Math 21A: Calculus (Winter, 2017)

Math Placement Requirement (Important!)

You must satisfy the MATH PLACEMENT REQUIREMENT (MPR) to be enrolled in this course. Every student who has not met the MPR will be ADMINISTRATIVELY DROPPED by the Math Department after the first week of classes.

If you have not previously passed the MPR, you should have been automatically registered for one of the Winter Quarter testing sessions. If not, you can fill out the manual registration form at the link on this webpage to sign up for the last Winter Quarter MPR Testing Session.

To be enrolled in MAT 21A you must take the MPR and get a total score of 35 or more with a trigonometry sub-score of 3 or more.

Important Dates

• Instruction begins: Monday, January 9
• Last day to add: Wednesday, January 25
• Last day to drop: Monday, February 6
• Last class: Friday, March 17
• Academic holidays: Monday, January 16; Monday, February 20

TA information

Alaina Gibbons, akgibbons@math.ucdavis.edu, MSB 2232
Henry Kvinge, hkvinge@math.ucdavis.edu, MSB 2129
Carson Rogers, csrogers@math.ucdavis.edu, MSB 2129

Discussion sections:

• A01, R 2:10-3:00pm, Olson 217, Carson Rogers (Calculus Room T 5-6pm, Th 6-7pm);
• A02, R 6:10-7:00pm, Wellman 230, Henry Kvinge (Calculus Room Th 1-3pm);
• A03, R 7:10-8:00pm, Wellman 230, Alaina Gibbons (Calculus Room W and F 5-6pm);
• A04, R 3:10-4:00pm, Wellman 1, Carson Rogers (Calculus Room T 5-6pm, Th 6-7pm);
• A05, R 5:10-6:00pm, Wellman 230, Henry Kvinge (Calculus Room Th 1-3pm);
• A06, R 8:10-9:00pm, Wellman 230, Alaina Gibbons (Calculus Room W and F 5-6pm).

Calculus Room

The calculus room is located in the ground floor of the Mathematical Science Building (MSB 1118). It is staffed with MAT 21 TAs from 1:00–7:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. The TAs can answer questions about the homework and course material.

Grade

Grades will be based on lecture problems, two midterms and the final exam, weighted as follows:

• 10%: Lecture Problems
• 25%: Midterm 1
• 25%: Midterm 2
• 40%: Final

There will be no make-up exams. If you require special accomodation in taking the exams, please let me know well in advance of each exam. If you miss one of the midterms for an excused, documented reason, your final exam will count 65% of your grade. If you miss both midterms for excused, documented reasons, your final exam will count 90% of your grade.

Lecture problems are assigned in Canvas and you answer them in Canvas. They open during lecture and close just before the next lecture. These problems as designed to make you think about each lecture and learn the material. You are allowed to talk to your fellow students about the problems to work out the answers! The lowest 3 scores will be dropped.

Ungraded homework problems from the book will be assigned in Canvas each week. They will be discussed in the discussion sessions. These homeworks will not be collected or graded, but the midterms and final will be based on the homework problems. Don't expect to pass this course unless you do the homework.

The course grade will be determined on an absolute scale with slight modifications using the normal distribution curve if appropriate. An approximate guideline is

• 85% - 100% = A-, A, A+
• 70% - 85% = B-, B, B+
• 55% - 70% = C-, C, C+
• 45% - 55% = D-, D, D+
• Less than 45% = F

Exam dates

The Midterms will be in class:

• Midterm 1: Friday, February 3
• Midterm 2: Friday, March 3

• Final: Monday, March 20, 2017, 3:30–5:30pm in Young 198

All exams are closed book. No calculators or other electronic devices are permitted.

Exam scores will be posted on Canvas.

Syllabus

The department syllabus for MAT 21A is here. We will cover the following topics from the text:

• Chapter 1: Functions
• Chapter 2: Limits of functions and continuity
• Chapter 3: Derivatives
• Chapter 4: Applications of derivatives

Text

The text (Thomas' Calculus) is a new (13th) edition (Early Transcendentals), which comes in both print and digital form. Homework problems will be assigned from the text, but you can use either the print or the digital form. You aren't required to buy the digital text if you don't want to. Access to the online content for this course has been arranged at a reduced cost through the UC Davis Inclusive Access Program and will be billed to your MyBill account after the 10th day of class. Please visit http://inclusiveaccess.ucdavis.edu for your access code, billing details, opt out info, and current access status. In case you need more information, please contact studentservices@math.ucdavis.edu.

The numbering of homework problems and sections in older editions of the text may differ from those in the newest edition, so I recommend that you get the 13th edition (which will also be used in subsequent quarters of the MAT 21 calculus sequence). If you do use the older 12th edition, it is entirely at your own risk, but you may find this transition guide useful.

Other Resources

Calculus Textbook by Gilbert Strang. The entire content of this book is available free of charge in the pdf format. The chapters we cover in MAT21A roughly corresponds to Chapters 1 - 4 of Strang. It is quite handy to carry the whole calculus textbook in your smartphone or iPod.

Calculus on the Web by Gerardo Mendoza and Dan Reich. Their "Calculus Book I" corresponds to our MAT 21A.

Sage for Undergraduates by Gregory V. Bard. Sage is a free open-source software system that can help you to define and plot functions, take their derivates and integrals! Also have a look at the online tutorial. You can sign up for a free account on the SageMathCloud.