Math 124: Calculus I (Section A)

Spring 2019

Lectures: MWF 9:30-10:20 in AND 223
Instructor: Jarod Alper (jarod at uw.edu)
Office: PDL C-544
Office hours: Mon, Wed: 3-4 pm

TAs:

Erin Connelly (erin96 at uw.edu): Section AA, AB
Peter Gylys-Colwell (petkusgc at uw.edu): Section AC, AD

Course information: This course will be a friendly introduction to the differential calculus of a function in a single variable. We will talk about functions and their derivatives, as well as related ideas like limits and continuity. In addition to the usual facts about derivatives, like the product rule and the chain rule, we will spend quite a bit of time talking about applications. This means the homework will involve a lot of story problems, particularly later on in the quarter. If you want a good grade in this class, you should expect to spend about 10 hours a week on homework.

See here for the central Math 124 Materials website: This link contains detailed information about:

The textbook: James Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals (8th Edition)
Webassign
Tentative syllabus
Sample midterms and finals

Resources:

Webassign office hours in Math Study Center on Thursday, April 4 from 11am-3pm and April 8 from 11am-3pm.
Math Study Center: the best place for calculus help. Take advantage of this resource.
CLUE: A late-night academic center designed to support all UW undergraduates.

Homework:

All homework is accessible on the WebAssign website. Look here for detailed instructions.

There are no extensions granted for HW. As the deadline is strict, you should plan to finish several hours before the deadline to deal with any unforseen computer difficulties. Late homeworks will not be accepted.

Homework is an essential component of this course. Homework provides the best avenue to practice with the course content and solidify your understanding. My advice is to attempt to fully understand the solution to each homework problem, and do additional homework problems if you feel you need more practice.

Your final homework score will be out of 90. That is, if you receive a 85% score on the homework, your final score will be 85/90. This way you are not penalized for possible tecnical difficulties with webassign or for one low performance.

Worksheets:

On Thursday April 4th and then on each Tuesday that follows (with the exception of the midterms), you will spend each class period working in groups on the weekly worksheet, which will be turned in at the end of the class. You are responsible for bringing your own worksheets. You should download them from the Math 124 Materials Website, print them, and bring them to class.

The worksheets will be collected at the end of class and will count towards the worksheet portion of your final grade. There are 3 possible grades for each worksheet:
- 0 -- you didn't do it
- 1 -- you did a poor job
- 2 -- you showed that you did some real work
The lowest worksheet score will be dropped.

This is a very important time for learning. The TAs will have a chance to talk with each of you and give you individual suggestions. If you know how to do the problems, you should explain your reasoning to the others in your group. You should have plenty of time to finish the worksheet. If you are done early, start working on homework problems.

Grading:

Worksheets: 5%
Homework: 10%
Midterm 1: 20%
Midterm 2: 20%
Final: 45%

Scientific calculators Required:

The Ti-30x IIS is the only calculator allowed on exams in Math 124. It is available for instance for $14.95 at the university bookstore.
No Graphing/Symbolic Calculators allowed.

Schedule: The content of the lectures will be posted here. The sections of the textbook quoted below are only a rough approximation of what we actually covered in class.

Date	Topics covered	Remarks
Week 1
Mon April 1	Introduction to calculus
Wed April 3	Introduction to functions and tangent lines
Fri April 5	Limits
Week 2
Mon April 8	Limits, the Squeeze theorem and continuity
Wed April 10	Intermediate Value Theorem and velocities (average vs instantaneous)
Fri April 12	The derivative
Week 3
Mon April 15	The derivative as a function
Wed April 17	Formulas and rules for derivatives
Fri April 19	Product and quotient rules
Week 4
Mon April 22	Detour on parameteric equations
Wed April 24	Derivatives of trig and exponential functions
Fri April 26	Chain rule
Week 5
Mon April 29	Review	Midterm 1 in Apr 30 TA section
Wed May 1	Implicit differentiation
Fri May 3	Inverse functions and their derivatives
Week 6
Mon May 6	Related Rates I
Wed May 8	Related Rates II
Fri May 10	Linear Approximation
Week 7
Mon May 13	More on related rates
Wed May 15	Minimum and maximum values
Fri May 17	More on minimum and maximum values
Week 8
Mon May 20	Review	Midterm 2 in May 21 TA section
Wed May 22	Concavity
Fri May 24	Mean value theorem and L'Hopitals rule
Week 9
Mon May 27	No class! Memorial day
Wed May 29	Sketching graphs
Fri May 31	Sketching graphs II
Week 10
Mon Jun 3	Optimization I
Wed Jun 5	Optimization II and review
Fri Jun 7	Review
Final
Sat June 8	Final examination, 1:30 - 4:20 pm	KNE 110

Midterm: There will be two midterms both taking place during the Tuesday TA section:

Midterm 1: Tuesday, April 30, Solutions
Midterm 2: Tuesday, May 21, Solutions

For the midterms and final exam, you are allowed to bring a hand-written note sheet (8.5"x11", two-sided).

Final examination:

Date: Saturday, June 8
Time: 1:30-4:20 pm
Location: KNE 110