Everyone in the class should make use of either one or both of the two textbooks listed below.
Options 1: The following textbook by Stewart is among the best of the commercial calculus textbooks; it is not worth the very high price of a new book, but is good if you can find a very inexpensive version of it.
Stewart, James, "Calculus: Concepts and Contexts," 4nd ed., Paperback, Brooks/Cole
or
Options 2: The following textbook by Open Stax is among the best of the free calculus textbooks; it can be downloaded for free, and also bought in hard cover for a low price.
Urgent announcements may be sent out via campus email, so make sure you either check your Bard email regularly or have your Bard email forwarded to the email address of your choice.
Given the ever-changing situation with the Coronavirus, the following plans may be changed as circumstances require. The highest priority is to ensure the safety of everyone in the class.
Any changes to the way the class is conducted will be sent by email to the students in the class.
In-Person and Remote:
Every class will meet in-person.
Every class will be recorded as a video, which will be posted at the class Google Classroom site.
If you are on campus, you are very much encouraged to attend class in person if you are healthy and comfortable attending.
Attendance will be taken at the start of each class for the sake of contact tracing, but will not be a factor in grading.
Class Meetings — Coronavirus Issues:
All students who are attending class must complete the daily health screening using Involvio, the College daily health screen app; a green pass on Involvio gives access to academic buildings, and needs to be shown at the start of class.
Please do not attend class if you are sick, feel ill, know you may have been exposed to coronavirus, or have any of the symptoms listed on Involvio.
Class Meetings — Expectations:
Masks must be worn throughout the class.
Food and drink will not be allowed.
Seating will be restricted to the fixed arrangement of chairs.
Attendance will be taken for the sake of contact tracing, but will not be a factor in grading.
To facilitate taking attendance, seating for the entire semester will be fixed according to where students sit on the first day of class.
Do not sit at the table in the center of the first row (it will be used for recording the class).
More Coronavirus Issues
Office Hours:
Office hours will be online, by appointment.
The method for signing up for appointments is found at the class Google Classroom site.
Homework:
Homework assignments will be posted at the class Google Classroom site.
Homework assignments must be submitted via the class Google Classroom site.
Each homework assignment must be uploaded as a single PDF file.
Exams:
All three exams will be in class, closed book.
Work for the Course
Attendance:
It is expected that students attend all classes.
Homework:
Homework will be assigned every week, and will be posted at the class Google Classroom site. Submit the homework by the posted due date. Late assignments will not be accepted, except in genuine emergency situations.
You are encouraged to work with other students in solving the homework problems. However, for the sake of better learning, as well as honesty, please adhere to the following guidelines:
Write up your solutions yourself.
Acknowledge in writing anyone with whom you work and any assistance you receive.
Acknowledge in writing any revisions of your work based upon solutions given in class.
Failure to indicate collaboration, assistance or sources will be construed as plagiarism.
Your solutions should be written clearly and carefully, as described below.
Exams:
Each exam will be as follows
Exam #1 (In-Class): Thur., Oct. 1
Exam #2 (In-Class): Thur., Nov. 5
Exam #3 (Take-Home): Tue., Dec. 15
What is Math 141
This course is an introduction to the calculus of one variable. No prior knowledge of calculus is assumed. Topics covered include the basic techniques of differentiation and integration of functions of one variable, and some applications of these techniques.
The prerequisite for this course is a working knowledge of precalculus.
If you are unsure whether Math 141 is an appropriate course for you, please speak with the instructor.
Office Hours
If you have any problems with the course, or any questions about the material, the assignments, the exams or anything else, please see the instructor about it as soon as possible.
Due to Coronavirus, all office hours this semester will be online, by appointment. Standard appointment slots are available on Mondays and Fridays. The simplest way to make an appointment for office hours is to use Google Calendar Appointment Slots, where available 15 minute time slots are listed. To schedule office hours at other times, email the instructor,
To begin with, please sign up for a single 15 minute time slot at a time, to make sure that there are enough time slots for everyone, but if 15 minutes are not enough time, then sign up for additional time.
