Math 120 Spring 2016; KAUST

Precalculus

About this course

Read This

This course is designed to prepare you for learning calculus. This course will help you develop the skills and stamina necessary to solve lengthy, multi-step problems, involving a variety of pre-calculus mathematical concepts. We will also work on developing algebraic sophistication, and confidence. There will be a lot of practice with many mathematical methods.

We’ll cover a large amount of material. You have likely seen much of the content before, but many topics will be new. The course is meant to train you to deal with long problems which may require you to apply skills from multiple topics, so even when the concepts are familiar, the problems may still be challenging.
The KAUST section does not have quiz sections. Instead, the lecture is 80 minutes long rather than the 50 which is standard for Math 120. I do not want to be lecturing for 80 minutes each day. Instead, I will lecture for 50 minutes, we will have a break, and then we will finish the class with a couple of work problems related to the day's lecture. This part of the class will be very valuable, as you will have the opportunity to work through a problem and get instant feedback from me or others in your class. Sometimes these will be the homework problems that I see as possibly difficult.

Instructor: Gabriel Dorfsman-Hopkins
Email: gdh2[_at_]math.washington.edu
Office: PDL C-008-G
Class Hours:MWTh 6:30-7:50
Classroom: SAV 158 on Monday and Wednesday, and PAR 206 on Thursdays.
Office Hours:TO BE ANNOUNCED
Textbook: Precalculus. Printed copies available at Professional Copy & Print, and EZ Copy N Print, on the ave.
Midterm 1 Date:Monday, October 24
Midterm 2 Date:Monday, November 14
Final Dates:TBA
Syllabus: Can be found here
Homework: Twice weekly, due at 11:59 PM on Tuesdays and Fridays. Find it on WebAssign

Announcements

Attendence

The KAUST program is monitoring your attendence, so I will be calling roll each day and reporting it weekly to KAUST.

Grading Scheme

Homework: 15%
Quizzes: 10%
Midterm Exams (2): 20% and 25% for the lower and higher scores respectively
Final Exam: 30%

Grades are curved, so that your course grade will reflect your performance relative to the rest of the class rather than a fixed percentage scheme. Historically, the median grade in Math 120 is in the range of 2.5-3.0. If you get at least 95% overall, you will receive a 4.0. If you get at least 70% overall, you will receive at least a 2.0.

A grade of 2.5 or better in Math 120 is required to move on to Math 124. You will probably need to average about 70% or better on exams and quizzes to acheive this.

Resources

Electronic Version of the Textbook
Past Math 120 Exams
Math 120 Course Materials
Webassign help
Syllabus

Tentative Schedule

This may be adjusted as we move through the quarter. I will post an announcement and send out an email if a change to the schedule is made. Please read the chapter corresponding to a given lecture BEFORE the lecture, and come with any questions prepared.