General Information
Class and Exams Schedule
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General Information

• Textbook: Precalculus, by Sullivan and Sullivan. The bookstore has two versions:
  • one which is a physical copy of the book, custom made for UCSC to be cheaper than the commercial one, and which contains the licence to use MyMathLab (which you need for the homework, see below.
  • one which is an e-book, which also contains the licence to use MyMathLab.
  EITHER IS OK, it's up to you, but ONLY BUY ONE OF THEM. The e-book is cheaper by about $50, but if you prefer a real book you can write in, turn pages, buy the actual book. Both come with the package "MyMathLab" which is has online homework, testing, self-study plans, etc... We will be using MyMathLab for homework, so you have to have it. So, even if you already have the physical book (second hand, or from a friend) you will still have to buy the MyMathLab package.
• Clickers: This course will make use of clickers. You can either get a real clicker at the bookstore, or use the REEF polling app for your smartphone. NO NEED TO DO BOTH: Just pick one option or the other. The actual clicker is more expensive if it's just for 1 quarter, but many courses at UCSC make use of clickers, so in the long run it may be cheaper than REEF. To register for REEF polling, please visit this website. It is cheaper for just a few quarters, but more expensive over long periods of time.

• Grades:
  • Attendance:
    • At the beginning of each class, and throughout, there will be clicker questions. The clicker questions are graded. They are also used to keep track of attendance and to encourage active participation.

    • Attendance to the class and to sections is mandatory. More than 40% missed classes or sections is an automatic D for the class.
  • Homework: Online homework will be assigned on a weekly basis through MyMathLab.com. You should start it well in advance, as it will probably take you 3-4 hours to do it every week.
  • Exams: There will be one midterm and one final exam
  • Grading Policy: 
  • The concept of "curving" will not apply. Your grade reflects your own progress, not that of the rest of the class.
    
  • The total grade is calculated according to the following scheme
  • Each grade during the class (Attendance, Quiz, Midterm or Final) is out of 100
  • The total grade (also out of 100) is a weighed average of all grades acquired during the quarter with
  • Attendance: 3% of the total grade. More than 40% missed classes/sections is an automatic D for the class.
  • Clicker questions: 7% of the total grade.
  • Homework: 10% of total grade; weakest grade dropped. More than two missed Homeworks is an automatic D for the class. Homework will be done with online testing "MyMathLab" so you really do need to buy it.
  • Quizzes: 20% of total grade; there will be weekly quizzes in section. Weakest grade is dropped. More than two missed Quizzes is an automatic D for the class.
  • 1 Mid-term exam: 25 % of total grade
  • 1 Final exam: 35 % of total grade. Note that there is a minimum grade required in the Final Exam to pass the class, typically around 40/100.
  • Your letter grade for the class is then chosen according to the following table:
    
  • A+ : 93% and above
  • A : 86% to 93%
  • A- : 80% to 86%
  • B+ : 73% to 80%
  • B : 66% to 73%
  • B- : 60% to 66%
  • C+ : 55% to 60%
  • C : 50% to 55%
  • C-: 40% to 50%
  • D : any total grade below 40%, or failure to achieve minimal grade in the final, or failure to attend the minimum number of classes/sections
  • F : cheating

• Policy on cheating: Zero tolerance
• Cheating will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Any student caught cheating will be reported for academic dishonesty, and get an F for the class.
• Cheating includes, but is not limited to:
• Copying a fellow student's work during exam conditions (midterm, final)
• Using any material, during an exam, which is not allowed by the instructor (such as calculators, cheat-sheets, getting outside help, etc.)
• Using someone's clicker to pretend they attended the class, or asking a friend to do this for you.
• The penalties imposed for academic dishonesty vary depending on how serious the case is. But know that "In serious cases in which academic misconduct has been determined to occur, a notation of misconduct shall be entered for a specified period on a student's transcript, including all external copies. "
• The bottom line: don't even think about it!

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Tentative Schedule: (this will be updated as the course progresses). Numbers in bold denote the book sections that these lectures are based on.

• Week 0:
• Sep 28 (Th): 1.1-1.6. Opening remarks. Modeling with functions (constructing functions from real problems). Notion of variables (dependent, independent). What is the graph of a function. Vocabulary to describe graphs.

• Week 1:
• Oct 3 (Tu): 1.1-1.6. Graphing with Wolfram Alpha. Graphs of some standard functions. General properties of function graphs (horizontal/vertical translation, symmetries).
• Oct 5 (Th): 2.1-2.2 Linear functions. Slope, intercept. Linear interpolation and extrapolation.

• Week 2:
  
• Oct 10 (Tu): 2.1-2.2 Geometric properties of linear functions. Systems of linear equations
• Oct 12 (Th): 2.3-2.4. Quadratic functions. Zeros of quadratics. Basic factoring techniques. Graphical properties of quadratics.

• Week 3:
• Oct 17 (Tu): 2.6. The quadratic formula. Optimization problems.
• Oct 19 (Th): 3.1-3.2. Polynomials. Power functions with integer positive power. Factoring polynomials. Roots of polynomials.

• Week 4:
• Oct 24 (Tu): 3.1-3.2. Graphing polynomials using signs tables.
• Oct 26 (Th): 3.4-3.5. Basic power functions with negative power. Rational functions. Asymptotes. Graphing rational functions with signs tables

• Week 5:
• Oct 31 (Tu): 3.4-3.5 Rational functions (continued). Basic power functions.
• Nov 2 (Th): 4.1-4.2 Composition of functions, inverses of functions. Graphical properties of inverses.

• Week 6:
  
  • Nov 7 (Tu): MIDTERM on all material up to rational functions.
  • Nov 9 (Th): 4.3,4.7. Exponential function. Applications to financial models, growth and decay problems.

• Week 7:
• Nov 14 (Tu): 4.4-4.5. Logarithmic function as the inverse of the exponential. The graph of the logarithm.
• Nov 16 (Th): 4.6,4.8 Properties of logarithms and exponentials.

• Week 8:
• Nov 21 (Tu): Practical applications of logs and exponentials: Logarithmic axes and their uses to identify exponential functions and power laws. The Gaussian function
• Nov 23 (Th): HOLIDAY

• Week 9:
• Nov 28 (Tu): 5.1-5.3 Angles, unit circle, polar coordinates. Right-angle triangles, sines and cosines.
• Nov 30 (Th): 5.4-5.5 Trigonometric functions (sine, cosine and tangent). The Pythagorean property. Graphs of sine, cosine and tangent. The phase shift property.

• Week 10:
• Dec 5 (Tu): 5.6 Periodic functions. Mean, period, phase.
• Dec 7 (Th): 6.3 Solving some trigonometric equations

• Final's Week:
• Wednesday, Dec 13: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM: FINAL