Math 8 Homework Schedule

I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and
pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to fonts of wisdom and knowledge.
Igor Stravinsky

Class participation is an essential part of the course; mathematics is not a spectator sport. For this section, class participation consists of reading assignments, quizzes, and homework problems.

Reading Assignments

Reading assignments will be given daily and should be read before coming to class. For some of my thoughts on reading mathematics texts, click here.

Quizzes

Quizzes will be administered at the end of class on Monday covering material presented in lecture the previous week. They will consist of a couple of questions and should only take 10 - 15 minutes to complete. If you do the homework for the lectures given the previous week (including Friday's homework), then you should do fine on the quizzes.

Homework Problems

Homework problems will be assigned daily and collected the following class period. Homework will be turned in and picked up from the boxes outside of ???. Late homework will not be accepted and a grade of 0 will be assigned (of course, exceptions can be made for emergencies such as illness, death, natural disasters...).

Your homework will be corrected by a class grader and returned as soon as possible. The solutions you present must be coherent and written in complete sentences whenever possible. Simply stating answers or turning in garbled, unclear solutions will result in a grade of 0. Homework will be graded on a 0-1-2 scale: 2 = correct, 1 = mostly correct, 0 = mostly incorrect or missing.

The Schedule

On the remainder of this page you will find schedule for the course, including reading assignments, quiz dates, homework assignments, and selected answers to homework problems. There is also some information concerning the exams, which will be updated periodically to include lists of review problems and late-breaking news.

The selected answers are pdf files which you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read. You can obtain a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader by connecting to the Public server and looking in the "Core Dartmouth Software" folder.

Date Lecture/Quiz Homework
1/4 Lecture 1 on Section 9.1, Integration by Parts Homework 1 due 1/8
Complete Answers
1/6 Lecture 2 on Section 9.2, Partial Fractions Homework 2 due 1/11
Complete Answers
1/8 Lecture 3 on Section 9.3, Trig Antiderivatives Homework 3 due 1/13
Complete Answers
1/11 Lecture 4 on Section 10.1, Improper Integrals Homework 4 due 1/15
Complete Answers
Quiz 1 on 9.1, 9.2 Quiz Key
1/13 Lecture 5 on Section 10.2, Detecting Convergence Homework 5 due 1/19
Complete Answers
1/15 Lecture 6 on Section 10.4, l'Hôpital's Rule Homework 6 due 1/20
Complete Answers
1/19
TUES!		 Lecture 7 on Section 11.1, Sequences & Their Limits Homework 7 due 1/22
Complete Answers
Quiz 2 on 9.3, 10.1, 10.2 Quiz Key
1/20 Lecture 8 on Section 11.2, Infinite Series Homework 8 due 1/25
Complete Answers
1/22 Lecture 9 on Section 11.3, Testing for Convergence HW 9 due 1/28 at 6 PM
Complete Answers
1/25 Lecture 10 on Section 11.3, Testing for Convergence HW 10 due 1/28 at 6 PM
Complete Answers
Quiz 3 on 10.4, 11.1, 11.2 Quiz Key
1/27 Lecture 11 on Section 11.4, Absolute Convergence & Alternating Series HW 11 due 2/1
Complete Answers

Midterm Exam 1

The first exam is on Thursday, January 28th from 6:00-8:00 pm in Cook Auditorium. There are no calculators allowed on the exam, which is worth 125 points and 25% of your final grade. The exam will cover the material we have studied since the beginning of the course; that is Sections 9.1 - 9.3, 10.1, 10.2, 10.4, and 11.1 - 11.3.

The exam will be designed so that well-prepared students can complete the exam in approximately an hour and a half. However, the exam time is designated as lasting two hours to eliminate (for the most part) time pressures. Please arrive around 5:45 to allow time to get seated, settled, and exams distributed by 6:00. Cook Auditorium contains aapproximately 350 seats and there are only 80 of you. So, there is plenty of room to spread out and leave some empty seats between you and the other test-takers. Finally, bring writing utensils, but not scratch paper.

The format for the exam will be approximately as follows. Note that this may change without notice.

  • There will be 12 problems on the exam.
  • The first three problems will consist of a combination of true-false questions, definitions, basic convergence/divergence questions.
    These will be graded on a no partial credit basis.
  • For the remaining nine problems, you must write out complete solutions.
    These are free response problems (meaning that you get to show what you can do) and will be graded on a partial credit basis.

Consider preparing for the exam in the following ways:

  • Make a "summary sheet" of the information we have studied in class.
  • Review your homework and quizzes.
  • Take the Practice Midterm Exam 1 (click here, pdf file) and then check your answers with the Answer Key for Practice Midterm Exam 1 (click here, pdf file).
    (Note: I cannot guarantee that the answer key is completely correct, although it should be very, very close. Let me know if you find any errors so we can pass that information around.)
When preparing keep in mind that the best way to remember the material is to understand it. Although it is possible to learn calculus as simply a set of algorithms (i.e., the derivative of x^2 is 2x), this is far from the ideal and there will be problems on the exam that will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, if you only acquire such knowledge. Instead, you should work on understanding why you adopt particular approaches to solving problems. This includes being able to work the problems, being able to check your work without consulting the back of the book, and being able to explain and justify your solution approach. Finally, in most of the practice problems, you should be able to decide if your answer is reasonable or not.

