Course: Math 131, Fall 2008.
Instructor: Christopher Hanusa -- email chanusa@qc.cuny.edu -- Office Kiely 409
Meeting Times: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:05 in KY 315.
Course Web Site: http://qcpages.qc.edu/~chanusa/courses/131/08_Fall/
Course Discussion Board: Blackboard

Textbook: Calculus for Business by Hoffman (9th Edition)
A graphing calculator is required for this class. The TI-84 Silver Edition is recommended.

This class covers: Chapters 1-4 of the textbook.

Homework Policy: DO IT! The homework will be more difficult than the math homework you are accustomed to, and it will take longer as well. It will be common that problems will take longer than one minute and there will even be the occasional problem that will take longer than ten minutes! These are the problems that are the most satisfying to complete correctly.
      Every week, a new homework set will be posted on the course web site. You can not expect to learn the material and the underlying concepts without practice, which is the goal of the homework assignments. Each day at the start of class, one or two study groups will be presenting homework questions that were due by that day (they may be from previous assignments). Your group will be given time to write your previously completed solutions on the blackboard and then explain your solution to the class. Make sure to have your homework completed before the start of class each day. (You may also find that office hours are a good time to ask questions and go over concepts that are hard.)
      It is important to learn how to express yourself in the language of mathematics. I suggest that you organize a homework notebook, in which you will write the solutions to each of the homework problems. In your homework, you should show your work and explain how you did the problem. This is the difference between an Answer and a Solution. It should be obvious to the person reading the homework how you went about doing the problem. This will often involve writing out explanations for your work in words. Imagine that you need an example to help refresh your memory for the final or even another class in six months!

Written Homeworks: During the semester, you will have to turn in weekly written homeworks. You will need to write detailed solutions to the assigned problems. Each assignment will be made up of calculations, word problems, and graphing calculator-based problems. Each assignment will be worth twenty points and the lowest homework grade during the course of the semester will be dropped. It is especially important that your homework be legible and clearly presented, or I may not grade it.

The Discussion Board: A resource for all students, especially those who do not have the time for study groups on campus, is the discussion board. This is a feature on blackboard which allows you to ask questions to and answer the questions of your fellow students. Posts may be questions about the material we have covered in class or answers to a fellow students' questions. You may also post questions about the homework, but please do not post complete solutions; it is a benefit to work out the complete solutions on your own. If you contribute regularly to the discussion board, this will positively impact the class participation part of your grade.
Blackboard login
Blackboard help

Study Groups: It is useful to form study groups to work on homework. Be sure to include an acknowledgment to your groupmates on your homework. At the beginning the problems will seem easy enough to plug and chug on your own, but as the quarter progresses the questions become quite complex indeed. Study groups good. Copying solutions bad. When a group works on a problem, everyone can participate. But when you write up the answers to the problems, write it up in your own way. I will take off points from all parties if multiple solutions are the same.
      Study groups have several advantages:

1. You can practice and learn how to solve more problems in less time (doing as many problems as possible is the key to success),
2. The best way to really learn something is to explain it to someone else (misunderstandings that you never knew you had will appear under someone else's questioning),
3. No two people solve the same problem the same way; in a group, you may discover new and more efficient ways to solve the same problem,
4. seeing that others also struggle with this material helps to put your own level of understanding in a better perspective and will hopefully reduce some of your anxiety,

Exams: There will be three midterm exams and a final exam. The exams will be a class period in length and calculators are permitted. No other study aides are allowed (or are necessary). There will be no make-up exam except in the case of a documented emergency. In the event of an unavoidable conflict with the midterm (an athletic meet, wedding, funeral, etc...), you must notify me at least one week before the date of the exam so that we can arrange for you to take the exam BEFORE the actual exam date.

Grading Scheme: (subject to modification)

• Written Homework: 9%
• Class Participation: 7%
• Each Midterm: 18%
• Final Exam: 30%

Help and Office Hours: Please get help at the first sign of incomprehension. Each topic we cover depends upon what we learned earlier in the semester. This means that if you do not understand one topic, you will likely feel even more lost when we move on to the following topic! Luckily, you have many options to help you understand the topics along the way.
      The math help room is a great place to get help, even when I am not around. It is open most of the day and is located in (TBD). In this room, there are tutors to answer questions you may have, there are video recordings of the material we discussed in class, and there are a few computers available for use. Last but not least, I will hold regular office hours this semester. My schedule this semester can be found here. I plan to hold extra office hours before the exams.

Cheating/Plagiarism: DON'T DO IT!   Both receiving and supplying the answers on a quiz or exam is cheating. I take cheating very seriously. If you cheat, you will receive a zero for the quiz/exam and I will report you to the Academic Honesty Committee. If you cheat twice, you will receive a zero for the class. Please do realize that working together on homework is not cheating.