Math 113: Calculus 1

Fall 2019

Instructors: Professor Dykstra (CJ 122) and Professor Stone (CJ 107)

Office Hours:

• Dykstra: Mon 2-4, Wed 2-4, Fri 2-4

• Stone: Mon 10-12, Wed 10-12, Thur 2-4

Note: We have deliberately staggered our office hours to make it convenient for you to
get help with homework and studying. You are welcome to attend the office hours of either
professor, not just the instructor of your section.

Course Overview
Calculus is fundamentally concerned with the following questions:

1. How can we measure quantities like length, area, and volume?

2. How do quantities like these change?

The study of these two questions dates back to the ancient Egyptians, though modern cal-
culus is usually credited to Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, who addressed the first
question with the concept of an integral, and the second with the concept of a derivative.

This semester we will actually study derivatives before we study integrals, and we will spend
the majority of the semester on these two topics. Toward the end of the semester, we will
step back and think about derivatives and integrals from a meta-level perspective. The
climax will be when we discover that these two seemingly disparate concepts are actually
deeply connected via one of the most profound discoveries in the history of human thought:
The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

Expect a challenging, thought-provoking, and intellectually rewarding semester. And expect

a lot of work: We will cover in one semester what many high school calculus courses cover
in an entire year. In addition to completing regular homework assignments, you will sit for
three midterm exams and a cumulative final exam. Some of the work you will do will go
beyond what is covered in lectures, and lectures will not cover everything in the textbook.
Please note: We expect you to read the textbook on your own to fill in topics we do not cover
in lecture.

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Textbook
Active Calculus, 2018 Edition (updated version), M. Boelkins, D. Ausin, and S. Schlicker.

An online version is available for free at activecalculus.org, and you can purchase a hard
copy from the bookstore for around $20. You are not required to purchase a hard copy,
but we recommend that you do. Research shows that reading real, physical books enables
students to absorb material better than reading electronic versions of books. This makes
sense because the process of reading and interacting with a physical book causes our brains
to slow down and process ideas more meticulously.

Prerequisites
The main prerequisite is a high school level algebra course. If your algebra skills are rusty,
you may want to brush up on things like factoring polynomials (e.g., x2 − x − 6) and solving
algebraic equations (e.g., x2 − x − 1 = 0). Another prerequisite is some familiarity with
trigonometric functions (e.g., f (x) = sin x).

If you have concerns about your math preparation, please visit the QSR center, which has
wonderful (and free!) resources designed to help you brush up on your algebra and trigonom-
etry skills. It would also be a good idea to touch base with your instructor.

If you have already taken an AP Calculus course, or something similar, then you should
talk to your instructor about possibly switching from this course into Calculus 2. You could
always start in Calculus 2, try it for a couple weeks, and then switch back to Calculus 1 if you
change your mind. When you pass Calculus 2, you automatically get a credit for Calculus 1,
which is a nice bonus down the road if you ever decide you want to take a 3-course semester.
Also, Calculus 1 does not count toward the math major. (Calculus 2 is the first course in
the math major.)

How to Succeed in this Course

Your primary goal is the same as ours: you want to succeed, and we want to help you
succeed. Let’s work together to achieve this common goal. Here is what you should do.

1. Attend and engage in every lecture. Turn off your phone, clear your mind from
distractions, and focus on every word your instructor says or writes on the board.
Take notes that you can refer back to later. If there is something you do not fully
understand, either raise your hand to ask a question during lecture or talk to your
instructor outside of class. If you must miss class, email your instructor ahead of time
to explain.

2. Master every detail of every homework problem. The fact that homework only
counts for 16% of your semester average is deceptive—it almost makes it seem like
homework is not that important. Nothing could be further from the truth. The dirty
little secret is that exams, which count for the majority of your grade, are heavily based

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 on the homework. So on each homework problem, beyond just “doing it” and turning
it in, make sure you really understand what is going on. If a similar problem were to
show up on an exam and you were not allowed to refer to your notes or ask anyone for
help, could you produce a perfect solution? If not, then you have not really mastered
it. After turning in the problems, quiz yourself. Do the problems over and over until
you understand them inside and out.

