Basic Info

  • Instructor: Dave Feldman
  • Email:dfeldman@coa.edu
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
  • Problem Solving Sessions: TBA, via Zoom.
  • Teaching Assistants:Nynke Ham

Course Goals

  1. Stay physically and mentally healthy and maintain intellectual and personal connection in a time of dispersal and isolation.
  2. Experience the challenge, joy, and beauty of calculus.
  3. Improve your problem solving skills and mathematical confidence. Leave this course with an increased ability to do mathematics.
  4. Gain a firm, enduring understanding of one of the big ideas of calculus: the integral.
  5. Gain a good introduction to infinite sums and series.
  6. Be able to correctly perform mechanical calculations using the course content, apply problem solving skills to new areas, and effectively communicate problem solving strategies in writing.
  7. Have fun while learning a lot.

Course Structure and Pacing

This is the twelfth time I've taught this course, so on the one hand I have a very good feel for how this will go. But we are still in a pandemic, so nothing it quite normal. This class is much smaller than I'm used to. I'm hoping this well let us do lots of interactive exercises and mini-projects in class.

  • It will take me a little while to get used to the mechanics of the class: writing with a sharpie on paper instead of a chalkboard, looking for questions in the chat, etc. Your patience and feedback is appreciated.
  • It will also take time for me to figure out the pace of the class: how much we can comfortably cover in sixty minutes on Zoom.
  • In addition to zoom, it is easy to for me to make videos presenting content or working through examples. We can adjust the ratio of recorded content to live zoom as needed.
  • This class meets three times a week instead of the usual two. This gives us of flexibility, room to experiment, and the ability to take a snow day or two.
  • Ruminations on help sessions are below in a separate section.

There are four parts to this class (corresponding to the first four chapters in the textbook), each with a distinct feel:

  1. Introduction to the integral. This part of the course is largely conceptual and will involve some numerical work and graphical reasoning. This part of the course will be slightly tedious at time. (Chapters 5-6.)
  2. Shortcuts to evaluating the integral. This is the most algebra-intensive portion of the course and in some ways may feel the most traditional. (Chapter 7.)
  3. Applications of integrals. Here we will learn several different ways that integrals are used in various areas of math and science. This is the most applied part of the course. (Chapter 8. We won't cover all the chapters; which ones we do will depend on student interest.)
  4. Sequences and series. This is a topic that is largely separate from the rest of the course. It has a different feel to it. The material can be a little difficult, but most students find it a nice change of pace and a good way to end the term. (Chapters 9-10.)

Class Meetings

  1. This class meets three times a week on zoom. Class sessions will vary in length but will almost never be more than an hour.
  2. Video stuff:
    • As much as possible, please keep your video turned on during class. This will help you stay engaged and will help me have a sense of how class is going. I have been teaching a long time and am generally good at gauging whether or not a class is following what I'm teaching. But I won't be able to do this if I'm looking at a screen full of black rectangles.
    • Of course if you have connection problems or if you need to turn the camera off for a few minutes, that's fine.
    • It's ok to wear pajamas to class.
    • Pets are welcome to join in. Especially cats.
  3. I plan on turning on zoom at 9:30 but not starting class until 9:45. Please feel free to come early and hang out. Some days I might still be getting ready for class. Some days I might play some music (which you can mute if you don't like). Other days I'll be available to chat. Most days class will end around 10:45, but I'll keep zoom open until around 11:00 in case people have questions, want to talk, etc.
  4. I strongly encourage you to take handwritten notes. The physical component of taking notes helps to keep you engaged. And taking handwritten notes requires you to do some on-the-fly synthesis and prioritization, deepening your understanding.
  5. During class there will frequently be times where you will work in small groups on problems. Figuring out the best way to do this on Zoom might take some trial and error.

Homework

  1. There will be a homework assignment due almost every Friday. It is essential that you do these assignments, as this is how one learns math, and also this is most of what your evaluation will be based on.
  2. As discussed in this video there will be two parts to almost every homework assignment:
    1. Problems to be submitted on Edfinity
    2. Problems to be submitted on "paper" (a scanned pdf) on google classroom
  3. Edfinity is an online homework system. I use this system even when the world is not in a global pandemic. There are three reasons why I use Edfinity:
    1. You get instant feedback while doing the work, so you can learn right away from your mistakes. You can submit solutions many times until you get everything correct.
    2. Some problems are randomized so that you will all get slightly different versions of the questions. This means that collaborating with other students will be maximally effective, since you'll have to share solution methods and not just the final answer.
    3. Since the problems are automatically marked, I can spend more time helping you and won't have to spend as much time grading.
  4. If you need extra time for one or two of the homework assignments, it's not a big deal. But be mindful to not fall farther behind every week.
  5. I do not expect all of the homework assignments to be easy; I don't expect you to be able to sit down and do them easily the first time. Don't let yourself get frustrated. I strongly suggest working with others and seeking help if you need it.
  6. You are strongly encouraged to work together on homework. You can also consult me, class tutors, other faculty, friends, and family. However, the homework you hand in should represent your own understanding.
  7. As I plan on sending out homework assignments and other information via email/google classroom, it is important that you check your email/classroom regularly.
  8. You will want to have at your disposal a scientific calculator or phone/tablet app. I strongly suggest an actual calculator. You do not need a graphing calculator for this course (or, in my opinion, ever).