Answer Key for Midterm Exam 1

Date Lecture/Quiz Homework
1/27 Lecture 11 on Section 11.4, Absolute Convergence & Alternating Series HW 11 due 2/1
Complete Answers
1/29 Lecture 12 on Section 11.4, Alternating Series & 11.5, Power Series HW 12 due 2/3
Complete Answers
2/1 Lecture 13 on Section 11.5, Power Series HW 13 due 2/5
Complete Answers
Quiz 4 on 11.4, 11.5 Quiz Key
2/3 Lecture 14 on Section 11.6, Power Series as Functions HW 14 due 2/8
Complete Answers
2/5 Lecture 15 on Section 11.7, Maclaurin Series HW 15 due 2/10
2/8 Lecture 16 on Section 11.7, Taylor Series Complete Ans (HW 15)
Quiz 5 on 11.5, 11.6 Quiz Key
2/9
TUES!		 Lecture 17 on Section 11.7, Taylor Series HW 17 due 2/15
2/10 Lecture 18 on Section 12.1, Basics of Diff Eqs Complete Ans (HW 17)
2/15 Lecture 19 on Section 12.2, Slope Fields HW 19 due 2/18, 7 PM
Complete Answers
Quiz 6 on 11.7, 12.1, 12.2 Quiz Key
2/17 Lecture 20 on Section 12.4, Separating Variables HW 20 due 2/22
Complete Answers

Midterm Exam 2

The second exam is on Thursday, February 18th from 7:00 - 9:00 PM in Cook Auditorium. There are no calculators allowed on the exam, which is worth 125 points and 25% of your final grade. The exam will cover the material we have studied since Midterm Exam 1; approximately Sections 11.4 - 11.7, 12.1, 12.2. Please arrive around 6:45 to allow time to get seated, settled, and exams distributed by 6:00. Cook Auditorium contains aapproximately 350 seats and there are only 80 of you. So, there is plenty of room to spread out and leave some empty seats between you and the other test-takers. Finally, bring writing utensils, but not scratch paper.

The format for the exam will be approximately as follows. Note that this may change without notice.

  • There will be 10 problems on the exam; some of these are multi-part questions.
  • The four problems will consist of a combination of true-false questions, definitions, basic convergence/divergence questions, and some work with pictures.
    These will be graded on a no partial credit basis.
  • For the remaining six problems, you must write out complete solutions.
    These are free response problems (meaning that you get to show what you can do) and will be graded on a partial credit basis.

Consider preparing for the exam in the following ways:

  • MOST IMPORTANTLY: Make a "summary sheet" of the information we have studied in class.
  • Review your homework and quizzes.
  • Take the Practice Midterm Exam 2 (click here, pdf file) and then check your answers with the Answer Key for Practice Midterm Exam 2 (click here, pdf file).
    (Note: I cannot guarantee that the answer key is completely correct, although it should be very, very close. Let me know if you find any errors so we can pass that information around.)
  • Work the additional problems listed at the end of the practice exam.
  • Attend office hours and problem sessions to ask questions and listen to answers to other people's questions.

Answer Key for Midterm Exam 2

Date Lecture/Quiz Homework
2/17 Lecture 20 on Section 12.4, Separating Variables HW 20 due 2/22
Complete Answers
2/19 Lecture 21 on Section 12.4 and 13.1 HW 21/22 due 2/24
Complete Answers
2/22 Lecture 22 on Section 13.1 Polar Coordinates HW 21/22 due 2/24
Complete Answers
Quiz 7 on 12.4 Quiz Key
2/24 Lecture 23 on Section 13.1 Polar Coordinates and
13.2 Polar Calculus 		HW 23 due 2/26
Complete Answers
2/26 Lecture 24 on Section 13.2 Polar Calculus and Section 1.1 3-D space HW 24 due 3/1
Complete Answers
3/1 Lecture 25 on Section 1.1 and the handout on 3-D space HW 25 due 3/3
Complete Answers
Quiz 8 on 13.1,13.2 (the last one!) Quiz Key
3/3 Lecture 26 on Section 1.3 Vectors and 1.6 Dot Product HW 26 due 3/5
Selected Answers
3/5 Lecture 27 on Section 1.8 Cross Product Suggested HW 27
3/8 Lecture 28 on Section 1.7 3D Planes Complete Answers

Final Exam

The final exam is on Sunday, March 14th from 1:00 - 3:00 pm in Filene Auditorium. The exam is worth 30% of your final grade and is comprehensive, although it will be weighted towards the last third of the term; that is, approximately half of the exam will be on material tested in the first two midterms and half of the exam will be on the material covered since the second midterm.