Math 120 Summer 2017 Section A

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

Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays will be lectures, and you will be responsible for the material covered in each on. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be quiz sections where you will work through longer problems in groups, and go over homework problems.

Instructor: Gabriel Dorfsman-Hopkins
TA: Alessandro Slammitz
Emails:

• Gabriel: gdh2[_at_]math.washington.edu
• Alessandro: aslammitz[_at_]uw.edu

• Gabriel: Monday 11-12, Wednesday 1-2, in the Math Study Center.
• Alessandro: Tuesday 1-2, Thursday 11-12, in the Math Study Center.

Announcements

Midterm 1 solutions are here. The median was 33/60.

Here I will post announcements, as well as solutions and statistics to each quiz and test.

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.