| General Information and Syllabus |
Schedule and Homework | Exams | Staff:
Schedules, Office hours, coordinates |
Course Announcements
- Lecture 3 (Moira Chas) moved to Javits 111.
- The first WebAssign homework is due on Thursday September 4th before 10am.
- The first written homework is due in the meeting of your recitation next week. Since we have two days off, there will be only one meeting, in which you should hand in the problems to your instruction.
- Classes start on Monday August 25th. All classes (including recitations) will be held as scheduled.
- Take a moment to check the exams dates here and mark them in your calendars the exams dates. Note than in an earlier version of this page I made a mistake (thanks to those of you who pointed it out).
- Announcements about the course will be posted here. Please check the site regularly for announcements (which will also be given in lecture nd/or in recitation). Note that your instruction might not be able to answer a question whose answer is posted in these pages or was announced during class time.
Course Description
From the undergraduate bulletin: A continuation of MAT 131, covering symbolic and numeric methods of integration; area under a curve; volume; applications such as work and probability; improper integrals and l'Hospital's rule; complex numbers; sequences; series; Taylor series; differential equations; and modelling. May not be taken for credit in addition to MAT 127 or 142 or AMS 161.Prerequisite
In order to take MAT 132, you must have either- C or higher in AMS 151 or MAT 131 or 141,
- received a score of 7 or better on the mathematics placement examination.
Textbook
Single Variable Calculus Stony Brook Edition 4 by James Stewart Brooks/Cole Publishing, available at the University Bookstore @ Stony Brook. This edition, essentially the same as Single Variable Calculus: Concepts and Contexts, 4th ed, comes with an access code for WebAssign, which we will be using this semester. You are free to use an older version of the textbook. But then you have to check you are working on the correct homework problems (these sometimes change) and you will need to buy stand-alone access for WebAssign. You can get electronic access to the text together with WebAssign access at WebAssign. You can also get electronic access to individual chapters; and then you will still need to buy access to WebAssign.
We will cover the end of Chapter 5 and Chapters 6, 7 and 8.
Lectures and Recitations
New material is presented each week in the lectures. The recitation each week gives students a chance to review, in a smaller class, material from the week before. This includes going over difficult parts of assigned homework, and new exercises, proposed by the recitation leader, to be carried out individually or in groups. Recitation leaders can give valuable feedback to the lecturer. Try to make sure your recitation leader knows who you are!The list of instructors and the schedule and locations of lectures and recitations is on the Staff, schedules, office hours page. Make sure you know your lecture and recitation section numbers; you must be enrolled in the recitation you attend.
Every lecturer and recitation instructor will hold office hours every week (the times and locations are also on the Staff, schedules, office hours page). You are more than welcome to see your lecturer or recitation instructor to discuss homework or other questions.
If you have organizational questions, issues or complaints about the course, please contact your recitation instructor first. If this does not resolve the matter, you should then contact your lecturer, and then the Course Coordinator (Moira Chas).
Grading System
The relative weight of exams and problem sets in determining final grades is as follows. Class participation, in Lectures and Recitations, will count in your favor if your grade is "between" two letters.|
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% |
When | |
|---|---|---|---|
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20% | Tuesday 9/23, 8:45pm-10:15pm. | |
|
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20% | Wednesday 10/29, 8:45pm-10:15pm. | |
|
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40% | Wednesday Dec. 10, 2:15pm-5:00pm | |
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8% | Weekly | |
| 12% | Weekly |
The two lowest WebAssign homework grades will be dropped. Thus, you are "covered" if you find any technical problems (Those do arise). "Using" those dropped lower grades to skip homework on a day you feel lazy is a very bad idea. You may not have them on the day you need them (and skipping homework will diminish you understanding of the material, which usually translates in lower grades).
If you miss a midterm for a documented reason, the score will be replace by the grade on the balance of the course. No make-ups will be given.
In order to succeed on this course, you need to:
- Review the material covered in the previous class. This will greatly increase your understanding. Furthermore, the lectures will not always be able to cover all of the material for which you will be responsible.
- Read the material that will be presented on lectures beforehand.
