Math XaIntroduction to Functions

and Calculus

Fall 2008 Introductory Meeting

John Hall

High School

Consumer of KnowledgeTeacher shows you how to do it.

Harvard

Producer of KnowledgeTeacher guides you, but you do a lot of work on your own.

Quote“Merely accumulating information is of little value to students. Facts are soon forgotten, and the sheer volume of information has grown to the point that it is impossible to cover all the important material or even to agree on what is most essential. Concepts and theories have little value unless one can apply them to new situations.”-Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard University

About Math Xa

The development of calculus by Newton and Leibniz ranks among the greatest achievements of the past millennium.

About Math Xa

Learning to see the world through the lens of mathematicsCommunicating this mathematical point of view to others through speech, writing, and graphicsUsing the mathematics of change to make decisions and predictions about the world

Is Math Xa For Me?

Yes, if you are unsure of your precalculus skills (trig, logs, exponentials, etc).Likely, if you haven’t had calculus. Most of the students in 1a have already had calculus

How We Teach Math X

Class on M,W,F will involve some interactive lecture, discussions, group work, and your participation.Mandatory weekly workshops on Monday or Tuesday will help you learn to solve challenging problems and give you a chance to work with your peers.Course assistants will lead problem sessions.

Course Requirements

HomeworkTwo midterms and a final examAlgebra testWeekly workshops on Monday/Tuesday

HomeworkSkill problems due each class period, problem sets due once a week.Part of our goal is teaching mathematical communication; your work should provide complete explanations and be easy to read. You will receive comments on your homework, but no numerical scores. Your homework grade will be based on how many problems you complete correctly.If you do not correctly complete a problem in a problem set, you will be allowed to resubmit that problem together with the following week’s problem set. If the second solution is complete and correct, you will receive full credit for the problem.Look on the website for the up-to-date homework assignments.

Exams

Midterms: Monday 11/3 from 7-9 pm and Monday 12/8 from 7-9 pm.Calculators are not allowed.Final Exam in January.

Algebra Test

Algebra pre-test on Monday, September 29, 7-8 pm. See course website for more information.Algebra post-test on Wednesday, October 15, 7-8 pm (we will keep the highest score). Problem sessions will offer algebra help.

Workshops

Weekly 90-minute Workshops will be led by a former Math X student. Problems will be challenging - often on the level of difficult exam problems. The entire group will solve the problems together. The focus is on learning to solve problems rather than on getting the right answer.

Problem Sessions

In college, expect your math classes to focus on theory, understanding, and developing new material, not on training you to complete homework and exams. Problem session is a resource to help you learn technical skills and problem solving.

Calculators

Any graphing calculator will be helpful.If you would like to buy one, we recommend a TI-84, TI-86, or a TI-89.Calculators will be allowed on homework but not on exams.

Textbook

Calculus: An Integrated Approach to Functions and Their Rates of Change, by Robin GottliebAvailable as a course packet for $40 from FlashPrint (99 Mt. Auburn St.)

Course Topics

Functions: graphs, inverses, transformationsDifferentiation: rates of change, linear approximations to functions, optimizationDifferential Equations

Grading

Homework: 20%Algebra Test: 10%Workshop Attendance: 5%Midterm I: 20%Midterm II: 20%Final Exam: 25%

Getting Help with Math Xa

Other Xa students.CA problem sessionTF Office HoursThe Math Question Center (8:30 pm - 10:30 pm Sunday through Thursday)

Advising

Math advising hours can be found at: http://www.math.harvard.edu/sectioning/

Sectioning

Math Xa is taught in small sections.You must section by 12:30 pm on Wednesday, September 17th.Sectioning directions are on: http://www.math.harvard.edu/sectioning/

Your Homework

The Bottle Calibration Problem.Due the first day of class.Read syllabus carefully!

Bottle Calibration Problem

Height of liquid in this bottle is a function of the volume of liquid in the bottleWe can represent this function by a graphQuickTime™ and a

TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.

Important Emails

John Hall (Course Head)hall@math.harvard.eduJuliana Belding (Assistant Course Head)jbelding@math.harvard.edu