MATH 141B: Calculus with Applications in Biology II

Spring 1999, MTWR 2:30-3:20

Instructor: Professor Andrew Belmonte

Contact info: 302 McAllister Building, telephone: 865-2491

Office hours: Monday 3:30 - 4:30, Wednesday 11-12, and by appointment.

Textbook: Calculus, Third Edition, by James Stewart, Brooks/Cole Publishing Co. 1995, ISBN 0-534-21798-2.

Class location: 209 Willard Bldg.

Course objectives: In Spring Semester 1999, students majoring in biology or related life science fields can choose to fulfill their Calculus requirement with Math 141B, Calculus with Applications to Biology II, instead of Math 141 . While covering the standard syllabus topics of derivatives, integrals, and applications, Math 141B puts a greater emphasis on biological applications and examples. This year the material in Stewart's text Chapters 9-11 (polar coordinates, infinite sequences and series, and 3D analytic geometry) will be replaced by sections on parametric equations and partial derivatives (parts of Chs. 9 and 12) and an introduction to differential equations (Ch. 15). The ultimate purpose of this course is to provide an appropriate mathematical background for further work in the biological sciences.

Prerequisites: Math 140/Math 140B, or permission of the instructor; enrollment is restricted to students majoring in biology or related life science fields.

Grading: There will be two midterm exams, each worth 100 pts, and a final exam worth 150 pts. The exams will be roughly the same as the 141 exam, although CALCULATORS WILL BE ALLOWED IN THE EXAM. Weekly assignments will be taken from exercises in the textbook (45 pts), and will be supplemented by applied problem sets approximately every two weeks (35 pts). There will also be quizzes based on the homework assignments (50 pts), and attendance will be taken in class (20 points). Thus the course will be scored out of 500 pts.

Topics covered in this course:

Natural logarithms, exponentials, inverse functions (Ch. 6)
Integration techniques (Ch. 7)
Applications (Sections 8.1, 8.2, 8.6)
Parametric equations / polar coordinates (Sections 9.1, 9.3, 9.4)
Partial derivatives (Sections 12.1, 12.3, 12.5, 12.7)
Introduction to differential equations (Sections 15.1 - 15.5, 15.7)

This material will be supplemented in class by examples taken from relevant biological topics.

Direct links to Penn State's Department of Biology and Department of Mathematics .

COOP program

The Eberley College of Science sponsors a Cooperative Education Program for science and mathematics majors, in which the participants spend a semester or the summer months working for a company. If you are a Penn State student in good standing and have completed at least 30 credits in any of the degree programs in the Eberly College of Science, you are eligible to participate in the Coop Program. In addition to earning a salary and academic credits, students gain valuable work experience which may prove an important advantage when entering the job market.

Last modified March 31, 1999 by Andrew Belmonte