MATH 241 F1H: Calculus III (Honors), Fall 2007
Professor A.J. Hildebrand
http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~hildebr/241/

General Information

• Date/time: MTWR 2:00 - 2:50
• Room: 142 Henry Administration Building
• Instructor: A.J. Hildebrand
• Instructor contact: Office 241 Illini Hall, phone 244-7721, email ajh@uiuc.edu. I check my email frequently, and you'll usually get an answer within hours (and sometimes minutes). When sending email, include the string "Math 241" in the subject line. This will ensure that the message gets prompt attention and doesn't get filed away as spam.
• Office hours: See the "Open House" below. In addition, I'm generally available Tuesdays and Thursdays right after class; just get a hold of me at the end of class. (On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have to leave right away since I have another class starting at 3 pm.)
• Open House: I will hold a weekly "Open House", tentatively scheduled for Wednesdays, 5 pm - 6 pm (and beyond if needed), in 241 Altgeld Hall, beginning with the second week of the semester. The Open House is intended as an informal office hour for students in my Math 241 class; take advantage of this opportunity! Check the course webpage for any announcements or changes in schedule.

Course Information

• Text and Syllabus: We will cover Chapters 11 - 14 of Edwards/Penney, Calculus (6th edition). A detailed departmental syllabus can be found under this link. This syllabus is intended for all 241 sections. I plan to follow it fairly closely, but not slavishly, and I may deviate from it slightly on occasion. I will also space out the exams a bit more evenly than suggested on the syllabus; e.g., the first exam will likely include part of Chapter 12. (Note that the number of hours per section in the above syllabus is based on a 3-lectures-per-week schedule; since we have one additional hour per week available, we have about 1/3 more lecture time per section.)
• About this course: This is the honors version of Math 241, the third semester calculus course. It qualifies for honors credit for students in the James Scholar or Campus Honors programs. The course is taught in small sections in four lecture/discussion hours per week, instead of the standard format of three hours of lectures (in large classes) and two hours of recitation (in small classes, run by TA's).
• Differences to the standard Math 241: The course uses the same text and covers the same material as the regular 241 sections, but in greater depth. It is more challenging and more labor-intensive, but also intellectually more rewarding than the standard version of 241. For example, we will cover theoretical material that in standard sections would often be skipped, we will do some proofs, and the homework assignments will include more difficult, "honors level" problems.
• Target audience: This course is not for everyone. If you are taking calculus simply because it's a required course, or if you just want to acquire a working knowledge of calculus to apply to other fields (there is absolutely nothing wrong with those motivations), you are better served by standard 241 classes. However, if you want to get challenged beyond the routine and experience the satisfaction you get from solving such challenges, and if you are curious about what goes on behind the scenes and why a particular formula or recipe works, this may be the right course for you.
• Switching sections: If you find that this course does not work out for you, you can always switch to one of the standard 241 sections. Since we use the same text and follow the same syllabus as the other 241 sections, the transition should be easy. (Note that you have to meet the add/drop deadlines to switch on your own; if you miss these deadlines, you may still be able to switch, with instructor approval.)
• Getting into this course:. This is one of two honors sections for Math 241 (the other is G1H, at 3-3:50). Enrollment in these sections is strictly limited, requires departmental approval as well as meeting certain prerequisites, such as top scores on AP exams. The course tends to fill up, and there often is a waiting list. If you are not registered and are trying to get in, you (1) have to meet the requirements, (2) get the appropriate departmental approval, and (3) there has to be a space available in at least one of the sections; send email to advising@math.uiuc.edu for more information. Note that I, as the instructor, have no control over registrations, and I cannot grant the required "departmental approval"; that must be done by one of the Undergraduate Advisors in 313 Altgeld.

Homework

• Homework schedule and content: There will be daily non-graded HW assignments, consisting mainly of routine problems, and weekly assignments that will be collected and graded. The graded assignments will include "honors problems"; these are problems that are more challenging (but still "doable"), typically found near the end of the exercise sections; some of these may be in the form of miniature projects. Grading will be based not only on the correctness of the solution, but also on the quality of the write-up and the work shown; in particular, an answer alone (like the answers to odd-numbered problems given in the back of the book), without justification, won't earn credit.
• Drop scores: At the end of the semester, the lowest HW score will be dropped, and the remaining scores determine your HW grade.
• Turning in homework: The graded assignments are due in class; assignments dropped off in mailboxes will not be accepted; however, you can turn in an assignment, in person in my office, 241 Illini Hall, any time before the class hour in which it is due.
• Late assignments: Late assignments will not be accepted. However, if you have a legitimate, documented, excuse for missing an assignment (e.g., illness), I will mark the assignment as excused (see the section "Missed/late homework policy" below).
• Group work policy: Group work on the homework problems is fine and, indeed, encouraged, provided you write up solutions yourself, using your own words. Group work should not be a one-sided affair, and it also should not be a division of labor, with everybody doing only a subset of the problems and passing out solutions to the rest of the group. Everybody should contribute, and the goal should be for everybody in the group to end up understanding all of the problems.

