Math 152A

Beginning Algebra Part One/Two meetings per week format

Instructor:             George Drake: B.A., M.A., and C.Ph. all in math from UC Davis.

Office:    F-130

Phone:    (530)541-4660x256

Office Hours:

                Because of extremely limited space in F130, the instructor’s office hours will normally begin in an available classroom and persist there until such time as the room ceases to be available, or student questions are exhausted, whichever occurs first.  Always go initially to the room indicated first in the schedule below, but, if no one appears to be there, then go to F130, where the instructor will be completing the office hour:

M.W.:     3:20-4:20 A209/F130

                T.:           2:50-3:50 A211/F130

                Th.:         2:50-4:10 A211/F130

                F.:            12:10-12:50 A211/F130

Text:       Dugopolski, Mark: Elementary and Intermediate Algebra; McGraw-Hill, 1^st Ed., ISBN# 0-07-245028-2

Class Meets:         M.W. 1:30-3:20 (one ten minute break) in A211

Syllabus: (Note: This is a tentative schedule, subject to change via announcement in class.)

Week:                     Sections:

                1              Introduction, Negative numbers and Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic handouts, §§1.1-1.3; (Real Numbers in general (fractions in particular) and Operations in R)

                2              §§1.4-1.8; (More Operations in R, exponents, algebraic expressions, and axioms)

                3              §§2.1-2.3; (Solving equations) , solving linear equations handout

                4              §§2.4-2.7; (formulas, the let department, and word problems)

                5              §3.1 (simple inequalities) & Review Chapters 1, 2, and handouts.  Test #1 (Chapters 1, 2, and handouts

6              §§3.2-3.3 to pg 144 & 4.1; (Compound inequalities, Absolute value equations, and Graphing lines)

                7              §§4.2-4.3; (slope, slope-intercept and standard form)

                8              §§4.4-5.2 & 8.6; (point-slope form, applications, graphing linear inequalities, and addition, subraction and multiplication with polynomials.)

                9              §§5.3-5.7; (FOIL, special products, division of polynomials, exponents from Z, Scientific notation)

                10            Review Chapters 3.1-5.4 & 8.6, Test #3 Chapters 3.1-5.4 & 8.6

                11            §11.3 to pg 603; (combining functions) & review all

Exact dates of assignments and contents of the tests will be given via announcements/handouts in class. The above is, therefore, only a guideline.  The indicated dates for each exam will be adhered to barring only severe, unexpected, circumstances.  Those exact dates are as follows:

                Test 1: Wednesday, February 5, 2003

                Test 2: Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Anticipate a comprehensive final exam with a section emphasizing §§5.5-5.7 & 11.3.  This quarter's final is scheduled to occur in this room (A211) from 2:00 to 4:00 on Monday, March 24, 2003.  Please note the difference in time from the normal class time.

General Policy Statement

Mat 152A

Prerequisite:

                A grade of C or better in modules a-d of Mat 181 or the equivalent, or a satisfactory score on the Mathematics Assessment Test.  Mat 181e is strongly recommended.  Arithmetic classes from other institutions may satisfy the prerequisite: see the instructor for a determination.  If this prerequisite was not completed within the last two years, please see the instructor. 

Grading Policy:

                I grade on a “modified curve.”  What this means is that:

                1) Grading will be competitive.  I.e., the students who demonstrate the best understanding of the material will receive the highest grades.  Traditionally (old tradition, to be sure) an “A” corresponds to the top 10%, a “B” to the next 20%, a “C” to the middle 40%, a “D” to the next 20%, and an “F” to the final 10%.

                2) Those who drop out of the class will be assumed to fall into the lowest categories, so it is possible for every student who persists through the final to pass, or even attain a “B” or better.  This is, however, a rare event for. . .

                3) There will also be a considerable element of subjective judgment in deciding what the grades will be.  I.e., I have a strong perception of what good, medium, and poor mastery of this level of mathematics is.  If this class performs well or poorly on a particular assessment instrument (tests, homework, quizzes, etc.) I will modify the grade distribution to reflect that fact.  Whether the class itself performs well or poorly, however, I am also capable of assessing each individual’s performance in a similar manner.  Hence, on any particular assessment instrument there may be more or less than the 10%, 20%, or 40% described above.

                Upon completion of each assessment instrument, the student will receive a letter grade.  Each quiz will be returned to the class with a report of the average on that quiz, but the final grade on both the quizzes and homework will not be calculable until the entire set of quizzes and homework is completed–i.e., not until the end of the quarter.  The assessment instruments will be combined at the end of the quarter via weighted averaging with the following weights:    

                Homework (due daily)                                                         18%*

                Two midterm exams                                                                             18% (Total = 36%.  When there are three midterms, the best two count.)

