Mathematics

MA 341-007 Home Page

Semester: Spring 2011
Meeting time: TuTh 1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Meeting place: SAS 2203

Name: Stephen Schecter
E-mail address: schecter@math.ncsu.edu
Office location: SAS 3226
Office hours: MTuWThF 9:10 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Office telephone number: 515-6533
Office fax number: 513-7336

Name: Teshome Balkew
E-mail address: tmbalkew@ncsu.edu
Office location: Daniels 445
Office hours: M 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. and W 10 a.m. - 11 a.m..

Name: Tori Ellison
E-mail address: vmelliso@ncsu.edu
Office location: Burlington 2149
Office hours: MW 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Name: Nathan Miller
E-mail address: nbmiller@ncsu.edu
Office location: Laundry 208
Office hours: F 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Students will
1. Learn to solve ordinary differential equations using various techniques: mostly analytical, some numerical and graphical.
2. Learn to model problems from the sciences as ordinary differential equations, and to relate solutions to the original problem.

MA 242, or MA 132 and MA 231, or equivalent.

Nagle, Saff, and Snider, Fundamentals of Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems, 5th edition (ISBN: 0321388437), Addison-Wesley, 2008, $133.41 at Amazon). There is also an electronic version of the text that you can buy through the NC State Bookstore if you prefer.

Attendance at all meetings of the class is expected. Students are expected to arrive on time, to contribute to the learning environment, and to stay until the class ends.

We will make a seating chart on Tuesday, January 18. Please decide by then where you would like to sit. We will use the seating chart to take attendance and to pass back tests.

The attendance record is used to answer inquiries by University administrators. It is not used in grading.

I will regularly assign homework problems from the text, to be discussed at the next class. These problems will not be graded, but you will find that doing them is essential. Please check the homework page for assignments.

I strongly suggest that you find some other students to work on homework with. Staring at a problem you don't understand is not a good use of your time!

I will also assign computer-graded homework through WeBWorK. The assignments will become visible on certain days . Each assignment has a due date and time. Any work done after the due time will not be graded.

You should be able to log onto WeBWorK by Monday afternoon, January 10. To log onto WeBWorK for the first time, use your unity i.d. as your username. (For example, if your NC State e-mail address is astudent@ncsu.edu, use astudent.) Use your 9-digit student i.d. number as your password. Then use the Password/Email link to change your password. After you type in your new password, click on "Change User Options."

Use of WeBWorK is free to students in this course.

I often send e-mail to the class. E-mail goes to the address you have given to the University. To see what this address is, go to the University OnLine Directory and look yourself up. If that is not the e-mail address you want, there is a link that lets you change it.

There will be three tests and a final exam.

Calculators may be used only to do arithmetic and evaluate the numerical value of expressions (for example, e^(.2) or sin(.7)). They may not be used for differentiation, integration, albegra, solving differential equations, graphing, etc.

The table of integrals on the inside front cover of the text may be used on tests. Once we get to Laplace transforms, the table on the inside back cover of the text may be used. You may bring your text to tests in order to use these tables, or you may print them.

If you miss a test, I will need a letter documenting the reason. Makeup tests can only be given for reasons such as illness, family emergency, participation in a University-sponsored event, required court attendance or military duty, or religious observances as certified by the Department of Student Development.

If you know you will be absent on a test date, you must clear the absence with me in advance and schedule a makeup date. In the case of an unanticipated absence on a test date, you must give me documentation and schedule a makeup date as soon as possible. See the University policies.

For University guidelines on academic integrity, see the Code of Student Conduct.

We will use the Interactive DE Tool for in-class demonstrations. You may also want to explore Maple for differential equations. See the Technology and DE's page of this web site for an introduction to these resources.

There are two parts to your grade:


• WeBWork
• Tests

I will calculate the test part of your grade two ways:


• Method 1
  • Each of the three in-class tests counts 22% of your grade.
  • The final counts 34% of your grade.
  
  
• Method 2
  • Your lowest in-class test counts 12% of your grade.
  • Each of the other two in-class tests counts 24% of your grade.
  • The final counts 40% of your grade.

I will use whichever method gives the higher grade as the test part of your grade.

I will calculate your course grade two ways:


• Test part counts 85%, WeBWorK counts 15%.
• Test part counts 100%.

I will use whichever method gives the higher grade.

You can check your test grades on Grade Book and your WeBWorK grades on WeBWorK.

Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accomodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653. For more information on NC State's policy on working with students with disabilities, please see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation here.

Feel free to visit the instructor or teaching assistant during their office hours, or to check with them about other times they are available. Also, feel free to contact them by e-mail.

The Mathematics Department Multimedia Center is an excellent place to work on WeBWorK problems with other students. Tutors are available there to help.

You can view online lectures for MA 341 here.

For tutoring, both free and paid, look here under "Help with Your Math Class."

The textbook publisher offers tutoring for a fee. Go to http://www.aw-bc.com/tutorcenter.

On-line class evaluations will be available for you to complete at the end of the semester. You will receive an email message directing you to a website where you can log in using your Unity ID and complete the evaluation. All evaluations are confidential; instructors will never know how any one student responded to any question.


• Evaluation website: https://classeval.ncsu.edu.
• Student help desk: classeval@ncsu.edu.
• More information about ClassEval: http://www.ncsu.edu/UPA/classeval.

Newton's anagram: http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath414.htm

Row Operations Tool

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