Instructor: Dave Rusin (rusin@math.utexas.edu)
Office hrs: MWF 9-10:30 and by appointment, in RLM 9.140
Teaching asst: Oscar Lopez (olopez@math.utexas.edu) Phone: 471-6192
Office hrs: M 12-1:30 and W 1:30-3:00 in RLM 13.156
Text: Calculus (7th Edition, "Early Transcendentals" version) by
James Stewart. You may also use the all-electronic version of
that same book, or the "special UT edition" at the bookstore.
Lecture: CPE 2.208, MWF 11:00 a.m. -- noon
Discussions on T & Th: 8:30-9:30am RLM 5.124 (55220), 3:30-4:30pm RLM 6.118 (55225), 5:00-6:00pm PAR306 (55230)
Course webpage: http://www.ma.utexas.edu/~rusin/408D/
I have been given the location of our final exam; it is in PAI 3.02.
There is a write-up available which discusses the (Cauchy) Principal Value for your reading pleasure... And there's another one showing an example of a series which you can prove to be conditionally convergent without using the Alternating Series Test.
Here's a "cheat-sheet" to help you finish the homework questions regarding calculus on curves in polar coordinates.
This course is a continuation of M408C and covers a variety of topics in the theory of functions of one or more variables: indeterminate limits, improper integrals, infinite sequences, power and Taylor series, parametric curves, and derivatives and integrals of vector and multivariable functions with applications. Its objective is to provide students with practical mathematical skills necessary for advanced studies in all areas of science and engineering.
Please note that "mathematical skills" here refers to more than algebraic manipulation (although you will be expected to do that kind of thing quickly and accurately). It is an explicit goal of this course to develop your mathematical intuition: many of the problems you will be asked to solve will require much more thought than symbol-moving. I also take it as an important step in your mathematical training that you learn to communicate mathematics well: what you write must hang together logically, and be presented with enough words to make the presentation comprehensible.
The prerequisite is a grade of at least C- in Mathematics 408C or 408L, or suitable performance on an entrance exam (AP, IB, or CLEP). Please note that if you had a C- in Math 408C or 408L, you have the weakest prerequisite of the class and so you should be working hardest and getting the most help and feedback.
Your semester grade will be based on a number of components. This structure is designed to encourage you to stay actively involved in the course all the way through the semester. Any adjustments to the schedules or policies will be announced multiple times in lecture and on Blackboard and on the course website shown above.
Homeworks: these are done online using the Quest system, located at https://quest.cns.utexas.edu/. This will enable you to get constant feedback on how well you are understanding the material. The homework must be completed online by the date posted, typically about one week after it becomes available. You will accumulate points during the semester, and your "Homework score" will be the number of points earned divided by the possible number of points you could have earned, times 100.
Quizzes: There will be a quiz (almost) every week. As with the homeworks, this will give you a semester "Quiz score" of up to 100 points.
Exams: There will be 3 mid-term exams, to be held during the usual class period. Each is worth 100 points. I expect the dates to be September 21, October 26, and Wednesday, November 21 -- the day before the Thanksgiving holiday. The final exam will be Wednesday, December 12 2012 from 2pm until 5pm, in PAI 3.02; it is worth 200 points. Textbooks, notes, and electronic devices (including phones and calculators) are not permitted during exams.
Your semester grade is based only on the number of points accumulated from this mix of 700 possible points. Your grade will be no lower than what is indicated from this table:
| Point total | Semester grade |
| 650-700 | A |
| 630-649 | A- |
| 610-629 | B+ |
| 580-609 | B |
| 560-579 | B- |
| 540-559 | C+ |
| 510-539 | C |
| 490-509 | C- |
| 470-489 | D+ |
| 440-469 | D |
| 420-439 | D- |
| 0-419 | F |
Make-ups: it is in general not possible to make up missing quizzes or homework assignments after the due date. If you believe you will have to miss a graded event, please notify me in advance; I will try to arrange for you to complete the work early.
Students with disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.
Drop dates: Sept 14 is the last day to drop the course for a possible refund; Nov 6 is the last day an undergraduate student may, with the dean's approval, withdraw from the University or drop a class except for urgent and substantiated, nonacademic reasons. For more information about deadlines for adding and dropping the course under different circumstances, please consult the Registrar's web page, http://registrar.utexas.edu/calendars/12-13/
Quest: This course makes use of the web-based Quest content delivery and homework server system maintained by the College of Natural Sciences. This homework service will require a $25 charge per student for its use, which goes toward the maintenance and operation of the resource. Please go to http://quest.cns.utexas.edu to log in to the Quest system for this class. After the 12th day of class, when you log into Quest you will be asked to pay via credit card on a secure payment site. You have the option to wait up to 30 days to pay while still continuing to use Quest for your assignments. If you are taking more than one course using Quest, you will not be charged more than $50/semester. Quest provides mandatory instructional material for this course, just as is your textbook, etc. For payment questions, email quest.billing@cns.utexas.edu.
Bennett exam: The Bennett contest exam is a competition held at The University of Texas Mathematics Department at the end of every regular semester. (This semester that will be Sunday, Dec. 9.) Participation is limited to students who are finishing the Calculus sequence that semester. That includes you! The questions are based on the topics covered in the Calculus courses, but require more than the usual amount of persistence and cleverness. There are cash prizes for the top scorers. Please plan to participate!
You may have spent most of your mathematical life working on problems by yourself. This is a good thing; you become self-reliant. However, I strongly encourage you to work with one or two other students in this class on a regular basis. Challenge each other to solve the problems, to explain the concepts, and to ask each other for help. This is the way mathematics is done in the real world, and practicing this now can help you this semester and beyond.
Since you are adults, I leave it to you to monitor your level of understanding on your own, and to seek help when you need it. But please allow me to share my experience. Every student who starts this class has met the pre-requisites and has the expectation that he or she will succeed. Nonetheless, every semester, about one-fourth of this group of bright, hard-working students ends up with a D or F, or withdraws. No one likes this outcome. Please be attentive to your progress on homeworks and quizzes and midterms. If you find you are always asking other people for help while studying; if you find that it takes you hours and hours to complete every homework set; if your quiz grades are low, or you score less than half the possible points on a midterm exam: in these cases, you CAN succeed, but ONLY if you change your patterns immediately. Optimism is a wonderful thing but it alone cannot bring the results you may want. Please see me early in the semester if you think you may have trouble during this course. I can try to help you with the material, or with your study habits, or else advise you to withdraw. Let's make this the first-ever 100% successful Math 408D class!
One more suggestion: have fun this semester! Some of us think math is so cool that we end up doing it for a living. I will try to convey to you some of what's kewl, and invite you to consider majoring (or minoring) in math, joining the math club, or simply taking more math classes. I am always happy to talk in my office about mathematics topics beyond what we discuss in class.