m127syl

Math 127 - College Algebra - Fall 2008		Instructor: Professor Ellen Hill
BR 261		Mathematics
TH 9:00-10:15 or 10:30-11:45 am		Office: MA 375S
3 credits		Office phone: 477-4023
Textbook: Algebra and Trigonometry with Analytic Geometry, by Swokowski/Cole		elhill@mnstate.edu
web.mnstate.edu/elhill		Office Hours: MWF 9-10:30 am, MH 3-5pm, F 3-4:30pm
		Yahoo Messenger Id: ThadeusFrog

Course Description: Exponents, factoring, equations, inequalities, functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, systems of equations, and matrices. Prerequisite: PDEV 100 or a minimum ACT Math score of 23 or a minimum Math ACCUPLACER scores of EA 75.50 and CLM 49.50. Some prior knowledge of algebra is expected.

MSUM's standard is that one semester credit hour for undergraduates is meant to represent three hours of academic work per week during a regular length semester for the average student who has the expected preparation for the courses that he or she is enrolled in. For this class, this means that you are expected to put in nine hours a week, only 2.5 hours of which are in class. The remaining 6.5 hours are expected to be outside of class time. Spending time reading the book, doing homework and labs, and studying for exams is meant to be a significant part of this course. (This is why twelve credits is considered full time - it's equivalent to 36 hours per week. Note that you have to average 15 credit hours a semester to graduate in four years - the equivalent of 45 hours a week.)

Class Activity: With the exception of exam and review days, each class day will start with a lecture period. This lecture is intended to be somewhere between 25% and 75% of the class day, depending on the amount of material to be covered, and will vary from day to day. I will provide you with guided notes for each lecture. The guided notes are basically an outline of what I will cover during that day, the details of which you will have to fill in during the lecture. They save some time in copying the problems from the board, but still serve to keep your attention on the lecture and help with being able to think about why I am solving problems as I am, instead of just routine copying.

After the lecture period, I will pass out a lab activity. This will be basically a worksheet over the material that I had just gone over during the lecture. Problems will range in difficulty from basic "skill-drills" to more in-depth problems. The labs may be due at the end of the period or at the beginning of the next period, a decision I will make on a day-by-day basis. A short lecture followed by a short lab will probably have the lab due at the end of the period. A long lecture will probably have the lab due at the beginning of the next period. A classroom full of students who are trying to do anything but work on the lab will probably have the lab due at the end of the period and have every problem graded. A classroom full of students who are working hard on mathematics throughout the lab period and which gets a reasonable portion of the lab done will probably have the lab due at the end of the period with only about half of each lab graded - the half you (individually) got right. Attitude means a lot here. However, my guess is that about two-thirds of the time the lab will be due at the start of the next period, so be prepared to have homework to do after every class. The labs are meant to be done in groups during the period or outside of class if they are not due at the end of the period, and you should feel free to ask questions either during the period or outside of class. You can ask me questions in my office or go to the tutor lab for help. I will not, however, answer questions in class on the day that the lab is due.

In addition to the lab assignments, there are homework assignments for each section. It is in your best interest to do all the homework even though it is not graded. You will find that the labs do not give you sufficient practice to do well on the exams. I will also answer questions on the book homework in class, and expect a certain number of them. Some topics will likely only come up through the book homework, and I will expect you to know them. Most, but not all, of these topics you will probably not have any trouble with, but almost every student has trouble with some of them.

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory in the sense that you will not be given an opportunity to make up work from class that you miss, and it is up to you to learn the material on your own. I will not give you the lecture on a one-on-one basis in my office. Regardless of why you miss, missing class will likely mean that you won't understand the material as well as you should and your homework, lab, and exam grades will likely suffer as well. Unfortunately this statement is true whether you miss class because you just didn't want to get up that morning or if you miss class because you had a major emergency (in fact, the better the reason for missing class is, the more students tend to not understand the material no matter how much they try to make it up, since they are distracted by other concerns in their lives). Missing class is strongly discouraged. It will not be directly penalized, however, except for exam days, and I do not take a formal attendance each day. Note that any work due will not be excused if you are not in class.

For a known absence due to military duty, jury duty, or other legal requirement, you must give me notice as soon as feasible and prior to the absence if it will require missing an exam. If you don't miss an exam, I don't need to know why you were gone unless you wish to tell me. Also, documentation will be required for a makeup exam to be graded. For an absence due to an official university activity, you must give me written notice at least two weeks prior to the absence, as per university policy, for a makeup exam. I feel it is necessary to point out that relatively few faculty members or coaches remember to provide this notice in that time frame, but it is up to you to remind them, since insufficient notice will be your problem, not theirs. For an absence due to personal reasons such as illness or family emergencies, you should notify me as soon as feasible, before the absence in most cases. In order for a makeup exam to be graded, written documentation of the reason for the absence will be required. Examples are: a note from the doctor saying you were seen (it does not have to say what you were seen for), a copy of the police report for a minor car accident, funeral program or obituary, etc..

Labs may or may not be made up, depending on the particular lab. Labs that I collect at the end of the period can not be made up. For labs that I collect at the start of the next period you may get a copy from me in my office, and submit it with the rest of the class. Otherwise, labs can not be made up except in the case of extended illnesses or out-of-town military duty (more than 4 class days).