Help Sessions

The Teaching Assistants and I will have a handful of help sessions every week. You are warmly invited and encouraged to attend these sessions. Help sessions are relaxed, informal, and hopefully fun. Things that happen at help sessions:

  1. The TAs and/or I am around to offer help on the homework.
  2. Some students do most of the homework while at a help session. They work through problems alone or with others, and find it comforting to know that help is immediately at hand if needed.
  3. Others do the problems at home and come to the help session with specific questions.
  4. We can experiment with breakout rooms for folks who want to work together in small groups during the help session.
  5. Help sessions are also a chance to ask general questions about the course. Conversations also sometimes wander into other areas: politics, the state of the world, what's for dinner, what classes are offered next term, and so on.
  6. Help sessions are a great way to meet other students in the class.

Everyone is welcome at help sessions! Attending these sessions help students do well in the class and get as much out of it as possible.

You should also feel free to reach out to me and the Teaching Assistants with questions. If you're stuck on a problem, it might help to take a photo of what you've done so far and include it in an email to us. We might be able to help you with a short email, or we could set up a time to meet on zoom

Diversity and Inclusion

It is my intent that students from all backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, that students' learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength, and benefit. It is my intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity: gender, sexuality, disability, age, religion, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, and culture.

Learning about diverse perspectives and identities is an ongoing process. I am always looking to learn more about power and privilege and the harmful effects of racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and other forms of discrimination and oppression. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated. Please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally, or for other students or student groups. If something was said or done in class (by anyone, including me) that made you feel uncomfortable, please talk to me about it. You can also reach out to Provost Ken Hill, or Associate Deans Bonnie Tai or Jamie McKown.

Evaluation

I do not have any quota of A's, B's, etc. This is an unusual time. I'd strongly consider taking this class without letter grades. Perhaps for some of you not having letter grades will reduce anxiety. I'm happy to talk through options if anyone wants.

Textbook

We will be using the following textbook for Calculus I in winter 2021 and Calculus II in spring 2021: 5th edition, Hughes-Hallett et al, Calculus. Single variable. Paperback: ISBN-10: 0470089156. ISBN-13: 978-0470089156 Hardcover: ISBN-10: 0470131594. ISBN-13: 978-0470131596.

There are many different editions of this book. When you buy it, be sure you are getting the correct one. The best way to do this is to search for it via the ISBN. The ISBN is unique for each version of the book. E.g., the 3rd and 4th version of the same book will have different ISBNs.

This book costs as much as $120 dollars if you buy it new. However, you can get a used copy of the book for around $5 online plus a few dollars for shipping. Yup. For under $10 you can get your very own copy of an excellent calculus textbook.

Why is the book so inexpensive? The edition of the book that we're using is not the newest edition. As a result, there are many, many used copies available online. Most colleges have already switched editions, but I thought it didn't make sense to, since so far as I can tell there is no significant difference between the different editions, other than switching around the exercises. (The only reason publishers come out with new editions of calculus textbooks is to undercut the used book market. Calculus itself hasn't changed in over a century.)

To find the book online go to amazon.com or abe.com (or your favorite used bookseller) and search using one of the ISBNs above.

Official Syllabus

A one-page listing of the topics we'll cover in this course can be found here.

Standard Disclaimers

  • You should expect to spend a minimum of 150 academically engaged hours associated with this one-credit course. These 150 hours will be spent roughly as follows: 4 hr/wk "in" class, 2 hr/wk reading, 9 hr/wk on homework.
  • By enrolling in an academic institution, a student is subscribing to common standards of academic honesty. Any cheating, plagiarism, falsifying or fabricating of data is a breach of such standards. A student must make it his or her responsibility to not use words or works of others without proper acknowledgment. Plagiarism is unacceptable and evidence of such activity is reported to the academic dean or his/her designee. Two violations of academic integrity are grounds for dismissal from the college. Students should request in-class discussions of such questions when complex issues of ethical scholarship arise.