College Algebra and Analytic Geometry
Mathematics W1003
Fall 2007 Section 002

The class is held Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00 AM to 10:55 AM in the Mathematics Building room 520.

Links:

• Important Announcements (Check weekly)
  
• Course Information
  
• Grading and Submitting Work
  
• Schedule of Lectures and Homework
  
• My homepage
  
• Registrar's Course Information Page
  
• Courseworks

Announcements

November 15, 2007:

• Solutions to the midterm are on courseworks.
• Also, remember that my office hours have changed. See the section Office Hours and Additional Help below for the new times.

October 31, 2007:

• As I mentioned in class, I mislabeled the homework, so I will let you turn in your homework 14 on Wednesday. Don't forget to do homework 15 as well.
• There is no class on Monday because of the academic holiday.
• I will try to post a practice midterm on courseworks by tomorrow. The midterm, which will be on next Monday, will go through the section about graphing polynomials.
• I should finish grading all of your old homework by Monday, so you can pick it up then.

October 3rd, 2007:

• I have changed the date that the homework is due. Instead of Monday, it will be due on Wednesday.
• For Quiz 3, the approximate grade ranges are A (9 and above), B (4.5-9), and C (4.5 and below).

October 1st, 2007:

• When I give the final grades, there will be plusses and minuses (like A- or B+), but for now I will just give you an approximate grade range. Assume that if you are near the top of the range you get a grade plus and if you are at the bottom, you get a grade minus. Approximate grade ranges for Quiz 1 are A (11.3 and above), B (8-11.3), C (4.4-8), D (.8-4.4), F (.8 and below). For Quiz 2 we have A (11.6 and up), B (8.7-11.6), C (5.8-8.7), D (2.9-5.8), F (2.9 and below).
• I have put up some practice problems for the midterm and their solutions on Courseworks. Please pay close attention to the solutions because it includes a list of common errors.
• Based on your responses to my survey, I am changing my office hours to Mondays 11:00 AM-11:30 AM and Thursdays 4:00 PM-4:30 PM.

September 1st, 2007:

• There will be a pretest on Wednesday, September 6th, which does not count towards your grade. The pretest will cover material that you should know, but it will be reviewed in the first week or two of class.

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Course Information

Instructor: Shaffiq Welji
My office is in the Mathematics Building room 408. You can also reach me via e-mail at welji@math.columbia.edu.

Office Hours and Additional Help: Shaffiq's office hours are Tuesdays from 4:15 PM to 4:45 PM and Wednesdays 11 AM to 11:30 AM in 405 Mathematics (check 408, too just in case). I can be available at additional times by appointment. As always, help is available (for free!) in the math department's Milbank Help Room, which is open pretty much all day, every day in room 333 of Milbank Hall on the Barnard College campus (across Broadway from Columbia). A more detailed schedule is available here. There is also paid private tutoring available.

Text: The text for this course is J. Stewart, L. Redlin, and S. Watson. Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus. Fifth edition. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2006. (ISBN 0-534-49277-0). The book is available at the Columbia University bookstore, but the cheapest place I can find the book is on AddALL (http://www.addall.com).

Course Description: This course is intended for students who wish to continue their mathematical studies through calculus. Although the course is not exclusively for such students, preparation for calculus is the primary goal of this course. The secondary goal is to develop problem solving skills which will be useful in any further mathematics course. The focus of the course will be on functions and important examples of functions such as polynomials, rational functions, exponentials, and trigonometric functions.

Most of the material we will cover in class is also covered in the book. We will begin with a (somewhat brief) review of preliminary algebraic and geometric concepts (chapter one). We will spend the majority of the course studying functions (chapters two through seven). We will wrap up the course with a few miscellaneous and useful topics (parts of chapters eight through ten). And we will end the course with an introduction to ideas leading to calculus (chapters eleven and twelve).