Try to sign up ahead of time (preferably a day before the scheduled meeting).
Make sure to write your name when you sign up for a time slot; if a group of students wants to have office hours together, make sure to write all your names.
You will receive an email invitation to to a Zoom meeting at the time of your appointment.
Mathematics Study Room
The Mathematics Study Room is staffed by undergraduate mathematics majors who are available to answer your questions; you can go to the study room to work on your homework and ask for help with the material
Hours: TBA Location: TBA
Tutor
If you need additional help beyond office hours and the Mathematics Study Room, you can meet with the tutor who is assigned to this class; the tutor has a weekly office hour, listed below
Tutor: TBA Office hours: TBA Email: TBA.
Grading
Each of the three exams will count for 30% of the grade, and homework will count for 10% of the grade.
Grades will be determined by work completed during the semester, except in cases of medical or personal emergency. There will be no opportunity to do extra credit work after the semester ends.
This course is graded using letter grades. During fall 2020, if you want to take the course Pass/Fail, you must submit a request to do so to the Registrar's Office at any time prior to the start of the spring 2021 semester.
Accommodations
Students with documented learning and/or other disabilities are entitled to receive reasonable classroom and testing accommodations. If you need accommodations, please do the following.
Contact the instructor at least one week prior to each exam, quiz or other instance of accommodation, to arrange appropriate scheduling.
If you feel comfortable doing so, discuss your accommodations with the instructor at the beginning of the semester.
If you need to miss a class for any reason (sports team, religious holiday, etc.), it is your responsibility to contact the instructor and find out about the material and assignments you missed.
Travel plans that do not take into account the dates of quizzes and exams are not a valid reason to miss an exam; there is no guarantee that quizzes and exams will be available early to accommodate travel plans.
Calculators, Computers and Electronic Devices
For most of the course, pencil and paper will suffice.
A scientific calculator (which has trigonometric, exponential and logarithmic functions) will be needed for some problems. Free scientific calculator apps are available for smartphones, tablets and computers, and suffice for this course.
Programmable and/or graphing calculators are not required; do not spend any money buying a calculator for this course.
Electronic devices, including cell phones, tablets and laptop computers, may be used during class only for reasons related to the class, for example as calculators, to take notes or to read the text.
Texting, messaging and using social media is not allowed during class.
Writing Homework
Everyone makes honest mathematical mistakes, but there is no reason to get in your own way by writing your homework carelessly. Mathematics must be written carefully, and legibly, no differently from any other writing.
Please adhere to the following guidelines when writing homework assignments:
Write your homework assignments neatly and clearly.
Distinguish between scratch work and the final draft. Expect to do scratch work on separate paper prior to writing the final draft.
Your final draft should stand on its own; check your solutions by reading them as if they were written by someone else.
For each problem, write every step of your calculation, and do so in a logical order from beginning to end. Numerical answers without justification, or equations on the page in random order, are not be acceptable for the final draft.
Use verbal explanations whenever needed. Formulas and calculations are not always sufficient.
Be very careful with "=" signs. You must write "=" between things that are equal, and not write "=" between things that are not equal.
Please see the instructor if you have questions about writing – or doing – the homework assignments. If you are not sure if you have written a homework assignment properly, bring a draft with you to office hours for discussion.
Sage is a very powerful free open source computer program for mathematical calculations. It is useful in calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, and much more; it does numerical and symbolic calculations, and both 2D and 3D graphics.
Sage, which is a cloud-based program, can be accessed from any computer via a web browser. There are two ways to use Sage: the quick version and the full version.
To use the quick version of Sage, which is good for simple computations and which does not require setting up an account, simply go to the website
Although you don't need any prior knowledge of computer programming to use Sage, one of the advantages of Sage is that it is based upon the Python programming language, which is the language taught in Bard's Object Orient Programming course (CMSC 141).
Sage Demos:
Each of the following Sage demonstrations can be accessed via its own webpage. Brief instructions are given for each demonstration.
If you find any errors or problems with these demonstrations, please let me know.
MENU