Instructor: Mr. John Leo
Course webpage: http://www.halfaya.org/Casti/Algebra2H/
Free Periods: 1, 5, 6 in Room 15. Also conference
periods and before and after school. It's best to send me email to arrange
a time to meet.
Quiz dates to be determined.
The goals of this course are for you to learn a significant amount of important mathematics, to prepare yourself for further study of mathematics and its applications, to further improve your problem solving, critical thinking and reasoning skills, and most of all to have fun!
We will follow Mathematics 3, written by the Mathematics Department at Philips Exeter Academy. Be sure to have the July 2008 edition. It is also available online. You will also need a graphing calculator.
We'll do roughly 9 problems per class period, more or less following the order in the text. The exact problems assigned for each class period will be posted in advance on the web. We will skip some problems, add some not in the text, and explore some topics in more depth as appropriate.
I plan to use the extra time in long periods to cover additional fun topics that you won't be tested on. I can suggest some but hope you will suggest topics you'd like to learn more about.
Preparation for each class consists of working through the assigned problems and writing up solutions in preparation to present them to the class. Class time will be devoted to discussing the solutions, discovering what is interesting about each problem, and how it connects to other problems and mathematics in general. I will not collect homework but will look it over at the start of each class and assign 0, 1 or 2 points depending upon completeness and effort. Homework done one class period late will receive half credit. No later homework will be accepted.
About once every other week I will ask for one problem to be handed in. The problem will be announced in advance. Please make an effort to make this solution particularly neat and clear.
There will be 4 tests each semester, as well as a final exam.
Homework is worth 20% of each quarter grade and tests 80%. The semester grade is then based on the quarter grades (80%) and the final (20%).
Although homework seems to be weighted low it is by far the most important part of the course. The best way to prepare for the tests is to work hard on the homework throughout the semester.
Participation is expected of everyone and is not explicitly graded. It will however affect grades in borderline cases. Everyone is expected to take turns presenting solutions, and everyone should participate in discussions.
In addition I will assign students to be "experts" on various important topics in the class. This means you are to put in special effort to learn this topic and help others with it. By the end of the year each of you should be experts on several topics.
I encourage you to work with fellow students on homework. However you should attempt each problem on your own first, and all write ups must be your own work. For problems you hand in, you must specify any help you received, whether from another person or persons, a book, a web site, or any other source.
No collaboration is allowed on tests of course. Furthermore you are not permitted to discuss anything regarding the test until both periods have taken it.
External websites you might find interesting.