Exams

Quizzes:  There will be three 55 minute quizzes during the course of the semester. These will be held on Thursdays from 2:00--2:55pm (D-110B on your schedule). The specific dates and room assignments are announced on the Ma116 Exams Page and on the Registrar's web site as the information becomes available. Collectively, these three quizzes will count as 45% of your final grade.

Final Exam:  The final exam period runs from Saturday May 6th through Wednesday, May 19th. Our final exam covers material from the entire semester and counts for 40% of your final grade. The dates and times are usually announced around mid-semester.

Exam Rules:  Exams are closed book and closed notes; the use of calculators is not permitted; all cellphones and calculators are to be stored out of sight during the exam; rules governing exam seating are to be observed. For the midterm quizzes, all exams are to be turned in at the end of 55 minutes, with no exceptions. This strict time is necessary to ensure fairness across the multiple exam rooms and to allow enough time to clear the room before the next class.

Excused Absences:  Missed exams may be made up if you have a valid excuse, typically a note from the Stevens Health Service or your family physician. Every effort should be made to contact your instructor prior to the exam, either by email or phone. The documentation must be presented to your instructor immediately after you return to class. If you know in advance that you will have a conflict with the exam period, please contact your instructor at least one week before the scheduled exam to arrange a makeup time. We regard excuses as governed by the conditions of the Stevens Honor Code.

Homework

Homework is assigned nearly every week and posted on the Syllabus/Homework page. The Assigned Exercises will be collected on the due date noted, typically in Wednesday's lecture. Selected problems will be graded each week and the papers returned the following week. Solutions to the assigned exercises will be posted on the syllabus page.

Recitations

Recitations meet on Tuesdays for 50 minutes. Recitations are smaller classes run by a graduate student Teaching Assistant. It is not the role of the teaching assistant to complete the assigned exercises for you. To assist students in completing the assigned exercises, the Teaching Assistants are prepared to work problems selected from the Recommended Exercises listed on the syllabus page. Part of the recitation will be used to engage the students in working on selected exercises. The recitations will be more effective if you have already attempted some exercises and are prepared to raise specific questions regarding the current assignment.

Software

The fourth edition of Stewart's textbook comes bundled with a CD entitled Tools for Enriching Calculus, Version 2.0. This is intended as a supplement to the textbook. We suggest that you take a look at this CD and use it as an aid in your studies if you find it helpful.

The software suite for your laptops includes the application Matlab, an easy-to-use platform for performing mathematical computations and visualization. Matlab can be used either interactively (similar to using a calculator) or as a powerful programming platform with syntax and programming structures similar to C. It is strongly recommended that you begin to learn to use this tool. It is not difficult to learn how to plot and print graphs of functions, and carry out elementary calculations. Introductory tutorials are available below to help you learn basic features and commands.

  Matlab:       WebSite:  The Mathworks, Inc.  

Grading

The components of the course will be weighted as follows:

  Final Exam  40%
Quizzes 45%
Written Homework 10%
Online Homework 5%

Letter Grades will be based on the following scale:

 
A [ 90%,  100% ]  
A -    [ 86%,  90% )  
B + [ 82%,  86% ) 
B [ 78%,  82% ) 
B - [ 75%,  78% ) 
C +    [ 72%,  75% )  
 
C [ 68%,  72% )  
C - [ 66%,  68% )  
D+ [ 64%,  66% )  
D [ 60%,  64% )  
F [   0%,  60% )  

Note:   To pass the course your cumulative exam/quiz grade must be a D or higher. That is, a cumulative grade of F on all the exams and quizzes cannot be raised to a passing grade with just your homework scores.

Appealing Grades:   Any complaints or issues regarding a particular grade on homework or quizzes should be presented to your lecturer no later than one week following the return of the graded paper.

eLearn (WebCT) is used as a secure system for posting your raw grades throughout the semester. Typically we expect to update the grades on the eLearn site after each of the quizzes. For this reason, grade revisions can take as long as two to three weeks to appear on the eLearn site. Each student is responsible for checking their posted grades and informing the lecturer of any errors.

Attendance at lectures and recitations is expected and will be recorded. Your final letter grade may be raised (but not lowered) depending on factors such as attendance and whether or not your performance improves over the course of the semester.