University of Pennsylvania




Math 240 Calculus III Spring 2011









Professor :  Ryan Blair




Email : ryblair-A.T-math.upenn.edu




Office : DRL 4N59




Office Hours : Wednesday  5 to 6 pm and Friday 11am to noon.
I am also available by appointment.
 
Teaching Assistants:
Edvard Fagerholm
Email:  edvardf-A.T-math.upenn.edu
Office Hours: TBA
 
Haomin Wen




Email: weh-A.T-math.upenn.edu
Office Hours: TBA
 
Course objective: To understand and apply the basic concepts of linear algebra and differential equations. Additionally, we will investigate a few more advanced topics in vector calculus, namely Stokes’ theorem and the divergence theorem. 









Class:   Lecture will meet twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30-11:50 am.  Students will also be required to attend a 50 minute recitation once weekly.  Recitation will be a question and answer session run by a teaching assistant.  Attendance in recitation is mandatory, you will take a weekly quiz in recitation and there will be no make-up quizzes.

Classroom Decorum: Cell phones may not be used during class (no texting) and should be silent.  Laptops may not be used for anything other than taking notes.  It is important that you refrain from excessive talking during lecture as a courtesy to your fellow students.  Students will receive Course Problem Notices (CPNs) for poor attendance, poor test grades, poor homework or quiz grades, or poor behavior in lecture.

Course Webpage : http://www.math.upenn.edu/~ryblair/Math240/index.html
Blackboard will be used as a grade server so that students can always know their standing in the course.  There will be a lecture blackboard site (for exam grades) and a recitation blackboard site (for hw and quiz grades).

Email Policy: Your email will receive a response only if it adheres to the following guidelines.

1)      The course number (Math 240) is contained in the subject line.

2)      The email was sent from a Penn account.

3)      The body email begins with the following: Your Name, Your Recitation Number

 

Text:  Advanced Engineering Mathematics, 3rd Ed. Dennis Zill and Michael Cullen,

ISBN-13: 978-0-7637-4591-2

 

It can be bought in the University bookstore (this same text is used in Math 241).

Don’t buy an older version of the text because the homework problems will be numbered differently and some of them will be missing from the older versions.

There are alternative ways to acquire the text:

1. Rent the textbook from the bookstore (do it early, they will go fast)
2. Get the book used online through one of amazon.com's resellers
3. Buy the international version the same way


Homework:  10% of your final grade.

Each weeks homework assignment can be found on the course webpage(See above for the URL). Homework must be stapled, with your name and recitation time listed in the top right hand corner of the first page of the assignment. Failure to staple or label your assignment correctly will result in the loss of 4/20 points on the assignment! Homework will be assigned every week and will be collected in recitation the week after it is assigned. Homework will be evaluated based on correctness and completeness. The homework will be graded but the worst score will be dropped (will not be used in calculating your final homework grade). 

 
Quizzes: 10% of your final grade.  
You will have weekly quizzes during the last 10-15 minutes of recitation.  Any material covered prior to and including the previous week is fare game for the quiz. Think of the quizzes as mini-exams. The lowest quiz score will be dropped.  There will be no make-up quizzes given.

Exams: 80% of your final grade. 
There will be two closed book in-class midterm exams. The first is worth 20% of your grade, the second is worth 25%.  You are not allowed to use a calculator during the midterm and final exams but you can prepare and use one 8.5” by 11” sheet of paper (both sides) with handwritten notes of your choice.  The final exam will be cumulative (covers all material), common (all 240 students take the same exam) and take place on Tuesday May 10th from noon until 2pm.  It will count for 35% of your final grade.  Since the exams are given in class there will be absolutely no make-up exams. 

The final exam is used to set the curve at the end of the course, it determines the grade distribution.  For example, after grading the final exam the Math 240 professors get together and decide what grade is considered an A, B, C, D, or F and then we tally the performance of each class to determine the distribution of each grade.  Say for instance the distribution of grades for our class on the final is 32% A, 38% B, 25% C, 4% D and 1% F.  This then becomes the our course grade distribution, all students on our course will be ranked from highest to lowest and the top 32% will be given some form of an A, the next 38% will be given some form of a B, and so on.  No curve occurs until the end of the course so each midterm isn’t curved.  I will give you an idea of your ranking after each midterm so that you can get a feel for where you stand in the course.

Grading Policies and Clerical Errors:

All judgments concerning grading are final, we will not "discuss" grades. Occasionally graders might make clerical errors. These may include a grade being incorrectly entered into Blackboard, or the points on an exam being incorrectly added together. It is your responsibility to come to recitation so that you get your written work back in a timely manner. It is also your responsibility to check your work for clerical errors and to check Blackboard to ensure that grades are recorded properly. If you find a clerical error, please bring it to our attention right away by emailing Professor Blair and your TA. You must bring clerical errors to our attention within 3 weeks (21 days) of the date an assignment is returned. After this time, no changes will be considered.


ADA Compliance : The Office of Student Disabilities Service (SDS) is part of the Weingarten Learning Resources Center.  It provides accommodated exams and assistive technology (along with many other services) to students that self-identify in compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Please see their website
( http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds/current_students.php ) for more information.

Code of Academic Integrity :  The following is from the University’s website on academic integrity
“Since the University is an academic community, its fundamental purpose is the pursuit of knowledge. Essential to the success of this educational mission is a commitment to the principles of academic integrity. Every member of the University community is responsible for upholding the highest standards of honesty at all times. Students, as members of the community, are also responsible for adhering to the principles and spirit of the following Code of Academic Integrity found here http://www.upenn.edu/academicintegrity/ai_codeofacademicintegrity.html  
If a student is unsure whether his action(s) constitute a violation of the Code of Academic Integrity, then it is that student’s responsibility to consult with the instructor to clarify any ambiguities.”

Get Help : Before it’s too late, please seek out help.  One definition of too late is after you receive a low exam 1 score.  The hardest part of the course is keeping up with the pace.  Each lecture will cover about 1 ˝ to 2 sections of material.  If you miss a class, then you will find it hard to catch up.  Each section builds off of the previous one so waiting until the weekend to catch up might be impractical. 

  1. Ask lots of questions in recitation.  Take advantage of recitation, don't just show up to take the quiz.
  2. Instructor's office hours
  3. TA's office hours
  4. Sunday Night Reviews http://www.math.upenn.edu/ugrad/calc/help/schedule.html         (7-9pm each week)
  5. Math/Maple Center http://www.math.upenn.edu/ugrad/calc/help/schedule.html         (Mon. - Thurs. 6:30-9:30pm)
  6. Online Help http://www.library.upenn.edu/courseware/                                           (Discussion board on Blackboard's plenary site for 240 monitored M- Th 9pm - 1am)
  7. Learning Resource Center, offered by the Weingarten Learning Resources Center, in Stouffer Commons, Suite 300, 3702 Spruce Street, Philadelphia PA 19104, tel: (215) 573-9235
  8. The Tutoring Center http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/tutoring/index.php
  9. Math Department Approved Tutors http://www.math.upenn.edu/ugrad/tutors.html