Calculus I

Math 181 - Fall 2005

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calendar updated December 11, 2005

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.

 - Jonas Salk

Practice Final Exam is now available.

Only selected answers are available. I haven't finished making an answer sheet yet.

For Course Compass, the course code is sandifer81141.

If you leave something in class: (like your textbook) then I take it to my office, where it will be safe.  Higgins 219C.  Come get it.

Practice Test on Chapter 4 is now available.  Answers are on the last page.  The test itself is on Thursday, December 1.

Lab 5 - Area is now available.  It is in two formats, .pdf and .doc.  Since the lab requires some tables and some illustrations, you are encouraged to cut and paste the relevant parts from the .doc version.

Lab 4 - related rates and related topics

was posted on October 31, due on November 10.  Click here.

Midterm Grades went up on Sunday October 24.

See me if you have questions.  

Course progress report

When we take the test on Thursday, we will have finished 23 sections of the textbook in 18 days of class.  Our target is 37 sections in 29 class days.  We will have finished 62.1% of the material in 62.0% of the time available.  In other words, we are exactly on schedule.  You are working hard and making good progress.  

Review Tests

Two review tests for Chapter 3 are now available on Course Compass.  Rules are generous, but you have to get at least a 60% on the first one before you attempt the second one.  Please note that the material on inverse functions and inverse trig functions is NOT on the Practice Tests, but WILL BE on the Chapter Test itself.

Two more review tests, along with their answer keys are available in .pdf format.  You can print them out and practice with them, too.  They are: Version 1 and Version 2.

Homework 16 and 17 are now posted.  Number 16 is about inverse functions and their derivatives.  Number 17 is more specifically about derivatives of inverse trigonometric functions.  It is rather long.

When to you get to the last problems in assignment 17 and it asks you to do "integration", skip those problems.

Course Compass was down much of Sunday, so these only got posted early Monday morning (before 7:30).  

Important:  Course Compass and the textbook are out of synch at the end of chapter 3.  The homework assignments that say they are about Chapters 3.7 and 3.8 are in fact about Chapters 3.9 and 3.10, and you're not really ready to do those yet.

The material on our Chapter 3.7, inverse trig functions, is found in Course Compass under Chapter 7 section 7.

In the mean time, don't panic.  Do what you can, but don't waste time.

CES - October 20, 2005

October 10 - Lab 3 is now available.  It will be due on Thursday, October 20.

Second WebCT quiz is now available, based on page 108 problems 11-25, 38-52 and 61-66, on infinite limits and vertical asymptotes.  It is due on Tuesday, September 27.  5 attempts allowed.  Good practice.

WebCT quiz #1 is now available.  It is based on pages 83-84, problems 1-6, 12-16, 23, 24, 29-34 and 40 a-d, due Thursday, Sept 22.  Unlimited attempts allowed.  Good practice.

Lab 2 is now available.  It is a Word document.  If it asks for a password, leave it blank and just proceed.  We will do this lab on September 15, due on September 22.

Lab 1 is now available.

One of your classmates was sick on Tuesday and asked for a summary of the class.  Here is what I told her:

Dear Student,

I hope you're feeling better today. We did a bunch of administrative things on Tuesday. I'll try to summarize the most important ones.

Thursdays, we meet in White Hall 302 for a classroom computer lab.
For today (Thursday) you should make sure you have a University account so you can use the computers in the lab. If you need to get one, see the assistant in the public lab in the basement of White Hall or the one on the second floor of the Student Center.

Also, our class will use a package called Course Compass (also called My MathLab) that was supposed to be bundled with your textbook. It contains an access code. You will have to use a credit card to purchase an access code on line. You can do this at www.coursecompass.com. It will cost $40. You will also need to know our course code, which is sandifer81141.
Armed with an eMail address, this course code (sandifer81141) and your $40 access code, you should be able to register for the on-line part of the course.
There are two on-line homework assignments due next Thursday. They are based on problems in the book, but you enter your answers on line, and they are graded immediately. If you don't like your grade, you can tinker with your homework until you like it, or until you run out of time. We'll spend part of our lab this afternoon ironing out wrinkles on this.

Also, I maintain a home page for this course, with an assignment calendar and the like. It is at http://people.wcsu.edu/sandifere. Follow the link to Calculus I. There you will find a link to today's lab assignment, and some other useful information.

Hope this helps. If it's confusing, we can fix most of it this afternoon in lab.

CES