- Please remember that mathematics is cumulative, so don't fall behind! If you are behind, you will find new material presented in lectures much more difficult to follow, and you will be forced to try to learn that new material on your own. This will cost you a lot of extra time. If you feel you are slipping behind, consult your recitation instructor or your lecturer immediately: get help right away!
- Attend lectures and recitations.
- Work on all the assigned problems (online and written) and, of course, submit the required ones.
- Come to the exams prepared. You can think of each exam as a marathon, in the sense that you need to start "training" many weeks in advance (that is, the first week of classes), and keep "training" until the final. Instructors are your "coaches" and they can guide you in your training, but it is you who has to "sweat and puff". You (and nobody!) can learn math without doing math.
Written Homework
Expect to spend at least 8 hours a week solving problems (both,
WebAssign and written); do all of the assigned problems, as well as
additional ones to study. Do not leave the homework for the last minute.
If you do, most likely you will not have time to complete properly. No
late homework will be accepted. Homework is posted on the Schedule and Homework webpage. The homework must be turned to your recitation instructor and will be due at the second meeting of your recitation section the following week. Only the problems indicated in bold are to be turned in. You should still do all problems assigned.
All problem sets handed in stapled. Moreover, problems must be legible and must use complete sentences, correct grammar, correct spelling, etc. Problem sets which prove too difficult for the grader to read may be marked incorrect or may be returned to the student for rewriting (as the instructor sees fit). A complete solution will include the following:
- The statement of the problem
- An organized presentation of ideas leading to a solution
- An answer that is circled or boxed
- If a problem has multiple parts it should be solved as though each part were a separate problem, following the order in which parts are listed.
- If there is no work shown, there is no credit. In other words, an answer with no justification is not admissible (even if it is the correct answer!)
We encourage you to form teams of three or four students and to work together. We will try to do as many group exercises as possible, in class and in recitation, to get you used to this type of work. Several people thinking together about a problem can often see around a difficulty where one person might get stuck. (This is one reason why the ability to work well in a team is rated very highly by prospective employers. ) Please note that even if students are encouraged to discuss and work on the problems with your team, the final write-up must be individual.
If you do not understand how to do something, get help from your any of your instructors, your, your classmates, in the Math Learning Center or at the Stony Brook Tutoring Center. You are encouraged to study with and discuss problems with others from the class, but write up your own homework by yourself, and make sure you understand how to do the problems.
Never be shy to ask us how to do a homework problem, even if you handed in solution that you do not understand. We will be glad to help you!.
Graded problem sets and exams will be handed back in recitation. If you cannot attend the recitation in which a problem set or exam is handed back, it is your responsibility to attend your recitation instructor's office hours and get your graded work. Failure to retreive graded work is not grounds for a make-up, a regrade or change of a fail to an incomplete.
You are responsible for collecting any graded work by the end of the semester. After the end of the semester, the recitation instructor is no longer responsible for returning your graded work. If you have a question about the grade you received on a problem set or exam, you must contact the recitation instructor (not the grader or the lecturer). Your 2 lowest WebAssign scores will be dropped in computing final total points.
Problems in Stewart usually come in similar pairs, one odd, one even. The answers for the odd problems are in the back of the book. Sometimes these are useful as hints for the solution of the corresponding even-numbered problem.
Each problem of the written homework assignment is worth 10 points.
WebAssgin Homework
| If you have technical problems with WebAssign, contact the WebAssign support team at http://webassign.com/support/student-support/ |
The best way to access WebAssign is through Blackboard. From within Blackboard, click on the link for your MAT 132 lecture. Then go to the left panel, go almost all the way to the bottom, and click on "Tools". Finally, click on "WebAssign". That should automatically log you into your WebAssign account. (Note that you do not need a class key).
Depending on which type of WebAssign acces you bought for MAT131, you might be able to use the same code in MAT 132. In any case, at the beginning of the semester there is a 2 week "grace period" during which you may access WebAssign without an access code. But within the first 2 weeks you are required to purchase a WebAssign access code (either bundled with a textbook, or as a stand-alone access code, whichever you prefer). Without a WebAssign access code, you will not be able to continue accessing WebAssign. That means you will not be able to complete the WebAssign assignments.
You can access the web interface from any computer with Internet access and a recent web browser (the computers in the SINC sites, for instance).
When you first access the WebAssign account, please go to the My Options page (in the upper right of the screen) and put in your email address.
