Syllabus for Math 95, Spring 2011

MTH 95 – Intermediate Algebra - Spring 2010 – Item 7363 Section M – 5 Credits

Saturdays, 9am-11:50am, and 1:00pm-2:50 pm, BHL 108

David C Froemke Office: BHL 110

Office Hours: Saturday, 3pm-4pm or by appointment

Email: dfroemke@clark.edu PH 503 / 686 – 5040

Also : http://davemath.blogspot.com/ to check daily log and homework assignments

Course Description

A continuation of MATH 090. Factoring, rational expressions, radical

expressions, rational exponents, quadratic equations, exponential and

logarithmic functions. Designed for the student who is prepared to take

algebra at an accelerated pace. Prerequisite: A grade of "C" or better in

MATH 090 or recommending score on placement test. We will cover Chapters 5, 6, 7, section 8.9, and chapters 9, 10, 11 this term.

Text

Elementary & Intermediate Algebra, 3^rd ed., by Tussy and Gustafson, 2006.

Grading

10% Daily Quizzes

20% Written Projects (10% each)

40% Two Exams (20% each)

30% Final Exam

No extra credit of any sort is available. I follow the standard percentage break-down for letter grades (94% and up is an A, 90-93.9% an A-, 86-89.9% a B+, 83-85.9% a B, 80-82.9% a B-, and so on).

Daily Quizzes

Most days will have a quiz or two of some sort – either I’ll collect one of the in-class activities, or give a quiz from the homework due that day. The lowest three quiz scores will be dropped; no make-ups are given.

Exams

I’ll distribute a study guide the week before the three exams. Make-ups will only be given in the case of dire emergencies and with proper documentation. Exams are given during regular class periods, and will take place during the first half of class. Exams will be graded and returned the next class period; missed questions can be redone for partial credit.

Schedule

• Saturday, April 23rd: first project due
• Saturday, May 7^th: first exam
• Saturday, May 21^st: second project due
• Saturday, May 28^th: second exam
• Saturday, June 11^th: comprehensive final exam

Projects

We’ll have two written projects this term. I’ll hand out the project assignments the week before they’re due, and post both them and a writing sample to show the kind of work I’m looking for. The projects will be returned the week after they’re collected, and you can re-write it to improve your grade.

Final Exam

The final exam is Saturday, June 11, at 9am in our regular classroom. The final is comprehensive. No make-up is available for the final.

Homework and Class Flow

We’ll have a homework assignment every day. The class will start with discussing the homework in small groups, comparing your answers with your neighbors. The rest of our time together (unless we have an exam) will be spent between lecture, discussion, and group-work activities. Keeping up on the homework is necessary for success in this class! Since we only meet once a week, we’ll cover an extensive amount of material in one class session – make sure to pace yourself with the homework over the week between class sessions.

Academic Dishonesty

Don’t cheat! I follow the college guidelines for academic dishonesty.

Resources and Suggestions

It’s a good idea to plan for 10 to 15 hours of work doing homework and studying every week. That’s 2-3 hours a day! The course moves quickly, and later sections build off of previous material; keeping up on your studying is necessary for success. Besides my lectures and the book, my office hours and the Math Help Center (http://web.clark.edu/math/helpsess.htm, in BH 107) are invaluable resources.

If you have a disability and need an accommodation, please make arrangements to meet with me outside of class. Disability Support Services can be reached at (360) 992-2314, or on the web at http://www.clark.edu/student_services/disability_support.php

You are responsible for the material in the book, and anything covered in class; this includes any in-class announcements that might be made (such as any changes to the schedule). Attendance is not taken, but is expected, and regular attendance is crucial for your success with this material.

A final note

This class moves QUICKLY, and covers a lot of material. Keeping up on things, and doing some math almost every day, is crucial to your success. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or frantic, or lost in the material, please don’t hesitate to contact me – by email or during office hours are the best. My job is to make this class a comfortable and appropriate place for you to learn the mathematics, so let me know how I can best help you with the material!

Post for Saturday, March 5th - last post of the term

Hello everyone - the term is grinding to a close. Whew! It's been a wild ride. Next week is the final, and after that Spring Break. Me, I'm doing some housecleaning and catching up on a busy naps schedule...

The final is comprehensive, and covers everything we've done over the course of the term. That's chapters 1 - 5, section 8.8, and sections 12.1 - 12.3. Expect to see some expressions to simplify, some equations to solve, some functions to interpret and use, and some story problems to solve. We'll also graph lines, systems of lines, and linear inequalities, and solve systems of equations (with both 2 and 3 variables). It sounds scary when I use the technical language, but take your time and we'll get there.

You can use a calculator and a page of notes for the exam, just like the first two exams - but we will NOT get a redo, so make sure you check your work and take time to be careful.

In addition to the material we've covered on the first two exams, we'll have some material on systems of three equations with three variables. Here are some problems to look at:

(12.1 is a review of chapter 4)

12.2: 11, 13, 25, 27, 31, 35, 37, 41, 45


12.3: 7 - 23 odd

Good luck, and see you Saturday!

