In Math 142, we'll take a more in-depth study of calculus than is offered in Math 132, with more of a focus on the rigorous underpinnings of the subject: not just what's true, but why it's true. Also, since the class is small (fewer than 20 students), class discussions can play a big role in helping you learn to view the material from many different angles, and you'll get more direct contact with a faculty member.
You'll also learn the answer to the question: How do sheep integrate (tan x)(sec x)2?
You can view an MP4 or two, excerpted from a video interview that I gave in 2013, in which I described the Honors Calc sequence.
I want all of you to succeed in this class; below you will find
some tips for how you can help make this happen.
Lecture-by-lecture reading assignments (subject to change)
Homework problems and solutions
Email: jamespropp at gmail dot com (note: I also have a ...@uml.edu account but I don't read it very often).
Phone: (978) 934-2438. Please note that I do not listen to my voicemail very often. To check whether the university is closed because of weather, call (978) 934-2121.
Fax: (978) 934-3053 (Attn: James Propp).
Office: Olney 428C.
Consultation Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, 12-1.
Meetings at times other than my office hours can be arranged by
appointment; see me after class, call me on the phone, or send me
an email message.
Suggestions about how the course is being run are welcome at any time. If something isn't working for you, please don't wait until the end of the semester to tell me!
Meeting place: Olsen 403.
Prerequisites: Honors Calculus I, or the equivalent.
Expectations: You're expected to attend classes, do the reading in advance, ask questions, and make serious attempts to answer questions raised by me or by other students during class. If you miss a class, it's your responsibility to make sure you obtain all information (course material, assignments, changes in exam dates, etc.) presented that day.
During the Spring semester, we'll cover Chapters 5 through 9 and parts of Appendix B, as well as Stewart's essay Lies My Calculator and Computer Told Me (available on the web by clicking here).
Average | [85, 100) | [82, 85) | [80, 82) | [75, 80) | [72, 75) | [70, 72) |
Grade | A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ |
Average | [65, 70) | [62, 65) | [60, 62) | [55, 60) | [0, 55) | |
Grade | C | C- | D+ | D | F |
Exam dates: Midterm March 6 and 7; final exam May 1 and 2.
Exam Policy
It's important that everyone take the same exams under the same
conditions for maximum fairness and reliability of testing. I therefore
don't give makeup exams unless you have a valid reason for missing
the scheduled exam (for example, illness or a religious holiday), and I
don't allow extra time on exams unless you have a note from Disability
Services (see below).
If you have to miss a scheduled exam, please let me know
ahead of time if at all possible; I'm much more likely to be
sympathetic if you call me the morning of the exam and say “I have the
flu and can’t take the exam” than if you come in two days after the
exam and say “I missed the exam. When can I take a makeup?”
You may not use a cell phone in any way during an exam.
Use of calculators is prohibited during exams.
You can always reschedule an exam
that falls on a day that is a religious holiday for you, but you must
make these arrangements ahead of time.
Tips on Preparing for Exams
Tips on Taking Exams
Homework
Typically there'll be one homework assignment per week, due one week after it is assigned. (We may deviate from this schedule at the beginning of the term and around the time of the midterm.)
In order for you to understand the material in this course, it's extremely important that you do the assigned homework problems. Working with your classmates can be a great help, and I strongly encourage it, subject to certain provisos (see below). I also urge you to ask questions about any problems that give you trouble.
Homework will usually be due each week on Friday (except during the week of an exam). Your grade will be based on clarity as well as correctness, so neatness, grammar, and punctuation should not be neglected. Harder problems will in general be worth more points. You are required to include an estimate of how much time you spent on each and every assigned problem; this will help me assess which of the problems are the harder ones. (I reserve the right to throw out a problem entirely if it turns out to be too hard.)
Barring unusual circumstances, late homeworks will not be accepted.
Each student will be allowed to skip two assignments without penalty; additional skipped homeworks will only be permitted if a valid excuse is presented, preferably ahead of time rather than afterwards. Don't use up your free skips too early in the semester! If you skip just one assignment, your lowest homework score gets dropped. If you don't skip any assignments, your two lowest homework scores get dropped.
While you can discuss the exercises with classmates, the work you hand in should be your own write-up and not copied from someone else. When leaving a joint homework-solving session, don't carry away anything that doesn't fit in your own brain. Also, you must acknowledge who you worked with. (If you didn't work with anyone, please write I worked alone on this assignment.)
Academic honesty in homeworks is expected. (E.g., if you use web-resources or tutors or collaborators of any kind, the role of their contribution must be acknowledged; you won't receive a lower grade for using such resources, but if the grader and I feel you're relying on them too heavily, we may require you to change your way of doing homework.) My expectations for appropriate ways of doing the homework will be discussed in class; in case you are in any doubt about what is expected, it is your responsibility to contact me for clarification. See the UMass Lowell catalogue for a definitive statement of UMass Lowell's academic honesty policy.
It is not required that you submit your solutions in LaTeX, but if you are planning to be a mathematician, scientist, or engineer, it's never too early to learn! LaTeX is free software that lets you typeset formulas about as fast as you can write them (with some practice). Composing your homework in LaTeX will help you pay attention to your communication of mathematics, and make it much easier to edit your work as you go along. There will be an initial hump of getting started, but after a couple of problem sets, using LaTeX will become quite natural. You'll probably still want to draw your diagrams and figures free-hand, but knowing how to write equations in LaTeX is a life-skill that will serve you well in later courses in which homeworks involve fewer pictures and more formulas.
Also, if you want to use Mathematica as an aid to your learning, check out http://faculty.uml.edu/klevasseur/mathematica/freeforminput/. Effective Fall 2011, students will be able to download Mathematica as part of the campus license, so using it for classes will be more convenient than in the past. You shouldn't use Mathematica as a substitute for being able to do the work yourself the old-fashioned way, but it's a great way to check your work. Also, Mathematica features many demonstrations (see http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/) that can bring course material to life in a vivid way.
You will be expected to fill out a time sheet that tells me how much time you spent on each problem (rounded to the nearest minute, or the nearest five minutes; there's no need to be super-precise). This helps me improve the course from year to year by spreading out the work-load more evenly from week to week. Points may be deducted from students who repeatedly fail to submit legible time sheets.
Many students find it profitable to read the solutions to all the problems in the current assignment (posted on the web each week). Even if you got a problem correct, you may learn something from reading the posted solution, such as an alternate approach to the problem or a good clear way to express the main ideas.
Attendance
Regular attendance is expected. It is not part of the grading scheme, but it may be used to adjust grades upward in the event of a borderline grade. Class participation that shows that you have read the assigned material may also be helpful in borderline cases.