Math 1550 - Calculus I

Spring 2020 - Section 1

Instructor: Moisés Herradón Cueto
Office: 102 Lockett Hall
Office Hours in 102 Lockett Hall: Wednesdays 12:20 - 1:30, Thursdays 10:30 - 11:30, or by appointment.
Office Hours in Spruce Hall: Wednesdays 4:00-5:00.
Email: moises at lsu dot edu
Time and place:
Monday through Friday 11:30-12:20 in 276 Lockett

Course information

This course is a five (5) hour introductory calculus course designed for math, science and engineering majors and certain other technical majors. It is a General Education course in Analytical Reasoning since it includes the following area learning objective: "LSU graduates will employ scientific and mathematical models in the resolution of laboratory and real-world problems".

As a 5-credit course, students are expected to meet in class for 5*50 = 250 minutes per week and have a minimum of 10 hours per week outside of class for studying and homework, for a minimum total time obligation of 15 hours per week.

ALEKS Course Prerequisite

To enroll in this course you need to have a minimum score of 76% on the ALEKS Calculus Placement Test. More information on the LSU calculus ALEKS requirement is available here: https://www.math.lsu.edu/ugrad/ALEKS

This test covers the fundamental precalculus skills that you will need to succeed in this course. If you achieved your ALEKS score in a way that does not reflect your own skills and knowledge, then you may have difficulties succeeding in this course. In such a case, you are strongly urged to work through the ALEKS learning modules over the next two weeks so that you can attain a passing score that reflects what you know.

Textbook Information

Text: Calculus (early transcendentals), 8th ed, by James Stewart. We will cover Chapters 2 through 6 plus some sections of Chapter 8. You will need to get the ebook version for the homework.

WebAssign

We will be using WebAssign to do online homework. If you have already purchased a Webassign access code for calculus in a prior semester, you can re-use that code with no additional purchase if it is a multi-term "Lifetime of the Edition” code for the 8th edition of Stewart’s Calculus textbook. If you do not have an access code and need to purchase one, LSU has negotiated a special discount for Webassign access in calculus that is available at this site: http://www.cengagebrain.com/course/3692821. There are two options. WebAssign Instant Access for Calculus, Multi-Term Courses, 1st Edition gives you access to the online e-book and the homework and it is all you need for this course, so the physical pages of the textbook are not necessary unless you prefer reading from paper instead of from a screen. If you want them, e-Pack: Calculus: Early Transcendentals, Loose-Leaf Version, 8th + WebAssign Instant Access for Stewart's Calculus: Early Transcendentals, Multi-Term includes all of the above plus they will ship you the printed textbook in loose sheets of paper, if I understand correctly. It seems that there will also be a "Cengage Unlimited", which might be better if you are taking other classes that use Webassign.

Create a WebAssign account by going to webassign.net and clicking on the link labeled "Enter class key" The key for our class is lsu 8985 9427. In the field that asks for your student ID, enter your LSU ID number (89....) without any hyphens or spaces. The student ID number is needed to transfer your scores into the Moodle gradebook. Access is free for the first two weeks of the semester.

Grading Scheme

Weekly Online Homework: 10%
Exam 1 (Friday February 21st, in class ): 25%
Exam 2 (Friday April 3rd, in class): 25%
Final exam (May 6th): 30%
Biweekly Quizzes: 10%

Final exam

The Final Exam: The Final exam will take place on Wednesday May 6th from 7:30 am to 9:30 am. There will be no early final exam exceptions.

Homework

There will be weekly homework assigned through Webassign, due every Thursday starting January 23rd. You will get many tries to enter a correct answer with no penalty. Your lowest score will be dropped. You are allowed to collaborate and use the internet, but everyone must submit their own homework and it's in your own interest to make sure you know how to do the homework even if you used external help.

Quizzes

There will be a quiz every two weeks, on Fridays, starting on January 24th. The quiz will be one or two questions, and it will take the first ten minutes of class. Your lowest quiz score will be dropped.

Grades

Your grades will be posted on Moodle.

Final Grading scale

97.5% - 100%: A+
93.5% - 97.4% A
89.5% - 93.4% A-
86.5% - 89.4% B+
82.5% - 86.4% B
79.5% - 82.4% B-
76.5% - 79.4% C+
72.5% - 76.4% C
69.5% - 72.4% C-
66.5% - 69.4% D+
62.5% - 66.4% D
59.5% - 62.4% D-
0% - 59.4% F

Your grade will only be rounded up.

Contacting me

For anything regarding the course, you can contact me at my email above. If you write MATH 1550 in the header it would be appreciated, as it will help me not miss the email. Please do not ask math questions by email: it is messy and helps no one. Finally, in compliance with FERPA I will never discuss grades via email. For any of these reasons we can schedule a meeting if the time for the office hours doesn't work for you.

Academic Integrity

Cheating will not be tolerated under any circumstance. Please refer to academic integrity. As explained there, "A Student is responsible for submitting work for evaluation that reflects the Student’s performance.".

Statement of inclusivity

I strive to foster an open and supportive community in which to conduct research, to teach, and to learn. In accordance with these beliefs, all community members are to be treated with dignity and respect and discrimination and harassment will not be tolerated. I am committed to make the classroom and the course a supportive, inclusive, and safe environment for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors, regardless of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, parental status, or any other aspect of identity.

Topics Covered

A partial list of basic skills you should acquire during the course.

  1. Limits and Continuity
    • Evaluate limits from a graph
    • Evaluate limits at points of continuity
    • Evaluate limits of indeterminate forms
    • Know what continuity implies about a graph and behavior of a function
    • Determine points of discontinuity for functions defined as formulas or graphs
  2. Differentiation
    • Know the various interpretations of the derivative (velocity, rate of change, slope of tangent line)
    • Evaluate the derivatives of simple functions using a difference quotient
    • Evaluate the derivatives of combinations of the basic elementary functions
    • Take the derivative using implicit and logarithmic differentiation
    • Find tangent lines and be able to use them as linear approximations
    • Find critical values, local extrema and the intervals of concavity for differentiable functions
    • Find absolute extrema of constrained functions
    • Solve problems involving related rates
    • Solve basic optimization problems
    • Understand the Mean Value Theorem for derivatives
  3. Integration
    • Understand anti-derivatives and know the basic anti-derivative formulas
    • Have an understanding of the Riemann integral as a limit of Riemann sums
    • Be able to use both parts of the Fundamental Theorem
    • Evaluate definite integrals using substitution
    • Find the area between two curves and the volumes of solids of revolution
    • Find arc lengths and areas of surfaces of revolution
    • Understand the Mean Value Theorem for integrals
Here you will find a more detailed list of topics in the course.