-Dave

Post for Saturday, Feb 26th

Hi everyone,

We had the second exam today. How'd it go? We'll spend some time next week for redoing it and reviewing for the final.

Speaking of the final, it's in two weeks - on March 12th. It's comprehensive, so be ready! We will NOT get redos on the final.

We also talked about functions - section 8.8 from the book. Next week we'll work through sections 12.1, 12.2, and 12.3 in the morning, and then redo the exams and review for the final in the afternoon. The week after that we'll take the final and that's it for this term.

Homework for next week:

Section 8.8: 1 - 55 odd, 65-79 odd, 121, 123

See you then!

-Dave

Post for February 19th

Hi everyone!

We finished chapter 5 today. Then we did part two of the activity about patterns of blocks, talked about slope, and did some exam review.

Next week is the second exam, so fire up for that! It'll cover chapters 3, 4, and 5. We've already done most of the stuff on chapter 3, but since it'll come up again in chapter 4 (graphing lines and solving linear equations) it's good to review.

The project is also due next week. Whee!

Here's the schedule for the rest of the term:

Next week (Feb 26th): exam in the morning, section 8.8 (more on functions) in the afternoon.

March 5th: sections 12.1-12.3 in the morning, redo exam and review in the afternoon.

March 12th: comprehensive final exam. That's the only thing scheduled for this day!



Here are some ideas for topics to review for next week's exam:

Graphing lines
Slopes and intercepts
Solving linear equations
Story problems with linear equations
Functions and function notation
Graphing systems of lines to find their intersection point (unless they're parallel or the same line)
Solving linear systems of equations
Story problems with systems of equations
Solving systems of linear inequalities by graphing
Exponents and exponent rules
Scientific notation
Polynomials and polynomial operations

Whew! It seems like a lot when I write it all out like that. Don't worry about dividing a polynomial by a polynomial - we'll only be dividing by one term (by a monomial).

And here are the page numbers for the exam review sections. My suggestion is to start with the cumulative review and then see where you need more practice.

Chapter 3 test: pages 302-304
Chapter 4 test: pages 372-373
Chapter 5 test: pages 464-465

Chapters 1-5 cumulative review: pages 466-467

I haven't given specific problems - practice as many as you need to. For some of us, that's just the cumulative review, and for some of us that's all 144 problems from the three chapter tests and the cumulative review - and maybe even more. But if you know how to do all the problems above you're ready for the exam.

Good luck and have fun,

-Dave

Post for February 12th

Hi all,

Today we covered section 4.5 on graphing linear inequalities, and the first three sections of chapter 5 (exponents and scientific notation). Next week we'll finish chapter 5 in the morning, and cover section 8.8 (more on functions) plus some time for review in the afternoon. I hope to get someone in to proctor course evaluations, too - I'll post later in the week when I know more.

I'd suggest working on the project this week - we can do all of it except the last question right now (we'll talk about the last stuff next week). But the deadline's February 26th, as posted on what I handed out in class.

I am also revising the blog post below to reflect what I handed out in class: the two changes I made below are that it's due Saturday Feb 26th (instead of Sunday the 27th); and we do not have to graph the line in question 4 (but you can if that helps you find the equation of the line, or just for fun).

Homework for next week:

Section 4.5: 5-14 all, 15-43 EOO, 52

Section 5.1: 7-43 EOO, 49-125 EOO

Section 5.2: 11-123 EOO, 125

Section 5.3: 13-73 all that end in 3, 81-95 odd

See you next week,

-Dave

Class for Saturday, Feb 5th

Hi everyone - today we worked through most of chapter 4 in the morning, and then corrected the exams in the afternoon. What a day!

Next week we'll finish chapter 4 by graping inequalities, and then start chapter 5. Here's a rough timeline for the rest of the term:

Feb 12th: finish chapter 4 and start chapter 5

Feb 19th: finish chapter 5 and review for the exam

Feb 26th: 2nd exam on section 3.8 (functions), chapter 4 (linear systems of two equations), and chapter 5 (exponents and polynomials), and section 8.8 (more on functions)

March 5th: sections 12.1, 12.2 and 12.3 (linear systems of three equations) and exam 2 redo/review

March 12th: comprehenisve final exam.

We've got a lot left to do this term - fire up!

Here's the homework for Saturday, Feb 12th

Section 4.2: 3-11 odd, 13-73 all that end in 3, and all that end in 9

Section 4.3: 3-11 odd, 13-73 all that end in 3 ,and 75-87 odd

Section 4.4: 17 - 51 odd

Good luck, and see you next week!

-Dave

Class from Saturday, January 29

Hi all - we started today with the first exam. How'd you do?

In the afternoon we covered section 3.8 (functions) and 4.1 (systems of linear equations).

Next week in the morning we'll get quite far through chapter 4 - I hope to finish it out. We'll see!

In the afternoon we'll get the exams back, and get a chance to redo missed problems for partial credit. It'll be a wild ride.

Homework for next week:

Section 3.8: 1 - 67 odd

Section 4.1: 13 - 53 EOO


-Dave