Instructor: Mr. John Leo
Course webpage: http://www.halfaya.org/Casti/CalculusAB/
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 to prepare you to do well on the AP exam and give you a solid background in calculus that will be valuable in college and beyond, to further improve your problem solving, critical thinking and reasoning skills, and most of all to have fun!
The text for the class is Calculus: Early Transcendentals, Single Variable, by Anton, Bivens and Davis (Eighth Edition, 2005). This is the same book you used second semester last year. You will also need a graphing calculator. In addition we will use Multiple-Choice & Free-Response Questions in Preparation for the AP Calculus (AB) Examination by David Lederman (8th edition, 2003) in the second semester.
I also recommend looking at Calculus by Michael Spivak, which gives a different and more sophisticated presentation of most of the material we will cover. A fourth edition just came out but any edition is fine. I'll have a copy in our classroom you can look at, and much of the text of the third edition is available on Google Books.
We will continue coverage of limits, continuity and differentiation from last year, and learn about integration and differential equations as well. Most of this material is in chapters 5, 6, 7 and 9 of your text. You may wish to look at the AP Calculus AB information on the web.
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.
Reading and homework assignments will be posted in advance. Preparation for each class consists of reading the appropriate section(s), 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 reading and problems. 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 or two problems to be handed in. The problems will be announced in advance. Please make an effort to make the solutions particularly neat and clear.
There will be 4 tests and 4 quizzes each semester, as well as a final exam the first semester. You are expected to take the AP exam at the end of the second semester.
There will also be a paper due the first semester. The topic the paper will be how calculus relates to another subject you are interested in. For the second semester paper you may do an optional research project. Details will be provided later.
Homework is worth 20% of each quarter grade, quizzes are worth 10%, and tests 70%. The first semester grade is based on the quarter grades (70%), the paper (10%) and the final (20%). The second semester grade is either entirely the quarter grades (100%) or if you choose to do a research project based on the quarter grades (90%) and project (10%). If you do not take the AP exam you must take a final exam instead but I don't expect anyone to follow this path.
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, including the AP exam, 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.
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.