Instructor: Tom Craven Phone: 956-4676
email: tom at math.hawaii.edu
Office hours:
Tuesday, Thursday 11:45-12:30; Friday 1:30-2:20
and by appointment in Keller 307.
Teaching assistant: Vu Nguyen Phone: 956-9004
email: nguyenvu at math.hawaii.edu
Office hours:
Daily 10:30-11:30 in K404G.
Class: Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:45, Keller 403, Monday lab 12:30-1:20 in PSB 208, Wednesday
recitation 12:30-1:20 in K404.
Class website: http://www.math.hawaii.edu/~tom/math215.html; you will
find a course syllabus and assignment list; later, grades will be posted here.
Texts: Calculus for the Life Sciences by Greenwell, Ritchey, Lial. Math 215
will do a quick review of Chapters 1-2, and then concentrate on Chapters 3-7; we will end with a quick
look at Chapter 8 and Chapter 11.1, 11.2.
Grades will be based on a modified curve depending on your total number of
points out of 500.
The 500 points come from
Two midterm exams worth 100 points each
Final exam worth 100 points (May 13, 9:45-11:45)
Lab/recitation assignments/quizzes worth a total of 100 points
Homework worth a total of 100 points, usually due once per week.
Homework policies: the homework problems assigned will generally be problems without answers in the book. There will be relatively few problems assigned; their main purpose is to let us know how well you are understanding the material. Students are expected to do an appropriate amount of "drill and practice" on their own in order to become proficient with the techniques learned in class. The odd numbered problems generally have answers in the back of the book. If you are unable to understand how the book got its answer, it is your responsibility to find out: ask during the recitation section, see your instructor during office hours, visit the tutor room (PSB 315) for assistance or work with your fellow students. For the homework to be turned in, it is acceptable to work together, but each person should independently write up his/her own work. It looks bad to have identically copied mistakes in basic arithmetic!
General remarks: this class is the most important of the calculus sequence. You will learn all of the basic concepts which are used in the remainder of the calculus courses. When you have a good understanding of these concepts, you will be able to apply them in many situations both in math and other courses in the natural and social sciences. Once you can do this, you are 80% of the way toward solving problems. The remainder is to be able to carry out the computations that need to be done. By the end of this course, you should be competent at differentiation and be able to integrate simple functions. We will also have computer lab sessions (in PSB 208) to acquaint you with software to aid computation and to develop some of the topics of the course in a more computational way.
Withdrawals from the class are allowed through Friday, March 14, 2008.