Math 220, Section A8, Fall 2005

Time: 8:00 - 9:20 MTWThF
Place: 24 Illini Hall (laboratory, where we will spend most of our time during the semester.)
          We will eventually have a classroom for written exams and lecutre time.

Instructor: Barry John Walker (You can call me Barry.)
Email: bjwalker@math.uiuc.edu (This is the best way to reach me. Please, do not use bjwalker@uiuc.edu, which I do not check usually.)

Office: 155 Altgeld Hall

Office hours: Because the nature of this class allows for individual consultation during class time, I will not have regular office hours. However, I am very happy to meet with you outside of class also. Just talk with me in class or send me an email to set up an appointment.

Classcomm webpages: http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~bjwalker/220.html has general information. The "Classcomm" page, which requires a password, is http://cm.math.uiuc.edu/classcomm. You will use this website to turn in homework in the form of Mathematica notebooks. You'll also find assignments and message boards for the class on this website. Initially, your login and password are the same as your netid. Please change your classcomm password the first time you log in.

Textbook: There is no book. You will need to purchase the cd "Calculus & Mathematica". If you want to get Mathematica for a home computer, you can purchase the student version or lease a copy from CITES ($25 for a year). See http://cm.math.uiuc.edu/ for a link to CITES.

Classroom Assistant:An undergraduate classroom assistant (CA) will be available to help you during class hours and will do some of the grading. Here's here contact info

Amanda Heitz

Email:

Calculus & Mathematica format: You will spend most of your class time working in the computer lab, in a group with other students, this is highly encouraged. Rather than listening to a lecture, most days you will be working through the material found on your cd, using the software Mathematica. This software facilitates experimenting with mathematics and visualizing mathematics. The instructor and the classroom assistant will be available to help you as you work through the material on the computer. One can get the idea on what we will learn in this course by visiting http://cm.math.uiuc.edu/class/120syl.htm.

Class Attendance: Class attendance is very important, since you will gain so much from working with a group and consulting with the instructor and classroom assistant. Students sometimes try to do the work by themselves at home, but this is rarely successful. For your own sake, I urge you to come to class and work with others.

Exam dates: There will be three exams during the semester and a final exam. These exams will be done with pencil and paper; calculators and Mathematica will NOT be used for the exams. The exam location will be in a different room then where we meet for using the computers. The exam dates will be announced well in advance, at least one week before the exam. I will never test you on Mathematica code.
Final Exam -

Group problem sets (Homeworks): Problem sets from the Mathematica notebooks will be assigned approximately weekly. These are to be done in groups of at most three (I recommend two) using the computer. You can do much of the work during class, but you will need to do some work outside of class, too. Each group will submit only one notehook, using the ClassComm webpage listed above. Each group member will receive the same score on the assignment. Be sure that all members of the group understand all the solutions! You are allowed to choose your own partner/group. But, I may change the member or the size of the group. If you cannot find your partner/group, please let me know. I will put you in a group.

Every homework set will be assigned on Monday, and will be due the following Monday, 7:59 AM sharp. I will not grade any late homeworks unless you have a reasonable excuse, which comes with some official documents.

Written Homework Problems:There will also be some written homework. They are short quiz-like sheets that I will use to keep track of basic understanding of calculus. Most likely handed out weekly with two to three days to work on them. There will never be any questions about Mathematica code on these either.

Math 290:This is an extra hour that C&M students can register for. The grade will be based on the number of homeworks handed in. All of them will be an A+, miss one, A-, miss two, B+ and so forth. This gives you one unexused missed homework for this grade. Same rules apply for this score as other homework for missing/late assignments.

Course content: The course will cover Sections 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.04, 1.05, 1.06, 1.07, 1.08, 1.09, 2.01, 2.02, 2.03 on the Calculus&Mathematica cd.

Grading Policy: We will have lots of homework 40% for the Mathematica homeworks and
10% for the written work. There are three exams, 10% each and a final exam worth 20%.

Important: There is a catch.  You're final grade can only differ by a maximum of one full leter grade from your test average.  Thus it is important that you study well for the exams.  You will not be allowed to soley survive on your homework scores.

Letter Grades:

Important note:  Do not ask about curving, this will be addressed at the end of the course (if need arise), after the final exam has been graded.