Instructor: Ezra Brown |
Office: 568 McBryde Office Phone : 231-6950 Home Phone : 552-9563 (before 9 PM) E-mail : ezbrown@math.vt.edu | Office Hours: MWF 10-11:30 am TTh 3-4:30 pm & by appointment |
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| Instructor:Ezra Brown |
Office: 568 McBryde Office Phone : 231-6950 Home Phone : 552-9563 (before 9 PM) E-mail : ezbrown@math.vt.edu | Office Hours: MWF 10-11:30 am TTh 3-4:30 pm & by appointment |
Time and Place: 12:30 to 1:20 pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays, McBryde 134
Text: University Calculus, by Hass, Weir and Thomas; Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2007.
Supplementary Material: Trig Review and Math 1224 Units 1-10. You can download these files from the Math 1224 Course Homepage: click on "Text"...
Complex Numbers Handout: You will also need to download a handout on complex numbers here.
Topics and Schedule: The purpose of this course is to introduce you to vector operations, parametric curves, motion in two or three or more dimensions, the geometry of lines, planes and three-dimensional space, polar coordinates, and those (not so) mysterious complex numbers. Illustrative examples will be drawn from the physical sciences. You can download a tentative course schedule right here.
Computer software such as Mathematica or Matlab may sometimes prove useful as a tool for analysis and visualization. In short: Pictures Can Tell You A Whole Lot. The instructor will provide training and guidance in the use of these tools --- no prior computing experience is necessary.
Finally, we will make occasional visits into a branch of mathematics in which vectors and dot products play a very interesting role, and whose origins lie not in the physical sciences but in art. That branch is called projective geometry.
Prerequisite: Math 1205. Corequisites: Math 1114 and 1206.
Evaluation: There will be three in-class tests, each worth 20% of your grade; their anticipated placement during the semester is listed in the course schedule. There will be a final exam, worth 25% of your grade. The final exam is to be given on Thursday, December 17 from 1:05 p.m. to 3:05 p.m. in McBryde 134. There will be regular homework and occasional announced quizzes. The homework and quizzes are worth 15% of your grade. Keep all graded tests, homework and quizzes in a file until the course is over.
More About Homework: Developing an ability to communicate is a vital part of your training. Prospective employers look for strong communication skills. If you can't explain it well, then you don't understand it well. For a homework problem, that means submitting justification and not merely an answer. Your homework set should include your name, the date, your section's CRN (93910), the problem set number, and the problem statement for each problem. Hand the homework sets in flat, and staple them in the upper left corner.
Finally, the easier the reading, the better the mood of the grader (that would be me). Using a word-processor (such as Word with Math Type) or a mathematical typesetting program (such as LaTeX) is greatly encouraged.
Late Work and Test Policy: A problem set is late after the beginning of class on the day it is due. Late problem sets count zero. You may not make up a missed quiz. You may not make up a missed test, and I do not give make-up test; however, I will substitute your final exam grade for at most one of your in-class tests, if such a substitution is to your advantage.
Grading: A percentage grade of 90, 80, 70 or 60 on any piece of work guarantees you a grade of A-, B-, C- or D-, respectively. Plusses and minuses are judgment calls and not subject to debate.
Attendance: Class attendance will be taken daily. Attendance will not be used to determine grades, but will be kept for Mathematics Department records.
Honor System: The University Honor System is in effect for the in-class tests and the final exam.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE!! If you are not on the class roll that comes out after the last add date, immediately check your schedule at a terminal and start attending the proper section. For no forseeable reason (computer and registrar personnel mistakes included) will you be allowed to stay in the wrong section or to drop a section for which you are actually enrolled after the last drop date. By simply attending a section you will not be placed on its roll.