Math 120 Spring 2016 Section B

Precalculus

About this course

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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 and difficult problems, so even when the concepts are familiar, the problems may still be challenging.

Instructor: Gabriel Dorfsman-Hopkins
Email: gdh2[_at_]math.washington.edu
Office: PDL C-008-G
Class Hours:MWTh 6:30-7:50
Classroom: SMI 305
Office Hours:Tuesday 6:30-7:30 PM, Thursday 10:30-11:30 AM in PDL C-008-G
Textbook: Precalculus. Printed copies available at Professional Copy & Print, and EZ Copy N Print, on the ave.
Midterm 1 Date:Thursday, April 21
Midterm 2 Date:Thursday, May 12
Final Dates: Wednesday, June 8, 6:30-8:20, in SMI 305 (our classroom)
Syllabus: Can be found here
Homework: Twice weekly, due at 11:59 PM on Tuesdays and Fridays. Find it on WebAssign

Announcements

Quiz 5 and quiz 6 solutions are both here. The medians were 11/20 and 20/20 respectively. <\p>

Quiz 4 solutions are here. The median was 18/20 with a standard deviation of 4.02.

Quiz 3 solutions are here. The median was 15/20 with a standard deviation of 4.76.

Miterm 1 solutions are here. The median was 45/75, with a standard deviation of about 17 points. Therefore the middle 50 percent fell between 28-62, a large spread.

Quiz 2 solutions are here. The median was 9/20..., with a standard deviation of 5.56.

Quiz 1 Solutions are Up! The median was a 17/20! The standard deviation is 3.56.

Office Hours are set for 6:30-7:30 PM on Tuesdays and 10:30-11:30 AM on Thursdays. Last chance to send me an email about adjusting office hours is this week (April 4-8).

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.