Math 124: Calculus I (Sections A and B)

Fall 2019

Lectures:

Section A: MWF 8:30-9:20 in ECE 105
Section B: MWF 9:30-10:20 in ECE 105

Instructor: Jarod Alper (jarod at uw.edu)
Office hours: Mon, Wed 1-2 pm in PDL C-544

TAs:

Math 124A	Math 124B
Section AA, AB: Brendan Wallace (bwbw@uw.edu): Office hours: Tues 11:30-12:30, Thurs 10:30-11:30 in MSC C1	Section BA: Lei Xue (lxue@uw.edu) Office hours: Mon 5-6 in MSC C2
Section AC, AD: Joseph David (jdavid5@uw.edu) Office hours: Tues 1-2, Wed 3-4 in MSC C7	Section BB: Kristine Hampton (hamptkri@uw.edu) Office hours: Thurs 10:30-11:30 in MSC.
Section AE: Stark Ledbetter (sledbett@uw.edu) Office hours: Mon 5:30-6:30 in MSC	Section BC, BD: Julie Curtis (jacca@uw.edu) Office hours: Thurs 2-4 in MSC
	Section BE, BF: Nikhil Pandya (nnpandya@uw.edu) Office hours: Tues 12-1, Thurs 1-2 in MSC

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:

There are Webassign office hours in Math Study Center from 11 AM until 3 PM on Tuesday, October 1 and Monday, October 7 to help you get started with WebAssign.
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 technical difficulties with webassign or for a few low performances.

Worksheets:

Beginning Tuesday, October 1 and each subsequent Tuesday (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
Wed Sept 25	Introduction to calculus
Fri Sept 27	Motivation and definition of limits
Week 2
Mon Sept 30	Computing limits; Squeeze Theorem
Wed Oct 2	Continuous functions; Intermediate Value Theorem
Fri Oct 4	Derivatives: a first glance; average vs instantaneous velocity
Week 3
Mon Oct 7	Derivatives as limits
Wed Oct 9	The derivative as a function
Fri Oct 11	First glance at rules and formulas for derivatives; parameteric equations
Week 4
Mon Oct 14	Product and quotient rules
Wed Oct 16	Derivatives of trigonometric and exponential functions
Fri Oct 18	Chain rule
Week 5
Mon Oct 21	Review	Midterm 1 in Oct 22 TA section
Wed Oct 23	Parameteric equations and their calculus; implicit differentiation
Fri Oct 25	Implicit differentiation; Inverse functions and their derivatives (eg. ln x, arcsin(x))
Week 6
Mon Oct 28	Related rates
Wed Oct 30	More on related rates
Fri Nov 1	Logarithmic differentiation and linear approximation
Week 7
Mon Nov 4	Min and max #1: Fermat's thoerem, extreme value theorem and closed interval method
Wed Nov 6	Min and max #2: First and second derivative tests
Fri Nov 8	Concavity and inflection points
Week 8
Mon Nov 11	No class! Veteran's Day
Wed Nov 13	Min and max #3: first glance at optimization problems
Fri Nov 15	Review for Midterm 2
Week 9
Mon Nov 18	Review for Midterm 2	Midterm 2 in Nov 19 TA section
Wed Nov 20	L'Hopital's Rule
Fri Nov 22	Mean value theorem; Curve sketching #1
Week 10
Mon Nov 25	Curve sketching #2
Wed Nov 27	More examples and review
Fri Nov 29	No class! Thanksgiving break
Week 11
Mon Dec 2	Optimization
Wed Dec 4	Optimization and review
Fri Dec 6	Review
Final
Sat Dec 7	Final examination, 1:30 - 4:20 pm

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

Midterm 1: Tuesday, Oct 22, Solutions
Midterm 2: Tuesday, Nov 19, 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, December 7
Time: 1:30-4:20 pm
Location: SMI 120 for Math 124A and SMI 205 for Math 124B