                Quizzes (based on the homework and

                          lectures, given at start of the first

meeting of every non-test week)                                              17%

                Final Exam (comprehensive)                                                               27%

                Fudge factor (instructor's subjective evaluation)             2%

*              If less than half of the homework is handed in (including late work) with legitimate evidence of effort, the student cannot receive a grade greater than C, no matter what other scores are attained in other areas.  

                Not every problem on each homework assignment will be graded.  Instead, a representative sample (some easy problems, some medium, and some hard, some odd numbers, some even) will be graded and scored.  The grade for that homework assignment will be the score received on the sample.

                Extra Credit assignments may be made from time to time.  Extra credit will be considered after an initial determination has been made of a student's grade and will be used only to increase a grade which marginally misses the next higher grade.

                All work will be graded on the basis of the process the student employs at least as much as on the result, so always show your work!  Correct answers which obviously required written work will not be given full credit, and may not even get any credit at all,  if the work is not shown.

                The last day to withdraw from this class with no record or to opt for Credit/No Credit is January 31, 2003.

                The last day to withdraw with the letter grade of “W” is March 7, 2003

                Students should be apprised of the potential of switching from one section of a class to another section of the same class (e.g., Mat 152a-1 to Mat 152a-2), subject to the approval of the receiving instructor, but independent of the date.  Because of discrepancies in instructional practices, such a switch can have disadvantages to the switching student, and anyone considering such a move should talk to the instructor (Drake) before attempting it.

                The “I” grade is not intended as a way of avoiding a grade the student doesn't want, or even one which the instructor doesn't wish to give.  It will not, therefore, be given except in circumstances which couldn’t have been foreseen and which occur too late to withdraw from the class.

Late and Make-up policy:

                Homework may be handed in up to one week late for ½ credit.  However, late work will not normally be graded.  Instead the student will be given credit at the end of the quarter for each late assignment at the rate of  ½ of his/her average homework score.  To meet the requirement that ½ of the homework be attempted in order to score better than a C, homework may be handed in until the date of the final.  However, any homework received later than one week from the due date will be given a zero point value.

                Quizzes may not be made up.

                One midterm may be made up (i.e., taken at a time other than the scheduled administration) with the instructor's permission, which must be obtained in advance.  However, a made up exam is automatically subject to three penalties:

                                      1) The actual score will not exceed the "earned score, minus," i.e. an earned B+ becomes, at best, an actual score of B, etc. 

2) The actual score will not exceed the best of the scores received on exams taken by the student on time, and

3) The actual score will not exceed the best of the scores received on that midterm by students taking the exam during its regularly scheduled administration.

WARNING:  It is the responsibility of the student taking a make-up exam to find out whether any corrections/clarifications were made between the time of the test's duplication and his/her actually seeing it.

Restriction on use of calculators:

                Most sections of this course are meant to be conducted without the use of a calculator. A few sections, and some homework exercises, will be enhanced by the use of a calculator and the book utilizes a “calculator icon” to indicate such.  Do not use a calculator unless you are doing one of these specially designated exercises.  Generally, calculators will not be allowed on tests, so practice not using them on your homework. 

                In addition, most graphing calculators will do much of the work being taught in MAT152a.  Therefore, the use of graphing calculators in  MAT152a is forbidden (again, don’t practice in homework that which you will not be able to do in class).

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty:

                The only portions of this class which may be conducted in a collaborative manner are the homework, where collaboration is encouraged, and assignments which may, from time to time, be specifically made with the provision that they are to be collaborative.

                Tests and quizzes are all closed book, closed notes.  Any attempts to cheat, including talking during a test/quiz or excessive “wandering eye”,  if discovered, will be severely dealt with.

Note Taking:

                You are expected to keep comprehensive notes on lectures and will be tested on material from class whether or not it duplicates the text.  Arrange with another student to get assignments and notes from any classes you miss.

Attendance:

                Instructors may drop students if they miss more than two more meetings than the number of times the class meets per week.  See me if you wish to be exempted from this policy.

                However, If you wish to drop the class by a certain date in order to avoid various kinds of penalties, you must attend to the task yourself by going directly to the Admissions and Records office.  The Instructor is not responsible for a student not meeting deadlines!

Miscellaneous:

                Homework must be properly addressed and formatted (the standard format will be explained on the first day of class). Graphs must be done on graphing paper!