Math 120 B and C: Fall 2011

LECTURER

Dr. Andrew D. Loveless
aloveles@math.washington.edu
Office: Padelford C-339
Office hours: Click Here

TAs

BA: Yang Song
(yangsong@math.washington.edu)

BB, BC: Daeshik Choi
(ds77choi@math.washington.edu)

BD, BE: Yajun An
(yajuna@math.washington.edu)

CA, CB: Mike Wojnowicz
(woj@math.washington.edu)

CC, CD: Yuanlong Chen
(ylchen88@math.washington.edu)

CE: Stephen McKeown
(smckeown@math.washington.edu)

EXAM DATES

Midterm 1: October 20
(IN QUIZ SECTION)

Midterm 2: November 17
(IN QUIZ SECTION)

Final Exam: December 10

FINAL EXAM TIME: 5:00-7:50PM

FINAL LOCATION: KANE 130

Announcements:

• Announced 12/2/2011: Here is a quick overview of the topics for the final exam and a Checklist of final exam information along with another overview of the material.
• Announced 11/21/2011: Here are the solutions for midterm 2. Statistics will be posted by Wednesday. Also check out the following postings:
  • Here is a review of Ch. 16-20. Chapter 20 is the last chapter, so you can use this as a guide as we go through the last couple weeks.
  • Here ia an overview of trignometric functions.
• Announced 11/5/2011: Notice the review of Ch. 13-15 posted at the right of the page.
• Announced 10/28/2011: Notice the review of Ch. 7-12 posted at the right of the page.
• Announced 10/24/2011: Here are the solutions for midterm 1. Statistics will be posted by Wednesday.
• Announcedd 10/10/2011: Here is a little discussion of absolute values that I give to my calculus 1 students but may be helpful to you as well. Ignore the limit example on the top half of page 4 (that will not appear in our class), but the rest is appropriate for you to look through.
• Announced 10/09/2011: I have posted a few hints for homework 2 and two examples from chapter 6 (cake and pizza cutting examples). In addition, note that EXAM 1 IS THURSDAY, OCT. 20 IN QUIZ SECTION! The exam covers Chapters 1-7. Here is a Review for Exam 1. You should make sure you go back and understand how to do all the homework problems and then try some of the exams in the exam archive (I also sent a previous email with advice about studying for the exam). In addition, here are some tips for using the archive while studying for the first midterm exam:
  • Begin your studying by going over all of the assigned homework first. Make sure that you understand how to solve all of the assigned homework before diving into the exam archive.
  • In the archive, concentrate on the exams written by Dr. Conroy and me (the ones marked "Conroy" or "Loveless"). The order of presentation of some material changed in Fall 2009 (last year), so exams from Fall 2009, Winter 2010 and Spring 2010 correspond well with the current presentation of material. Exams from previous years may have problems that are not relevent to the chapters we have discussed. Here is a quick discussion to help you sort through older exams:
  • One topic that appears on some old midterm 1 problems that you need not worry about (for this exam) is function composition. If a problem involves an expression like f(g(x)), you may safely skip it. Problem 4 on some of my spring exams are this sort of problem (e.g., problem 4b on my Spring 2009 midterm 1). For the last 10 exams, I have made a page that shows you which chapter corresponds with which problems on old exams. You don't need to worry about the problems marked chapter 8.
  • Uniform linear motion problems do not appear on old midterms prior to Fall 2009. So, to supplement those midterms, take a look at the following exams:
    • Problem 5 (a) and (b)
    • Problem 6
    • Problem 3
    • Problem 4 (a) and (b)
    • Problem 8
• Announced 10/3/2011: Here are a few Hints for homework 1.
• Announced 9/22/2011: ADVICE TO MATH 120 STUDENTS! Many students find the first two weeks to be the most difficult in this course. It is an adjustment and I do believe that you will get more used to it. My main advice is as follows:
  • Start the homework as early as possible.
  • Try all tutoring options including: the math study center, CLUE (in Mary Gates Hall Commons, 7:00 pm - midnight, Sunday - Thursday), use quiz section wisely, visit your TA's office hours, and visit my office hours
  • HOMEWORK COMPLETION STRATEGY:
    • First, work through each problem systematically as we have done in class (that is, visualize, find equations for curves, translate the question, and solve for what you can). If you do all this and still get stuck, then look at examples from lecture and from the textbook. If you still are stuck, then make a note of the problem and move on to the next one. I don't want you to spend more than 15-20 minutes on your own on one problem (don't come to me upset that you spent 4 hours on a problem, because you should have found help way before you ever reached 4 hours).
    • When you have completed the problems that you can do, then you can go back and look at the problems where you were stuck. Perhaps you will have fresh ideas after working on the other problems. If not, then you need to first discuss the problem with a classmate. Then ask a question during quiz section. Then visit the math study center or CLUE. In this way you can be efficient with your time. Again this does not work, unless you start the homework as early as possible.
  • Please note that our grading policy on the homework allows for a little bit of flex. I select 3 problems at random to be graded carefully (out of 3 points each). I also give 6 points for overall completion and presentation. So if you occasionally cannot complete one or two problems on a given homework assignment, then it will likely not have a great impact on yourgrade. As long as you show some attempt on all the problems, then your homework scores will likely be in the 12-15 out of 15 range. So if there is one or two problems on this first assignment that you absolutely cannot finish, it's okay. Just don't make it a habit.
  • If you are worried that you will have difficulty on the exams. It is a good idea to start looking at old midterm exams. If you see a certain type of problem on several old exams, then it is somewhat likely that a related problem will appear on your exam. So if you know the appropriate techniques for such a problem, then you can almost guarantee yourself a certain amount of partial credit.
• Announced 9/22/11: Welcome to Math 120, Autumn quarter 2011. Announcements and other useful things will be posted here during the quarter, so check this site frequently.

  Textbook: The textbook for this course is Precalculus, by Collingwood and Prince, the 2011-12 edition. The book can be purchased at Professional Copy and Print, located at 1414 NE 42nd St. It is not available at the UW bookstore.

  You do not have to purchase the textbook. It is available electronically on the Math 120 Materials Website (link at right).

  It is necessary that you use the 2011-12 edition. Many changes were made from the 2008-9 to the 2009-10 edition, and there will be much confusion if you try to use the 2008-9 or earlier editions (the current edition is very similar to the edition from last year).

COURSE RESOURCES

Syllabus (pdf)

Homework Problems

Course Calendar

Grades

Grading Scale


Solutions for Exam 1


Review of Ch. 1-7

Review of Ch. 7-12

Review of Ch. 13-15

Review of Ch. 16-20

overview of trignometric functions

Another Shifting/Dilating Examples

Ch. 14 and 15 Extra Examples
(this is an old sheet for a previous edition, thus the incorrect problem labeling, but the problem themselves are from what is not ch. 14 and 15).

OLD EXAMS

The link below will take you to an archive which contains old exams and some solutions for previous quarters. I will not post solutions for exams which do not already have posted solutions, however I will gladly discuss any questions you have during office hours or in class reviews.

Old Exam Archive

Old Exam Problem Correspondence: This tells you which problems go with which chapters.

Math 120 materials website

A student expecting to get a good grade should work through several (6+) of these old exams before each midterm and before the final. You should treat these as practice tests. Take them yourself without looking up the answers first, and then see how well you did and see what you need to work on.

CHALLENGING EXTRA PROBLEMS

Speed and Conversion Challenge

UW RESOURCES

Math Study Center

Center for Learning
and Undergraduate
Enrichment (CLUE)

Student Counseling Center

Information for Students
of International TAs