College of the Holy Cross
Math 125: Calculus for Social Sciences I
Syllabus
Fall 2007

Please read the course description to determine if this is the right course for you.

Instructor Information
Professor: Catherine A. Roberts
Office: Swords 336
Office Phone:508- 793-2456
Email: croberts@holycross.edu
Instructor homepage: http://mathcs.holycross.edu/~croberts
Office Hours: MWF 10:30 - 11:30 & TTh 2:00 - 3:00
You can always schedule an appointment by sending an email.

Basic Course Info
Section 125-04 meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 to 1:45 in O'Neil Hall, Room 101. Class will start on time and you may not enter the classroom after 12:30, so don't be late!

Text
Required: James Stewart, Single Variable CALCULUS Concepts & Contexts 3 (2005, Thompson Brooks/Cole Publishers, ISBN 0-534-41022-7).
Recommended: Study Guide (Burton & Garity, ISBN 0-534-41024-3) and the Student Solutions Manual (Cole, ISBN 0-534-41023-5).

These books are available in the Holy Cross bookstore. It is not necessary for you to bring your text to class. You will use the same book if you continue on and take the second semester of Calculus.

General Calendar
First class meets on Thursday, August 30. No class meeting on October 9 or November 22. Last class meets on Tuesday, December 4. Comprehensive final exam scheduled for Thursday, Dec 13 from 8:30 am - 11:30 am.

Exam Calendar
There are three exams on Thursdays...September 20, October 181, and November 15.
The exams are designed to take an hour, but you will be given the full class period.

Final Exam: Comprehensive final exam scheduled for Thursday, Dec 13 from 8:30 am - 11:30 am.

In general, I do not offer make-up exams without an institutional excuse. If you have a conflict on exam dates, you must alert me at the earliest possible time so that we can discuss the possibility of making alternative arrangements. There will be no make-up Final Exam offered, nor will it be available at a time other than those scheduled -- so when making your end-of-the-semester travel plans, please keep this in mind.

Grading Policy
Your final grade will be based on how many points you earn over the course of the semester out of a total possible of 1000 points.
Exam 1 = 150 points
Exam 2 = 150 points
Exam 3 = 150 points
Final Exam = 300 points
Activity Points = 250

Activity Points: 25% of your course grade will be made up of "activity points" that are associated with homework (problem set), quizzes, and other activities. You will select from an extensive list of assignments and you will accumulate activity points throughout the semester. You can earn up to 250 activity points by participating in these assignments...more than 350 points will be offered over the course of the semester, so if you miss an assignment or do poorly on a quiz, keep in mind that you can do something else to earn your points. It is in your best interest to participate in most of these offerings (especially the homework problem sets), since they will help you prepare to succeed on the exams. Please note that no late assignments will be accepted -- so if you miss (even as an excused absence) an Activity Point generating assignment, it is your responsibility to work on additional alternative assignments to ensure that you earn your 250 points.

I do not scale or curve the exams. At the end of the semester, there may be some scaling of the final course grades, but this determination won't be made until the very end fo the semester. To be on the safe side, plan on earning a minimum of 900 points (activity points plus exam points) to position yourself in the A-range for your course grade. A point total in the 800's will earn you a B, and so forth. Considerations in scaling final grades include things such as attendance and class participation, as well as whether or not you've shown improvement over the course of the semester. Students residing on the cusp of two grades may be boosted to the higher grade if they've earned more than the 250 activity points.

Professor Expectation of Students
This class meets only twice a week and we will be covering a lot of material. It is extremely important to me that you come to each and every class. Arrive on time. Do not have distractions such as cell phones and ipods on during classtime. In order to do well in this course, you should plan on spending at least eight hours per week outside of class working on Calculus. If you are having trouble keeping to this schedule, it may help to schedule a regular meeting time to come to my office to show me your out-of-class work. Successful students also schedule times to attend the Calculus workshop or they meet regularly with some friends from the class to work on homework together. This is encouraged. Please read the statement on academic integrity at the bottom of this syllabus and contact me anytime you have questions related to academic integrity. I expect you to be responsible for your own learning. If you put in the effort, I will be by your side to help make sure you succeed.

Calculators in Class
A graphing calculator is recommended for this course, but it is not required. The TI-81 or TI-83 (or similar models) is sufficient for this course. The TI-86, TI-89 and TI-91 calculators are powerful tools that may be appropriate choices if you plan a career in engineering, physics, or mathematics. During class discussions, I may invite students with graphing calculators to engage in an activity that will provide insight into the course material. My exams are conceptual, rather than computational, in nature. For this reason, graphing calculators are not allowed on the exams. The Department will loan simple scientific calculators during the exams -- you may provide your own with prior approval from your professor.

Attendance
Attendance is really important to me. Please make the effort to come to class on time. It is not easy to catch up in a mathematics course, where each lecture builds on the previous material. This is particularly true for a course that meets only twice a week! If you contact me ahead of time and the absence is excused, then I will make every effort to provide you with the information that you missed. Otherwise, it is your responsibility to get notes from one of your peers and to make sure that you understand the material. I will pass a roster around each day for you to sign and will use your attendance record as a deciding factor in the event that your final grade computes to be on the cusp between two grades. If you miss more than a couple of classes, expect to hear from me and/or your Class Dean!

Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is something I value. Because I allow (indeed, encourage!) students to study and work together on problem sets, it is of critical importance that every student clearly understand the difference between collaboration and plagiarism. I support the College policy on academic honesty (see the course catalog) and also the Department of Mathematics and Statistics policy.

I quote from the College policy statement: "Plagiarism is the deliberate act of taking the words, work or statements of someone else, without full and proper acknowledgement, and presenting them as one's own." So, while you are welcome to collaborate and work together on assignments, the work you turn in must represent your own thoughts and be in your own words. This is true for mathematics as much as it is true for any other subject. Please do not allow others to copy your homework answers and do not be tempted to copy answers from others. Sometimes students mistakenly believe that math answers all look the same, but they don't, so please plan to write up your solutions in your own words.

I won't hesitate to write-up students who are found to have cheated in my course. More will be said in class about academic honesty in class. Please communicate with me directly if any aspects of my policies are unclear.