3. Read the textbook on your own. You may not have time to read every detail, and
that is okay. But you should at least read the examples from the sections we cover.
During lecture, we will often pick examples not covered in the textbook so that you
have more examples in your repertoire. The more examples you have under your belt
from lecture, the textbook, and homework, the better off you will be on exams.

4. Learn from your mistakes. Any time points are deducted from your work, go
back and identify your mistakes so you do not make them again. We really cannot
emphasize this enough: To succeed in this course, you need to master every detail
of every problem. Leave no stone unturned, especially if you missed it the first time
around.

5. Get help. Getting help from us, your classmates, or the QSR center is essential
anytime there is something you do not fully understand. Don’t let your questions go
unanswered! Math is a subject that builds on itself, so asking questions sooner (rather
than later) will ensure that you don’t fall behind. We especially encourage you to come
to our office hours regularly.

The QSR Center

The center for quantitative and symbolic reasoning (the QSR center) offers free drop-in
tutoring most days and nights on the third floor of CJ. The tutors are advanced mathematics
students who can help you with homework problems and studying. The QSR center is an
excellent supplement to office hours. Check it out!

Office Hours
Please stop by frequently to work on homework problems, to study for upcoming exams,
or just to chat. Even if you do not have any pressing questions, the first floor of CJ (just
outside our offices) is a wonderful place to work, with lots of tables and chairs, soft furniture,
chalk boards, and computers. Many of your classmates will be at office hours, too, making
it a great environment for collaboration. You might even make some new friends!
Office hours are great because they enable us to give you lots of direct, one-on-one help.
However, we do not want you to become dependent on us—to master the material, you need
to learn to think on your own. For this reason, we will be reluctant to give you substantial
hints on homework problems unless you can first demonstrate that you have attempted to
solve them yourself. For example, please do not come to us with a question like, “How do
you do number 5?” A much better question would be something like, “I’ve been trying to

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solve number 5 using the method we learned in class, but keep getting stuck here (show us).
Am I on the right track?” Our goal in helping you is not to simply give you the solutions to
the problems, but rather to steer you in the right direction in your thinking so that you can
discover the solutions yourself. This may seem like tough love, but trust us: you will thank
us come exam time when you are required to work all by yourself!
Our office hours are listed at the very top of the syllabus. As you can see, we have staggered
our office hours so that there are lots of times for you to get help throughout the week. We
can also be available by appointment. If our office hours ever need to be delayed or cut short
for some reason, we will let you know either in class, by email, or by posting a note on our
office doors.

Homework
Most weeks, homework will be due on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:00 PM. We will
post assignments on Blackboard. There will be two types of homework:

1. Online homework. We will use the online homework platform called WebWorK. If you
are off-campus, then you will need to use VPN to access the site. You can get a free
VPN account here1 .
Generally speaking, the online homework is intended to help you practice computa-
tional techniques and concepts that aren’t too complicated or involved.

2. Paper-and-pencil homework. You will write this up by hand and turn it in to the folder
outside your instructor’s office. The idea with the pencil-and-paper homework is to
give you practice solving problems that are more involved and sophisticated than the
online homework.

On the pencil-and-paper homework, you will be marked down if you do not adhere to the
following rules. You must write your full first and last name on the top of your assignment
along with the homework number (e.g., HW #13). You must clearly label the start of each
new problem and ensure that each solution is well-organized and easy to read. You must
leave plenty of blank space in margins, between paragraphs, and between problems. You
must write in pencil, not pen. Your work must not be written on notebook paper with frayed
edges. Multiple pages must be stapled together.

