Instructor: Jeffrey Connors
E-mail: jeffrey.connors@uconn.edu
Office: ACD 114C
Office hours: M,W 3-4 PM, or by appointment. If you need help you should also consider going to the Academic Center in ACD 107.
Class time and room: M,W 9:25 - 10:40 AM in ACD 211.
Text:
PreCalculus, 5th Edition by Faires and DeFranza.
The precalculus course will familiarize students with functional notation,
graphs of functions, manipulations of functions and commonly used examples of
functions such as polynomials and trigonometric, exponential and logarithmic
functions. The course develops understanding of critical mathematical concepts
used in science and engineering and also serves to prepare students who wish to
move on to Calculus I.
LECTURE SLIDES
PDF SYLLABUS
Homework: Homework will follow a weekly cycle. We will use the WebAssign
system: www.webassign.net. No homework grades will be dropped. Late
homework is not accepted without receiving my permission on or before the due
date, which will require a reasonable explanation as to why the homework cannot
be completed on time.
Quizzes: These will be administered near the beginning of most classes
and will be related to the material covered during the previous lecture (see
the schedule below). The lowest three quiz grades will be dropped. There
will be no make-up quizzes.
Calculators: The use of calculators will not be permitted on exams or quizzes. Calculators may be used on homework.
Grading:
| Homework | 30% |
| Quizzes | 10% |
| Exam 1 | 15% |
| Exam 2 | 15% |
| Final | 30% |
Final exam: Currently scheduled for Dec. 10 from 10:30 AM-12:30 PM in ACD 211.
Final exam rescheduling policy:
Finals week for fall 2014 takes place from Monday, December 8th, through
Sunday, December 14th. Students are required to be available for their exam
and/or complete any assessment during the time stated in the Registrar's Office
schedule. If you have a conflict with this time you must visit the Avery Point
Student Services Office to discuss the possibility of rescheduling this final.
The Office of Student Services REQUIRES advance notice from students who have
prior knowledge of a conflict (i.e., bunched finals, religious obligation,
legal/medical appointments, etc.) Students must come to Student Services to
seek permission to reschedule their final.
Please note that vacations, previously purchased tickets or reservations,
graduations, social events, misreading the assessment schedule and
over-sleeping are not viable reasons for rescheduling a final. If you think
that your situation warrants permission to reschedule, please contact the
Office of Student Services (Branford House 306) to make an appointment with the
Director of Student Services (860) 405-9024 or www.advapp.uconn.edu (choose
Avery Point from the drop down menu).
| Date | Book Sections | Topics | Notes |
|---|
| Aug. 25 | 1.2 | Real number system | |
| Aug. 27 | 1.3 | Coordinate plane, equations, graphs | Quiz on 1.2 |
| Sept. 1 | | | Labor Day - no class |
| Sept. 3 | 1.4, 1.6 | Functions | Quiz on 1.3 |
| Sept. 8 | 1.6, 1.7 | Linear Functions | Quiz on 1.4 |
| Sept. 10 | 1.8 | Quadratic functions | Quiz on 1.6, 1.7 |
| Sept. 15 | 2.1-2.2 | Some other common functions | Quiz on 1.8 |
| Sept. 17 | 2.3 | Arithmetic with functions | Quiz on 2.1-2.2 |
| Sept. 22 | 2.4 | Compositions of functions | Quiz on 2.3 |
| Sept. 24 | 1.1-2.4 | Review for Exam 1 | |
| Sept. 29 | | Exam 1 | |
| Oct. 1 | 3.1-3.2 | Polynomials | |
| Oct. 6 | 3.3 | Factors and zeros | Quiz on 3.1-3.2 |
| Oct. 8 | 3.4 | Rational functions | Quiz on 3.3 |
| Oct. 13 | 4.1-4.3 | Measuring angles, right triangles | Quiz on 3.4 |
| Oct. 15 | 4.4 | Sinusoidal functions | Quiz on 4.1-4.3 |
| Oct. 20 | 4.5 | Sinusoidal graphs | Quiz on 4.4 |
| Oct. 22 | 4.6 | Other trig. functions | Quiz on 4.5 |
| Oct. 27 | 4.7 | Trigonometric identities | Quiz on 4.6 |
| Oct. 29 | 4.9 | Law of Sines, Law of Cosines | Quiz on 4.7 |
| Nov. 3 | 3.1-4.9 | Review for Exam 2 | |
| Nov. 5 | | Exam 2 | |
| Nov. 10 | 2.5 | Inverse functions | |
| Nov. 12 | 4.8 | Inverse trig. functions | Quiz on 2.5 |
| Nov. 17 | 5.1-5.2 | Exponential and logarithmic functions | Quiz on 4.8 |
| Nov. 19 | 5.3 | Logarithm functions | Quiz on 5.1-5.2 |
| Nov. 24 | | | Thanksgiving break - no class |
| Nov. 26 | | | Thanksgiving break - no class |
| Dec. 1 | 5.4 | Exponential growth and decay | Quiz on 5.3 |
| Dec. 3 | All | Review for final exam | |
| Dec. 8 | | | Finals week - no class |
| Dec. 10 | | FINAL EXAM | |