[ericvan1]

Most of the math in this course is a review of Gr. 12 functions and calculus/vectors.

The difference is that what you learned in high school is only the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of content to know and every chapter needs to be practiced for at least 3-4 hours to retain and understand. This was the toughest course for me. I had Protas as a prof. and he was a smart guy but with a really thick accent so he was impossible to understand sometimes.

Textbook: Calculus, Early Transcendentals, 6th Edition, James Stewart, Brooks/Cole
Used program called Maple for labs, this was available on campus computers.

This course is one to put effort into because it is tough to get a good mark.

[Hint] do all the labs perfectly. Some people would get 40% on tests and exams yet have the 15% lab mark to get a passing grade.

Marking:

3 Tests 10%
1 Test 15%
Labs [5 @ 3% each] 15%
Final Exam 40%

Calculators are NOT allowed on any of the tests or exams

when you say "Calculators are NOT allowed on any of the tests or exams" do you mean like graphing calculators?

No, just calculators in general. The tests are all multiple choice, and calculus really doesn't require any difficult calculations. You just differentiate, and integrate, etc and any 'calculations' required would be simple enough to do by hand.

what would be an example of a lab? because i have no clue what a math lab would be.

Its basically a series of questions based on the stuff your learning except you solve them using software called maple. They arent anything to worry about and if you need help then you can just go to one of the tutorials. They ended up boosting my mark.

I personally loved this class. I had childs as a teacher and he is really good, and actually knows his stuff, writes clearly on an overhead (although he is left handed so a lot of the time you can't see what he has written until his hand has been lifted from the top of the page) and every now and again he will throw out a joke that no one thinks is funny but laugh anyways

"Calculators are NOT allowed on any of the tests or exams,"

ARE U SERIOUS!? :O

""Calculators are NOT allowed on any of the tests or exams,"

ARE U SERIOUS!? :O"

Yes, and as long as you know you times tables and know how to divide and add simple numbers, you should do perfectly fine in this class. You don't actually need a calculator to do complex math

But what about Sin, Cos, Tan, Exponents etc?

Originally Posted by Daman K

But what about Sin, Cos, Tan, Exponents etc?

You do know two "special" triangles and exponents are simply just a number multiplied by itself a certain amount of times. Anything in this class that requires actual calculations are all things that you have been exposed to in highschool and should have memorised by now. If there are any complicated calculations then the teacher won't ask you to simplify but just to put it into somplest terms. There is no need for calculators in thiis course and a lot of the times they would just slow you down

Originally Posted by GregZ

You do know two "special" triangles and exponents are simply just a number multiplied by itself a certain amount of times. Anything in this class that requires actual calculations are all things that you have been exposed to in highschool and should have memorised by now. If there are any complicated calculations then the teacher won't ask you to simplify but just to put it into somplest terms. There is no need for calculators in thiis course and a lot of the times they would just slow you down

When you are talking about those two special triangles you are talking about the 45 degrees and 60/30 degrees right triangles correct?

This wasn't so bad. Not as bad as I feared. But I did not work hard enough. A good strategy would be to actually keep up with the work either day by day or bi-daily.

I found myself spending way too much time a week before the exam cramming and it didn't allow for a full understanding of the material.

Also, as much as Dr Childs likes to tell you that chapter 11 is difficult and only increases exponentially as you go on, it really doesn't. Convergence/Divergence tests are pretty easy and QUICK to do and all you need to do is practice. It only gets a little tricky when dealing with Taylor and MacLauren series.

Vectors is tacked on at the very end of the course, so you really should be on top of chapter 11 to be properly prepared for the final.

First test had 21 questions: Easy. Class average was~74%

Mid Term was 30 questions. Challenging. Class average was ~ 63%

Second test was 19 questions. Challenging. Class average was ~60%

Final was 40 questions. Challenging, but more than enough time Every question represents a percentage of your final mark. Unk average.

Maple: 5 assignments; Trust me, go to the scheduled lab times. I did and got almost perfect on all five assignments. That's 15% of my mark. That could mean a pass or fail for some people.

I had McLain, and he was a pretty good prof. Personally, I found the pace at which the material was taught in class was too fast to keep up with; so I just copied the notes with no clue of what was going on. They ended up being a powerful ally though, because I found that the examples had usually covered every type of problem/pitfall very well. Going over them carefully on my own turned out to be the best way to study. I would recommend doing EVERY practice problem, reading each textbook chapter, and STUDYING THE NOTES!

The labs are very easy, but I strongly recommend having the calclabs book, as it explains very thoroughly the syntax of Maple (program for labs). Not only is the syntax crucial to a correct answer, it is also tested on the midterm exams. There was no maple question on the final exam. If you have the calclabs book and have done your homework, they are easy marks.

My biggest suggestion for this course is to make sure you can do every question in the book, and to memorize the notes. Some people didn't take any notes during his lectures, and honestly, if they can memorize it, that's great. But, I believe that 99% of everyone else will forget most of the small details in a week. Copy everything, WORD for WORD that the prof writes; he writes quick so it can be tough to keep up, but completely doable. I would also recommend reading over the respective section in the notes before beginning the practice problems. Also, read over the entire notes before each test. This can take up to 6 hours.

The practice tests/exam are always MUCH harder than the actual test, so don't panic if you're having trouble. I didn't even look at the practice exam for this course due to time constraints, and still managed to pull off 12 (but just barely). All my time was spent reading the notes! So yeah, take word-for-word notes, read over the textbook chapter, do all the practice questions, and do the practice tests!

no calculator means no calculator - paper and pencil only. math is only course not on WebCT/ELM, labs did not show up on my schedule and registrar did not know anything about them. i asked professor what is this Maple software for and answer was "you are right, you don't really need it". this little misunderstanding costed me easy mark because I missed first lab (grrr.... ). all labs in 1Z04 are using Maple 11 or newer. each posted lab has two files - one is sample and the other is actual file to complete and submit. pay attention to marking scheme since they don't only expect correct result but also how the result is obtained (must use maple instructions to manipulate result). you don't need to buy Maple as it is installed in computer labs in BSB (second floor) and there are TAs to help (during listed hours only). there is plenty of practice questions and old tests but one needs to work through examples. basement of Hamilton Hall has nearly around the clock math help sessions but be patient since TA's may be spread to thin sometimes.