and I am never offended by a student asking
me for help if I am in the office (though I may help only briefly if I
am very busy). My other class meets 2:30-4:30 pm on Tuesdays
and Thursdays.
- Academic Honesty:
- Collaboration on homework is expected and
even encouraged in this class. This does not mean copying of
homework. Collaboration on exams is of course not allowed. The penalty
for cheating (defined as looking at another student's paper or unauthorized
use of books or notes during an exam) will be a grade of zero (0) on the
relevant exam. A repeat offense will mean an F in the course.
- Definitions:
- The word ``yesterday'' is defined to mean the previous
class session; the word ``tomorrow'' is defined to mean the next class session,
unless I specifically say otherwise :-)
