|
instructor: me text: stewart's calculus (8th ed) prerequisites: calc ii (2924), which should have covered up to section 12.4 of the text. goals: to extend our understanding of calculus and analytic geometry to 2 and 3 dimensions (this is called vector calculus (calcolo vettoriale) or multivariable calculus). specifically we will cover most of chapters 12-16 of the text. (the beginning of chapter 12 should be a review.) participation: since this is a small class, i will try incorporating a lot of interactive work during class time. moreover, because of the pace of the class i think it is important to attend class regularly and keep up with the material. correspondingly, there will be a participation grade. each non-exam class is worth 1 participation point, which you receive for attending and particating as directed (doing in-class work, interacting with others, etc). (in practice, i expect every who attends to get full participation credit.) if you have to miss a class for what i consider legitimate reasons, there is no real way to make up this participation, but to mollify grade penalties i will typically only dock half of a participation point in this case. homework: there will be regular written homework, posted the course homework page (which also has instructions) usually at least 3 days before the due date. homework will be collected in class, typically on tuesdays and thursdays. (do not email me your homework) while you may discuss the problems with other students or get help from me, you must write up solutions in your own words. you are also welcome to use external resources (online, books, humans, etc) to help you learn the material provided you are not using any resources that solve or essentially solve the problems for you. i believe doing homework (and more generally, thinking about the material yourself) is how you really learn the material, and this learning does not come without effort. so i encourage you to first try the homeworks on your own, check your answers/get help as necessary, and then once you know how to do the problmes correctly, make sure you can do the problems on your own (without notes/text/help). (this last point is especially important for being able to solve problems in exams--being able to solve problems independently is very different from being able to follow someone else's solution). you should plan to spend roughly 8 hours/week on work outside of lecture for this class, with most of this time on homework. late homework: you are allowed 2 free 1-class period homework extensions, which means you are allowed either to turn in 2 homeworks the subsequent class in which they are due or to turn in 1 homework 2 class periods late (with no grade penalty). any other late homework will not be graded except in extenuating circumstances at the discretion of the instruction. on the other hand, you are welcome to turn in homeworks early or incomplete homework for partial credit. note an individual homework is worth less than 2% of your final grade, so missing one won't kill your grade. but missing all of them probably will. quizzes: plan for weekly quizzes in class (no calculators, notes, books, etc), typically on fridays. exams: there will be two (2) 2-hour long in-class exams (see dates on exams page), 1 midterm exam and 1 final exam. more info about the exams will be posted on the exams page of the course website later in the semester. make-up exams are only given in exceptional circumstances at the instructor's discretion. grades: at the end of the semester, i'm required to give you letter grades. these will represent an approximation of my assessment of your understanding of the material in the course and ability to do problems. i will first compute a numerical grade for you, weighted as follows:
20% participation after seeing the distribution of numerical grades, i will assign certain numerical ranges to letter grades (you may think of this as a "curve"). i don't know what the curve will be in advance but to give you a rough idea, in my calculus classes the A/B cutoff is often been the high 80's, the B/C cutoff often in the mid 70's and the C/D cutoff often in the mid or low 60's. disclaimer: i have not taught calc iii in the present format before, so the approximate cutoff's are only rough guesses. certainly the cutoffs will be no stricter than the traditional 90/80/70/60 cutoffs (i won't "curve down"), and i have no problem giving everyone A's (in fact i would be very happy if everyone gets an A). also, in exceptional cases (e.g., a poor start but a strong finish), i may adjust a final letter grade to be higher than what the above procedure dictates. for instance, if you get an A on the final but your numerical score only puts you in the C range, i will most likely give you a B. to get a better sense of how you are doing during the class, i will give you estimated (unofficial) letter grades after the midterm exam, and if you have questions about your performance or grade at any point during the semester, feel free to discuss this with me. final remark: if you have a question about course policies or expectations, just ask.
oh, also there's some stuff my bosses make me say
|