Instructor ---------- Warren D. Smith office: Wachman 428 email: wds@math.temple.edu web page: http:/math.temple/edu/~wds office hours: Wednesdays or by appointment (use email) NOTE: I have to be OUT Wednesday 5 March in the morning. Hopefully in the later afternoon I will be back (3pm?). When and where -------------- Tue+Thur 1:10-2:30 Curtis Hall 302 This web page ------------- http:/math.temple/edu/~wds/math55.html Textbook -------- Bennett and Briggs, Using and Understanding Mathematics, Addison-Wesley, 2nd Edition, 2002 NOTE THAT MATH 55 AND MATH 65 (SEQUEL TO MATH 55) USE THE SAME TEXT. The TA ------ Daniel Birmajer email: birmajer@math.temple.edu office: 615 Wachman hours: MW 12:00-1:00PM or make appointment by email. Syllabus MATH 55 Spring 2003 ----------------------------------- CHAPTER 4 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 4A The Power of Compounding (3 hours) 4B Savings Plans and Investments [pages 219 - 229 only] (2 hours) 4C Loan Payments, Credit Cards, and Mortgages (3 hours) CHAPTER 9 MODELING OUR WORLD 9A Functions: The Building Blocks of Mathematical Models (2 hours) 9B Linear Modeling (3 hours) CHAPTER 8 EXPONENTIAL ASTONISHMENT 8A Growth: Linear versus Exponential (3 hours) 8B Doubling Time and Half-Life (3 hours) CHAPTER 9(again) 9C Exponential Modeling CHAPTER 7 PROBABILITY: LIVING WITH THE ODDS 7E Counting and Probability (3 hours) 7A Fundamentals of Probability (3 hours) 7B Combining Probabilities (3 hours) 7C The Law of Averages (3 hours) (will be covered in this [somewhat peculiar] order). Total 42 class hours: estimated 34 for the material, 8 for tests and review. Suggested Practice Exercises ---------------------------- 4A: 1-15 (odd); 19-25 (odd); 29-39 (odd); 41a, 41b 4B: 1-5 (odd); 9-17 (odd); 21-29 (odd) 4C: 1-5 (odd); 9, 13, 15, 31, 33 9A: 3-11 (odd); 17 9B: 1-7 (odd); 15, 17, 21-33 (odd) 8A: 1-9 (odd); 10, 11, 17, 18 8B: 1-13 (odd); 19-25 (odd); 31-35 (odd) 9C: 1, 3, 5a, 6a, 9a, 11a, 15, 16, 19-23 (odd) 7E: 1-21 (odd); do 23 and 27-31 (odd) after completing 7B 7A: 1a, 1c; 3-17 (odd); 21-27 (odd); 31-37 (odd) 7B: 1-17 (odd & even); 19-23 (odd); 25a, 27 7C: 1-11 (odd); 15-23 (odd) Purpose of Course ----------------- Math 55 is a first semester core mathematics course. The course is designed to improve the level of quantitative awareness of students using familiar situations that provide a sense of purpose for studying mathematics. The objective is not to make mathematicians of the students, but to help them gain a mathematical perspective and deal as comfortably and critically as possible with an environment that increasingly makes use of quantitative reasoning. Departmental Mid-Term and Final Exams for Main Campus Day Sections ------------------------------------------------------------------ A mid-term exam, consisting of 20 multiple-choice questions from Sections 4A, 4B, 4C, 9A, 9B, and 8A will be given on Thursday, March 6. Computer-graded. The final exam, consisting of 30 multiple-choice questions and covering the entire syllabus, will be held on Thursday, May 8, 2003 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Room assignments for the final exam will be announced during the week of Monday, April 28. Note: As far as I currently know, it's same classroom as usual. Bring pencil. (Computer answer form.) Bring calculator. In both exams, all relevant formulas will be supplied and students will be required to show their work for possible partial credit. The questions on the exams will be similar to the ones in the list of practice problems accompanying the textbook. Grading ------- There will also be homework and/or in-class quizzes, which will count for some fraction of the grade. I'm not sure yet, but as a preliminary guess, let us say the midterm and final will count for 60% of the grade and the homeworks and quizzes for the remaining 40%. If you cheat you get zero, and it could be worse than that. Calculators ----------- The use of calculators is encouraged throughout the course, in class as well as in exams. A scientific calculator, capable of doing exponents and logarithms, is recommended. Department-wide math 55 uber-coordinators ----------------------------------------- Alu Srinivasan (e-mail: srini@temple.edu) or Kathleen Paul (kpaul@math.temple.edu).the math 55 final exam from 1999
It may not be possible for us to give you (when grading the HW) a lot of feedback about where you went wrong. (Grading this much HW is a lot of work...) Also the grader seems to think nowadays that he likes only giving 10 or 5 or 0 points per problem, without making finer gradations... However, the solutions are posted here on the web, so you can find out by looking at them!
Math 55 review sessions are being conducted by