Math 101, Section 1: Calculus I

Fall 2000

Click here for the daily schedule of the course.

Instructor: Alan Durfee

Office: Clapp 404B
Telephone x2299 (with answering machine)
email: adurfee
Office hours: Stop in anytime I'm around, which is most of the time, or make an appointment.

Lectures: Tuesday, Thursday 8:35--9:50, in Clapp 402.

Fourth Hour: Friday 9:00--9:50, in Clapp 402. The fourth hour will be used for for discussing homework problems, etc. You are not required to attend these discussion sections. It will also be used for quizzes and tests. If you cannot take a test on a particular Friday you may make other arrangements (see below).

Text: Calculus Lite by Frank Morgan (A K Peters, 1997; Second Edition). We will cover Chapters 1 through 16. The core material of the course is contained in this book.

Homework: Homework can be handed in during class or put in the envelope outside my office door. Graded homework can be picked up any time from the other envelope there. Homework can be redone and handed in again, if done promptly (ie, within a few days). The graders reserve the right not to accept redone homework that is too late.

Graders: TBA

Technology: We will be using graphing calculators; these are recommended but not required. We will also be using the computer program Maple, which is available on the computers in Clapp 401, 402, 420 and 422.

Quizzes and Tests will be on Fridays. There will be two tests and a (self-scheduled) final examination. Quizzes will be the week before each exam as well as other times. Tests and quizzes will be announced in advance. If you are unable to take a quiz or test for any reason, you should consult with me, preferably beforehand. (You may call my answering machine at x2299 at any time, day or night.) They can always be taken early. Tests taken late for reasons other than illness will have points deducted from your score. The tests will be October 6 and November 10.

Final project: The class will end with a final project. Students will be divided into groups of two or three to work on an assigned project, which they will present to the class during the last two days of classes.

Evening help sessions: TBA

Grading: Each test is 100 points, the final examination is 100 points, and each quiz is 30 or more points. Homework is 100 points, and the final project is 100 points.

Projects: Here are some possible projects. Some of these will be done in class, some will be homework assignments, and some can be done as a final project:

How Eratosthenes (276--194 B.C.) used radian measure to estimate the diameter of the earth.
How Aristarchus (310--230 B.C.) used elementary trigometry to estimate the diameter of the moon and the sun, and the distances from the earth to these bodies.
How the daily temperatures in Fairbanks, Alaska follow a sine curve.
How the compound eye of the bee is designed so that it has the best vision.
How the growth of various populations (of yeast, e. coli, bread mold and people) can be modeled by the exponential function.
How Carbon-14 dating can be used to determine the age of Stonehenge, the Lascaux cave paintings and the Shroud of Turin.
How the age of the moon can be determined from samples of lunar rocks.
How the date and origin of an unfamiliar language can be determined.
How Newton's method can be used to generate fractal patterns and chaos.

In addition, we will assign some exercises from a very early calculus book written by Maria Agnesi in 1748. She was a professor of mathematics at the University in Bologna, Italy, and the first woman in the western world who can legitimately be called a mathematician. Her text on calculus was aimed specifically at Italian students. There is a copy of the book in our rare book room. Portions of this book have been scanned and are on the web, along with the first English translation, which is in the Smith library.

The address of this page is www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/adurfee/f00/math101/math101-gen.htm. It also can be reached through my web page, and the web page of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.