To ensure that you do not get marked down for sloppiness, we recommend that you re-copy
your homework before turning it in. Think of the first draft of your homework as a rough
draft; in a college course like this, you should only ever turn in final drafts. In addition to
making it look neater, the act of re-copying your work will help reinforce the material in
your brain, which will help you do better on exams.

We encourage you to collaborate with your classmates, and of course we’re always happy to
help. But final write-ups of the problems must be your own work. Simply copying someone
1
https://www.hamilton.edu/offices/lits/forms/vpn-request-form

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else’s work violates the honor code.

To ensure that you properly credit other people’s ideas, at the top of every pencil-and-paper
assignment you turn in, you must either write, “I completed this assignment by myself” or
list any students you worked with and any outside sources you used. Please be specific, for
example:

• “I completed this assignment by myself.”

• “Jack showed me how to do problems 2 and 3.”
• “I watched a Khan Academy video to learn how to do problem 4.”
• “I went to the QSR center for help with problem 3, and office hours for problem 7.”
• “I collaborated with Jane on problem 3.”
• “I checked all my answers with Jane before turning them in.”
• “I copied the solution to problem 3 word-for-word from www.homeworksolutions.com.”
• “I picked the lock on your office, stole your solutions, scanned them and printed out
a copy, put my name (and this note) on top, and am now submitting them to you for
a grade. I left a $100 bill on your desk as hush money. Hope that’s okay, and have a
great weekend!”

We understand that it can sometimes be difficult to know which kinds of collaboration or

outside sources are allowed. But please rest assured: as long as you fully document the
nature of the collaboration or outside source, you will not get into trouble. Even if you do
something that clearly and flagrantly crosses the line (see the last two examples above), we
guarantee that we will not bring honor court proceedings against you as long as what you
have done is fully documented. (Assuming it is fully documented, the worst that will happen
is that we may want to chat with you to clarify what the rules are.) Where we will have a
problem—and where you will get into trouble—is if you copy the work or ideas of another
person or source and pass it off as your own by failing to acknowledge where you found it.

Exams
There will be three midterm exams and a cumulative final exam.
• Exam 1 will be given in class on Thursday, September 19.
• Exam 2 will be given in class on Thursday, October 24.
• Exam 3 will be given in class on Thursday, November 21.
• The final exam will be cumulative and will be given on Thursday, December 17 from
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Note that this is the “Math and Government Common Exam”
time and may differ from what is listed on webadvisor. The date and time of our final
exam is fixed by the registrar and is not negotiable.

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Derivative Spot-Check
As you may recall from the “course overview” above, one of the major themes of the semester
will be the concept of a derivative. As we will learn, there are lots of techniques for comput-
ing derivatives, and it is important that you learn to be fluent with all these techniques.

For this reason, in the middle of the semester, sometime between October 7 and October 25,
there will be an online “exam” that you will take covering different techniques for computing
derivatives. But it isn’t really an “exam” per se, so we are simply calling it a “derivative
spot-check.”

In the days leading up to the derivative spot-check, we will give you instructions to sign up
for a time to take it. You will then take the spot-check in the QSR center, proctored by one
of the QSR center tutors.

The spot-check will be pass-fail: if you pass, you will automatically get a score of 100%,
and, if you fail, you will get 0%. But don’t worry: if you fail, you can re-take the spot-check
multiple times until you pass. However, you will be limited to two spot-checks per day until
the close of the exam. Also, before you go in to take the spot-check, we will give you a
practice version that you can work through on your own as many times as you want to make
sure you are well-equipped to pass.

So while it is technically possible to fail the derivative spot-check, we hope (and expect) that
everyone will pass. It will take some effort on your part, and you will have to spend some
time studying and working through the practice version we send you in advance, but this is
intended to be a friendly exercise, not stressful like a traditional exam.

