MATH 140 - Personal Syllabus

MATH 140 - Calculus with Analytic Geometry I
Fall Semester 2009

Dr. James A. Sellers

General Information
Office: 104 McAllister
Office Hours: Mondays 1:30-2:30pm, Wednesdays 10:00-11:00am, Fridays 1:30-2:30pm, and by appointment
Office Phone: (814) 865-7528
E-mail: sellersj@math.psu.edu

Section-Specific Information
This semester, I am teaching Section 001 of MATH 140. Here is our "logistic" information:

Section: MATH 140.001
Days and Time: MTWF 8:00-8:50am
Location: 216 Thomas Building

Main Course Webpage
The main course webpage for MATH 140 for this semester can be found by going to the following page and clicking on the link for MATH 140:

http://www.math.psu.edu/ug/courses/

The MATH 140 webpage is very important as it includes the course syllabus, suggested homework assignments, and examination dates.

Quizzes
As you will note from the main course webpage, 100 points of your course grade are determined by homework and/or quizzes. In order to determine your 100 points in this category in our course section, several short quizzes will be given throughout the semester. The questions on the quizzes will be related to the suggested homework problems, material discussed during previous lecture hours, and the reading done in preparation for class. The purpose of the quizzes is to encourage you to keep up with your preparation (and reward you for doing so).

Note that no makeup quizzes will be offered in the class; in lieu of this, I will drop the lowest two quiz grades for each student and retain the highest ten quiz grades for each student.

Suggested Homework
Suggested homework problems can be found at the main course webpage. These homework problems will not be turned in for a grade in our section of the course. The purpose of doing the homework is to better understand the material discussed in the lectures and to prepare oneself for quizzes and exams, not to mention the goal of learning.

I encourage you to do all of the suggested homework, even though it will not be handed in. (As mentioned above, this will help tremendously for the quizzes and exams.) You may work together on these problems if you so desire.

I also encourage you to keep up with the suggested homework and not get behind because it may prove difficult to catch up. Much of this material builds upon previous material, so keeping up with the class will be quite beneficial.

Hopefully Helpful Hints

Learn for the long term. Strive to retain the knowledge that you acquire. Do not simply try to learn material a couple of days before an exam with the goal of forgetting it right after finals. View the learning of the material as an active process, not a passive one. (You are here to learn, not to receive grades.) Learning is a process, not an event.
Strive to know the material, to understand it at a very deep level, rather than a superficial one.
Do the homework with as little help (solutions manuals, friends, etc.) as possible. Balance the use of group learning with individual study so you actually know the material.
Ask questions, either in class or during office hours.
Read the textbook before the planned lecture.
Carefully study and rework the examples in the text.
Re-read and rewrite your notes.
Study for exams progressively, over a long period of time. Begin the studying process at least one week prior to the date of the exam.
Manage your time wisely. Plan to spend at least two hours outside of class for every hour in class, if not more!
Get plenty of rest. Staying up late every night is usually not a beneficial practice academically.

Final Comments
I hope your appreciation for mathematics grows during this semester, especially since calculus has impacted societies for several hundred years.

James Sellers
Professor and Director, Undergraduate Mathematics
Penn State University