After they are assigned, the online problems may be completed anytime before the assigned deadline. You can look at problems online, print them out, work on them as long as you like, and then answer them in a later Internet session (before the deadline). The online problems are automatically graded with instant feedback.
The online problems are of different types; some are short answer and some are multiple choice. There are different problems and different variants of the same problem. Different students will be assigned different problems. So do not try to compare your answers to another student's answers. As always, you are encouraged to work with other students to understand the course material. However all answers you submit for credit must be based on your own understanding and must be written in your own words.
WebAssign has a variety of different question types, ranging from multiple choice to fill-in-the-blank to symbolic questions. Here are some things to keep in mind as you work through your assignments:
- Some questions require entering symbolic notation. Answer symbolic questions by using calculator notation. You must use the exact variables specified in the questions. The order is not important as long as it is mathematically correct. Clicking on the eye button previews the expression you enter in proper mathematical notation. Clicking on the symbolic formatting help button provides tips for using the correct keystrokes.
- When you click on some WebAssign math questions an input palette will open. This palette, called mathPad, will help you enter your answer in proper notation.
- You can save your work without grading by selecting the Save Work button at the end of the question. After you save your work, it will be available to you the next time you click the assignment.
- Please note that WebAssign will not automatically submit your answers for scoring if you only Save your work. Please be sure to Submit prior to the due date and time.
- You can submit answers by question part or for the entire assignment. To submit an individual question answer for grading, click the "Submit New Answers to Question" button at the bottom of each question. To submit the entire assignment for grading, click the "Submit All New Answers" button at the end of the assignment.
- Some WebAssign questions check the number of significant figures in your answer. If you enter the correct value with the wrong number of significant figures, you will not receive credit, but you will receive a hint that your number does not have the correct number of significant figures.
- While different students may get slightly different versions of the assignment, your questions will be the same every time you return. This means you can print out the assignment, work the problems, and then come back later and put in your answers. Since you get multiple attempts to get the question correct, be sure to leave yourself enough time to rework the problems that you did wrong.
- If a question has multiple answers, each of those are worth one point.
- If you put in a wrong answer for a question and ask to have it graded, you will be told it is wrong and be ably to try again. However, if you put in the correct answer on the second try, you get half credit. On the third try, you get 1/3 credit, and so on.
- If you have issues with the assignment, you can use the "Ask your Teacher" button to send a message to your TA and/or lecturer. You should make it clear which problem you are talking about, and what, specifically, your issue is. Using "Ask your teacher" is preferred to sending an email because your question gets saved with your assignment.
- Since we are aware that technology sometimes has unpredictable problems, the two lowest grades of your WebAssign homework will be dropped. Do not skip homework counting on this because if a technical problem arises and you cannot complete the homework, you will get a zero.
Academic Resources
There are a number of organizations on campus offering tutoring and other academic resources in various locations. The mathematics department offers drop-in tutoring in the Math Learning Center. You are strongly encouraged to talk to a tutor in the MLC if you have an issue and are unable to attend your lecturer's or recitation instructor's office hours (or if you have previously arranged to meet them in the MLC).Please be aware that tutors in the MLC deal with students on a first-come, first-served basis. Thus it may be preferrable to speak with your lecturer or instructor in their office hours. (Even if you find them in the MLC, they may be obliged to speak to other students before speaking with you.)
For students living on campus, there are also tutoring centers available in the residence halls.
Calculators and solutions manuals
Warning about Solution Manuals: Solution manuals can be of assistance in helping you to learn the material if used properly. If used improperly, they can cause damage. Here is the proper way.- First do a problem yourself.
- Then use solution manual to check your work.
- If the solution manual disagrees with you, find a logical explanation.
- They do not develop self-confidence in their own abilities to work problems.
- Mathematics is outside them, not part of them. You may have noticed that if you write down a phone number, you are less likely to remember it. Similarly, calculator abusers often find themselves with poor memories for mathematics.
- They do not learn to calculate well. Many courses in physics and the other sciences require students to be able to follow, and do, very complicated calculations. This is a skill, which takes practice and requires experience.
- They do not benefit from the calculator's ability to extend their capabilities (rather than replace them), and to give them access to a wider and richer world of mathematical phenomena.