Absences due to family vacations, reunions, weddings, etc., are not excused absences unless you inform me of them by Thursday, September 4. Otherwise, I expect you to schedule such events around your class schedules if they come up during the semester, especially since the exam dates are already set.

If you know in advance that you will be gone, I expect you to turn in any lab assignments before you leave. Assignments submitted after you return will not be graded for credit.

Academic Honesty: You are expected to do your own work. You may certainly work with others and get help on homework assignments and labs, but the work you submit should be your own work. Note that during exams you will not be allowed to get help from others. Make sure that you learn the material while you do the homework and labs - that is the purpose of the assignments. Then during the exam you can demonstrate your knowledge - that is the purpose of the exams. Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated in any college course (or any course at any level). See the MSUM Academic Honesty policy for more information and possible consequences of cheating.

Special Accommodations: Students with disabilities who believe they may need an accommodation in this class are encouraged to contact Greg Toutges, Coordinator of Disability Services at 477-5859 (Voice) or 1-800-627-3529 (MRS/TTY), CMU 114 as soon as possible to ensure that accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.

Course Requirements: You are expected to complete daily homework, complete and submit the labs, and take and pass all the exams on the scheduled date.

Evaluations Standards: Your course grade will include lab and exam grades. For more details, see the grade page.

Calculators: A large part of working with variable expressions in algebra is connected to very similar skills in working with numerical expressions in arithmetic. If you don't know how to add fractions of numbers, for example, it is very hard to learn how to add fractions of polynomials. Therefore, calculators are not allowed in the early part of this course. However, when we get to exponential and logarithmic functions and their applications, a calculator will be necessary, so a scientific, non-graphing calculator will be required for the later part of this course, in particular, after the third exam (starting October 28). I have found that graphing calculators provide a significant advantage to those students who have them. However, I also find them too expensive to feel that their use is justified, particularly since in real life you wouldn't use them - you would use a graphing program on a computer that would be much more accurate and visually appealing. Unless there is a student in the class who is willing to buy every other student (in both of my sections of Math 127) a graphing calculator, I will not allow them. (If you are such a generous and rich student, let me know.) This provides everyone a level playing field and is the fairest solution that I have been able to come up with.

A basic scientific calculator costs $15-$20 at Target, Kmart, CVS, Office Deport, or some similar store. You do not need to have any particular model, but you do need one with "ln" and "log" keys, and I would suggest that you get one with an "ANS" key and a two-line display. (A two-line display has a line for what you type and a separate line for the answer.) It will be cheaper if you buy it during the back-to-school sales, and I saw a good one at the dollar store at 11th street and Main Avenue earlier this month (August). Feel free to shop around.

General Comments: For all graded work in this class, you must show work for credit and give exact answers. In general, if you have to write it down, you have to show it to me. My rule of thumb when grading is either whether I could do a similar calculation in my head and not make a mistake or if the point of the problem is being met (in other words, if the point of the problem is to show a known result, you have to show it in some detail). If I feel that you needed to show more work, I will indicate it. I want to emphasize that showing work is a lesson you would much rather learn on the labs than on the exams. My criteria is the same for both.

I do not curve courses of this level. I have given a class average of a B+ in a course of this level, and I have also given a class average of a D+. I grade you as individuals, and by whether or not you personally have mastered the material. I also very rarely give extra credit, and when I do it is to the entire class. If you come to my office at the end of the term and ask if you can do extra credit to improve your grade, my answer will be no. The grading scale and weights for the homework and exams are given here.

I will in general return any work the next class day. If you are not there, I will not give it to friends, roommates, or spouses, nor will I give out grade information on the phone or via email. (These restrictions are not arbitrary - they are based on federal law regarding student privacy.) Normally, I include any old assignments with any current ones, but I do not try to pass them back a second time unless you have turned in the most recent assignment. I will bring the old assignments with me every day, so if you ask at the end of class you can get them then.

I expect you to be responsible for yourself as far as getting notes from a classmate if you miss class. You may get a blank copy of the guided notes from me. I also expect you to turn in any labs early if you know that you will miss class. This includes those instances when the absence is due to an official university activity.

Cell Phones: Turn off your cell phones when you go to class (this class or any other class). Cellular phones and other distracting devices generally have no place in a formal or semi-formal setting, such as a classroom. If your phone rings audibly during class, I will require you to leave the classroom for the remainder of the period. This includes those days we have exams. In fact, it applies especially on those days when we have an exam. Hence, if your cell phone rings during an exam, you will have to turn in what you have completed up to that point. No extra time will be given. I strongly suggest that you always remember to turn off your phone. (You are free to return to class the next day, and there will be no other consequences.) Note: I have found that cell phones on vibrate, when in a backpack next to a textbook, are still quite loud since they reverberate against the book. If I can hear it at the front of the room or if most of the students next to you react to it, it is still an audible ring. Keep it on something soft or on your waistband or in your pocket. Or better yet, turn it off entirely.

In addition, during exams, your cell phone (or any other electronic device other than a calculator) may not be visible at all - you must put it in your closed bookbag or something similar. If you use it for your watch, you will have to bring a different clock to exams or use the classroom clock.