MATH 121, Section 12   PRECALCULUS   Fall 2000

Time: 4:10 - 5:00 MTWF             Room: Math 311
Instructor: Dr. Scott Stevens      Email: stevens@selway.umt.edu
Office: Math 302                           Tel: 243-6714
Office Hours: 1:10 - 2:00 and 3:10 - 4:00 MTW or by appointments.
 
Prerequisite:A decent grasp on the material in Math 100: Intermediate Algebra. For most students this means that it hasn't been too long since you took it and you got at least a solid C or you just finished three years of college prep high school math and remember most of it.
 
Text: Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus, 3rd. Edition, Stewart, Redlin & Watson. We will cover the material in Chapters 1 - 7. Chapter 1 should be a review for most of and we will only cover a few sections (1,5,6,7,10). If you find that you are not familiar with most of Chapter 1, you should consider dropping back to Math 100 or spending considerable time in reviewing that material.
 
Description of Course: This course is intended to prepare you for Calculus. We will focus on the standard functions whose domains and ranges are subsets of the real numbers. These are primarily polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric functions.
 
Calculators: A graphing calculator is required in this course. Class Demos are given with a TI-82 or 85, however any version will suffice. Calculators with symbolic manipulation capability (TI-89, TI-92, HP-48) give too much advantage and are not permitted during tests.
Exams: There are 4, 100-point, in-class exams of which the best 3 scores will count. There will be at least one week notice before each exam. There is also a comprehensive 200-point final exam.
Quizzes:There will be at least 28, short, 5-point quizzes, the best 20 will count towards your grade. You should prepared for a quiz everyday except on test days and the day after a test. This is used as a motivating technique and therefore the dates will not be disclosed beforehand. Quiz questions will be taken directly from the homework assignments.
Homework: Homework will be assigned but not collected. It is a word to the wise that you do ALL of the suggested problems. Not only will this help in your quiz grades but will keep you up to date on the material.

Make-up Policy: Make up exams will be given only if the student provides a verifiable excuse prior to the exam date. If this is not done, a score of zero will be recorded. In this case, it may count as the lowest exam grade to be dropped. There will be No Make-up Quizzes.

Grades: Your grades will be based on the following:

best 3 of 4 tests @ 100 points each        300
best 20 quizzes @ 5 points each             100
comprehensive final                                  200
----                                                          ----
Total                                                           600
Important Dates:
Other Stuff:
Two copies of the text and student solutions manual (worked out answers to odd problems) and one copy of the student study guide are on reserve at the library (2 hr during the day and can take out overnight).
Carol Ulsafer is the course coordinator for this class. This means she is the first person to contact with complaints, questions, etc. about this course that cannot be resolved with the instructor. Corbin 269, culsafer@selway.umt.edu, 243-6712.

 
Tentative Schedule
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY  FRIDAY
Week 1
Sept. 4 
Labor Day
Sept. 5 
1.1
Sept. 6 
1.5
Sept. 8
1.6
Week 2
Sept 11
1.7
Sept 12
1.10
Sept 13
2.1
Sept. 15
2.2
 
Week 3
Sept. 18
2.3
Sept 19
2.3
 
Sept 20
Review
Sept 22
Test # 1
Week 4
Sept. 25
2.4
Sept 26
2.4/2.5
Sept 27
2.5
Sept. 29
2.6
Week 5
Oct 2
2.6/2.7
 
Oct 3
2.7
Oct 4
3.1
 

Oct 6

3.2
Week 6
Oct. 9
3.2
 
Oct 10
Leeway
Oct 11
Review
Oct. 13
Test # 2
Week 7
Oct. 16
3.5
Oct 17
3.5
Oct 18
4.1
Oct. 20
4.2
Week 8
Oct. 23
4.3
Oct 24
4.3
Oct 25
4.4
Oct 27
4.5
Week 9
Oct. 30
4.6
Oct 31
4.6
Nov 1
Review
Nov 3
Test # 3
Week 10
Nov. 6
6.1
Nov 7 
Election Day
Nov 8
6.2
Nov 10 
Veterans Day
Week 11
Nov. 13
6.3
Nov 14
5.1
Nov 15
5.2
Nov. 17
5.3
Week 12
Nov. 20
5.3
 
Nov 21
5.4
Nov 22
Thanksgiving
Nov 24
Thanksgiving
Week 13
Nov. 27
5.4
 
Nov 28
7.1
Nov 29
Review
Dec 1
Test #4
Week 14
Dec 4
7.1 - 7.2
 
Dec 5
7.2
Dec 6
7.3
Dec. 8
7.4
Week 15
Dec. 11
7.5
 
Dec 12
7.5
Dec 13
Review
Dec. 15
Review
Week 16
Final Exam: Wednesday, Dec. 20
Underground Lecture Hall
Time: 6:00-8:00 p.m.