Instructor: Sorin Popa (popa@math.ucla.edu) Office: MS 7308; Office hours: Mo 1-2:30, Wed 2-3:30.
Teaching Assistants:
Lectures
(MWF 8) are in Math Sci 4000A.
Discussion sections meet as follows.
Discussion section 1a (Brian Carty): Tuesday 8, MS 5117
Discussion section 1b (Brian Carty): Thursday 8, MS 5117
Discussion section 1c (Alison Mastny): Tuesday 8, MS 5137
Discussion section 1d (Alison Mastny): Thursday 8, MS 5137
Discussion section 1e (Brian Forbes): Tuesday 8, MS 5138
Discussion section 1f (Brian Forbes): Thursday 8, MS 5138
Topics: Calculus, which is a useful technique for dealing with changing quantities. The goal is to introduce the concepts involved in calculus, and to show how to apply these concepts to various problems. See the Mathematics Department's description of this course, and their course outline.
Prerequisites: You must have passed the Mathematics Department's diagnostic test, or have passed Math 1.
Textbook: Calculus for Biology and Medicine, second edition, by Claudia Neuhauser. The same book will be used in Math 3B and 3C. Be sure to get the second edition, not the first! The book has a website for its first edition. You can also get (later) the Student Solutions Manual, second edition, which has solutions to odd-numbered problems. (I assign mainly even-numbered ones, but it can be useful to see the solution to similar problems.)
Honors contracts: Sorry, I will not do honors contracts this quarter.
Homework:
Homework problems will be assigned at each (or nearly each)
lecture (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), and are to be turned in at
your discussion section (Tuesday or Thursday), according to the
following rule:
At a Tuesday discussion section, all problems assigned through the
previous Friday are due;
at a Thursday discussion section, all problems assigned through the
previous Monday are due. Please work the problems as they are assigned
(try not to wait until the night
before they are due).
The way the homework counts for the grade is explained below (see
Grading).
Thus, it is only a
small part of the course grade. But I strongly encourage you to
do evry one of them, if you want to do well in this class, and to TURN
THEM ON TIME: this is both because late homework is not accepted, and
because you will need the graded HW back to you on time to be useful
for the exams. Also, problems for exams will be very much in the style
of HW problems.
Tests: There will be a first midterm exam on Wednesday, February 4, and a second midterm on Friday, February 27. The final exam is on Friday, March 19, 3-6PM (exam code 1). Mark these dates on your calendar now. Please bring your photo ID to the tests. On the tests, you should show whatever work you use to get your answers.
Grading: Each of the two midterms is worth 25 % of the grade. The final exam constitutes the other 50%. If you have not turned in at least half of the assigned homework, your grade then gets lowered one notch. Beyond that, the homework scores influence the borderline cases.