Attendance and Participation

There are 5 points possible for attendance and participation, and you will automatically
begin the semester with 4 points. If your attendance or participation ever starts going
downhill, then your score will be temporarily reduced. This will happen, for example, if you
skip class or you are disruptive during class. If you ever notice that your score has dropped
below 4, then we encourage you to talk to your instructor to find out what you can do to
bring your score back up to a 4. For example, if your score drops to a 3 because you skipped
class one day, then we might be willing to make a deal where we raise your score back up to
a 4 in exchange for better attendance going forward.

We will wait until the very end of the semester to increase scores above 4; by waiting until
the end we can make an informed decision based on our holistic assessment of your work
throughout the semester. Please note that scores above 4 will be awarded based entirely on
merit, so please do not think of this as an invitation to beg for points. Doing so will just
make you look bad, and there is zero chance that you will be able to actually influence your
grade using this tactic. In other words, begging for points is pointless—so don’t do it.

How can you earn a score of 4 or above? The idea is that you will earn a 4 if you come

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to class every day and consistently put in solid work in and out of class. You will earn a
4.5 if you go above and beyond to engage in the material, and you demonstrate leadership
in collaborations with your classmates. Scores of 5 will rarely if ever be given and will
be reserved for students who through their attendance and participation make profound
contributions that are indispensable to the intellectual development of the class as a whole.

Here are some additional remarks to help you understand what attendance and participation
will mean in this class.

• Attendance. You do not need to have perfect attendance per se, but you should
not skip class for no good reason, and any time you miss a class you should let your
instructor know in advance why you will miss the class and what you plan to do to
catch up on the material.
• Participation. You will not have points deducted if you do not volunteer lots of
questions or comments during lecture. (It’s wonderful if you do, but we are sympathetic
to the fact that some students are more extroverted than others.) However, we will
expect you to pay close attention during class and to put in solid effort outside of class.
Also, some class periods will involve group activities that we will expect you to fully
engage in with your classmates. Some examples of poor participation include: being
disruptive during class (e.g., texting on your phone); being disrespectful when working
with QSR center tutors; or being disrespectful of your classmates.

Calculators, Computers, and Technology

You may use technological devices as much as you like on homework assignments, and the
online homework will certainly involve computers! But please keep in mind that you will
not be allowed to use technological devices on midterm exams or the final exam, so please
use them sparingly.

For example, when we study derivatives, if you have an Alexa device in your dorm room, you
could literally ask it a question like, “What is the derivative of x2 ?” Amazingly, Alexa will
respond with the correct answer! Similarly, you could ask Google and get a correct response.

But here’s the thing: if you are constantly asking Alexa or Google for the answers to your
homework, do you think you will be well-equipped for exams? Certainly not! To do well on
exams, you need to learn to think on your own, without the help of technology. So while we
will not be looking over your shoulder when you do your homework, we strongly advise you
to avoid using calculators, computers, or other technological devices as much as possible.

Honor Code
We take the honor code very seriously and will report any suspicion of academic dishonesty
directly to the dean of students. In addition to keeping your own nose clean, remember that
the honor code requires you to report any instances of suspected cheating that you personally
witness, either to your instructor or the dean of students.

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Disabilities
If you have a documented disability and need academic adjustments or accommodations,
please speak with your instructor during the first week of class. All such discussions will
remain confidential. You should also contact Allen Harrison in the Dean of Students Office
(Elihu Root House; x4021), who coordinates services for students with disabilities.

Grades
We will determine your semester average based on the following:

• Attendance and Participation: 5%

• WebWork and Quizzes: 8%

• Paper-and-Pencil Homework: 8%

• Derivative Spot-Check: 5%

• Highest Exam Score: 22%

• Lowest Exam Score: 10%

• Middle Exam Score: 17%

• Final Exam: 25%

We will convert your semester average into a letter grade using standard cutoffs (for example,
70 = C–, 73 = C, 77 = C+). However, in making the final decision about which letter grade
you deserve, we reserve the right to also take into account our holistic assessment of your
work.