Important Course Details:

• Most of the homework problems you will submit will be those for which you will have answers. Therefore, just writing an answer does not constitute a correct solution. All solutions must be clear, coherent, organized, and thoroughly considered explanations for your solution.
• Because you will have solutions for the majority of problems that you submit, you need to check your answers. If you do a problem and get it correct, make sure you understand why it is correct, and if you get a problem wrong, understand why you missed the problem.
• You will receive some additional problems to consider, which you are not required to submit in your homework. You must still consider these problems, and I highly recommend that you write them up as you would a regular homework problem, but they will not be graded. However, students will be randomly required to complete problems at the board, and as a class, we will discuss the solutions presented. These presentations will be a minor part of your final grade, and the grade will be based on correctness, how thoroughly thought out the ideas are, clarity, and coherence.
• Because students will be randomly selected to complete problems at the board, attendance is required. And not being present when you are randomly selected to present a problem will result in a zero grade for that presentation. Absences will only be excused if followed with a note from a doctor or a dean.
• Calculators are not to be used in any way during this course.
• Decimal solutions (like 2.5 or 3.45) are not to be used in any solutions you submit. Rather, you must write all of your solutions using fractions.

Warning:

• I expect you all to work two to three hours per week at home for every one hour you spend in class. So, you will find that you will have lots of homework to complete. However, by my calculation, the homework will take you far less time than the eight to twelve hours this rule would imply.
• I do expect you to read the book, so I will not necessarily cover every concept that you need to know in class. I reserve class time for discussing topics that need discussion--difficult topics, topics not explained well in the book, frequently missed topics, and things like that. However, if there is a topic that you are expected to know, it will appear in at least two of following three places: in the book, in class, or in the homework.

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Grading and Submitting Work

Grading: The following grading scheme is tentative.

• Homework: 10%
• Quizzes: 20%
• First Midterm: 20%
• Second Midterm: 20%
• Final: 30%

Homework: Homework will be assigned for every class, and assignments are due just before every class. Submit your assignments by 9:00 AM on Mondays and Wednesdays outside of room 407 Mathematics Building to the box labeled "Shaffiq Welji / Precalculus In". Homework will be returned to the box labeled "Shaffiq Welji / Precalculus Out". Late homework will not be accepted under any circumstances. Although homework does not contribute to a large fraction of your grade, it is an essential component of learning the subject. Make sure your homework is stapled and has clear, coherent, and organized solutions. No solution will be considered fully correct if it is not clear, coherent, and organized. I primarily grade homework for completeness, but I do spot check for correctness. I will provide you with the answers to your homework, so you are responsible for making sure all of the problems you submit are correct.

Presentation of Problems: This will be discussed in detail in class, but for some preliminary information, see the section labeled Important Course Details above.

Quizzes: We will have quizzes about once a week. These will be very short (about ten to fifteen minutes) and about three questions long. These should provide you with some feedback.

Tests: We will have two midterms and one final, which will be announced well ahead of time in the Schedule of Lectures and Homework. No calculators are allowed on any of these tests. In fact, make sure all electronic devices are completely put away during all tests. The final exam will be given according to the registrar's schedule. If you let me know about any test conflicts well ahead of time (at least a week or two), I might be able to make alternate arrangements. However, there will be no make-up tests without a note from a dean.

Collaboration: Although collaboration is encouraged, any work you submit for homework must be your own write-up (which means taking the ideas and notes from the collaborative effort and turning those notes and ideas into coherent, clear explanations). Copying homework will not be tolerated. Any cheating on exams or quizzes will be handled severely.

Notes: The course will be moving quickly. This means that you will have to keep up. In order to help you do this, I have a number of suggestions for how to study. Active participation is encouraged. Please ask me any questions that you have. Mathematics is not a spectator sport, and you cannot learn without questioning and doing exercises. Your work for every class should consist of:

1. Read the relevant section(s) before class.
2. Come to class.
3. Review and reread the same section(s) after class.
4. Do the homework (even the problems that don't have to be turned in).
5. Come to the help room or office hours to answer any remaining questions.

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Schedule of Lectures and Homework

This schedule is tentative. It might change as the class progresses. Please check regularly for changes and updated homework information.

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