General Course Info:
Course Goal: This is the first semester of the Honors Calculus sequence here at Penn. Math 116, and its continuation in the Spring, are intended to serve as an alternatives to the standard Math 114/Math 240 sequence. We aim to create a course for more advanced students which is simultaneously more rigorous, challenging, and (hopefully) more interesting.
Text: The text for the course will be "Calculus I", by Tom Apostol. I recently visited the bookstore and noticed that they were planning on charging $176.30 for the text. You might be able to find cheaper price if you shop around. For example, if you are a Barns & Noble member (becoming a member costs $25.00), you can order the text online for $128.60.
Work Together: It is important that you work together on assignments! Mathematics is a subject best learned in groups. We all have different methods of approaching problems. Oftentimes the person next to you holds the key to your understanding some difficult problem or concept. Forming "study groups" early on in the semester is probably the single best thing you can do to better understand the material covered in this course.
Exams: There will be two in-class exams. The first will be on October 6th, and the second on November 10th. Here is a sample first exam that Professor Harbater wrote up. Here is a sample second exam.
Necessary Unpleasantries:
Homework Policy:
Homework is due In Class every Friday. (Exception: The first homework assignment will be due Wednesday September 10th)
Late or improperly submitted homework will never be accepted. Late or improperly submitted homework will never be accepted. Late or improperly submitted homework will never be accepted. If you know in advance you will be unable to turn in homework when it's due, you should plan to turn it in ahead of time. If you are unavoidably prevented from submitting homework for a good reason, you still may not turn it in late. Religious holidays are not an excuse for late homework!!! If you know that there is an impending religious holiday, it is your responsibility to make arrangements to submit homework early. Since homework is only due once a week, this should be manageable. Your lowest homework score will be dropped to allow for missed assignments or for assignments that pose special difficulty.
Homework must be neat, well-organized, and legible. Ragged margins, multi-column and otherwise over-dense formats, and unstapled sheets are unacceptable. If your handwriting is difficult to read (as mine can be), type your homework (as I do). If you tend to scratch out or erase incorrect parts of solutions (as I do), do a rough draft or type your homework (as I do). Write in paragraphs, sentences, and English words. Use punctuation and conjunctions to indicate your flow of thought rather than arrows or telepathy. Shoot for lucidity rather than terseness.
Here's a link to a wonderful document containing advice for students who are beginning to learn how to write proofs.
Exam Policy: Exam policy is generally the province of faculty. You should go to the professor with any questions you may have about exam policy, not to me.
Final Course Grades: See the professor about how the various assignments get merged together to form a final grade. If you don't like your final grade, please don't ask me to do anything about it. The professor is the only one able to consider grade adjustments.
| Week Begining | Sections And Homework | Possible Quiz Over |
| 9/1/08 | None due this week. | |
| 9/8/08 | Problem Set 1: Due 9.10.08 | |
| 9/15/08 | Problem Set 2 | |
| 9/22/08 | Problem Set 3 | |
| 9/29/08 | Problem Set 4 | |
| 10/6/08 | Problem Set 5 | |
| 10/13/08 | Problem Set 6 | |
| 10/20/08 | Problem Set 7 | |
| 10/27/08 | Problem Set 8 | |
| 11/3/08 | Problem Set 9 | |
| 11/10/08 | Problem Set 10 | |
| 11/17/08 | Problem Set 11 | |
| 11/24/08 | Problem Set 12 | |
| 12/1/08 | Problem Set 13 | |