Exams

• Midterm exams: There will be three midterm Hour Exams, given during the regular class hour and spread out evenly over the semester. I will poll the class before deciding on exact dates. Expect the first one to be in late September or early October, the second in late October, and the third in late November.
• Final Exam: The Final Exam will be cumulative and will be about twice as long as an Hour Exam. It will be given Saturday, December 15, 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm, the slot assigned for this class according to the Fall 2007 Final Exam schedule.
• Note on the Final Exam date: The above slot happens to be the second-last possible final exam slot. It will force all of us (students, instructor, and graders) to stay on campus longer than we might wish. That's just the luck of the draw - I have no say in this matter.
  Keep the Final Exam date in mind when making travel plans for the Christmas break. You won't be able to take the final earlier because of travel plans. University regulations are very strict about taking the final at the assigned slot. Only in very exceptional cases are students permitted to take the final at a different time, and such decisions cannot be made by the instructor, but require approval at higher levels (from the Associate Chair of the Mathematics Department all the way up to the Office of the Provost), and such approvals are granted only in very special cases.
• Calculator policy: Calculators are not allowed in exams; the exam problems will be written such that they do not require a calculator; calculators would be a hindrance and distraction, and in most cases completely useless. You do not need to bring a calculator to class. (I don't carry a calculator with me either.) Occasionally, you may need a calculator to do a homework problem, though the majority of homework problems will be of the no-calculator variety. For the calculator problems, a basic calculator is sufficient; you do not need graphing or programmable calculators.

Grading Policy

• Course grade: The course grade will be based on homework, midterm exams, and the final exam, weighted approximately as follows:
  • Homework: 1/6
  • Midterm Exams: 1/6 each (1/2 for all three midterms)
  • Final Exam: 1/3
• Missed exam policy: I do not give make-up exams. If you miss an exam and have a valid excuse, I will mark the exam as excused; the exam will then not be taken into account when computing the overall exam average. Valid excuses include illness, an out-of-town job interview, etc., and must be documented by a letter from the Dean or Emergency Dean; see the Emergency Dean's website for more information on this.
• Missed/late homework policy: I do not accept late homework. Since the lowest homework score will be dropped, you can afford to miss one homework and still get a perfect homework average. If you can't turn in an assignment due to illness or some other valid excuse, the same policy as for missed exams applies: With a Dean's letter as documentation, I will mark the assignment as excused; that is, it will not count towards the homework average (and you will still have the drop score).

How to succeed in this class

• Attend the lectures. The lectures and the text complement, rather than duplicate, each other; reading the text is no substitute for attending the lectures. I take lecturing seriously, and I put considerable thought and effort into preparing the lectures. Instead of simply reading straight from the book, I try to put my own spin on the material, focusing on topics that I consider more important, or concepts that are more difficult to understand and which the book doesn't explain very well, while leaving more routine material for you to read up on your own. I also try to put the material into a broader context and emphasize general ideas and the "big picture".
• Read the text. By the same token, going solely be the lectures is not sufficient. For one thing, there is not enough lecture time to cover every topic in our syllabus in detail during the lectures, without sacrificing depth and rushing through the material. Thus, I will usually pick and choose some key topics, discuss those in class in some depth, and ask you to read up on more routine material. (The class diary on the course webpage will have specific guides as to what you should read up on your own.) In addition, the book has lots of great computer-generated pictures that help visualize concepts, and aid in understanding the material. Such pictures are hard to reproduce on the blackboard; and I will often refer you to the text for the illustrations. Here are some suggestions on how to read the text:
  • Do the reading right after the lecture (or the same day), when the lecture is still fresh in your mind. Don't wait with the reading till the homework is due.
  • Read each section in linear order, from beginning to end, as you would read a novel. The material in the text is usually arranged in a logical order, with each concept building naturally on the previous one. You get the most out of it if you read the section in this order. Resist the temptation to treat the text as a dictionary/encyclopedia, looking up concepts and formulas only when you need them in a homework problem!
  • Don't neglect the pictures. A picture can often explain a concept better than a passage of prose.
  • While the bulk of the reading should be done after I have covered the section in class, it is useful to read, or at least skim, the text of the upcoming section ahead of each lecture. This will help you in understanding the lecture, and it may uncover any difficult points in the material that I should go over in the lecture.
• Take the homework seriously. The homework, both the non-graded and the graded variety, is an essential part of this course, and requires a substantial investment of time. If you skip the non-graded homework, or blindly copy someone else's homework without really understanding what's going on, you'll be in trouble during exams.

Course Web Page