Mathematics 2401       Calculus III       Course Description

Fall, 2008 (MW 4:35 in the D.M. Smith Building, room 105, with recitations TTh)


Instructor: Evans Harrell, Office Skiles 218D, 894 3300, harrell at math.gatech.edu
Instructor's office periods: Wednesdays, 1:30-2:30 pm. Ordinally I will also be available for 20 miniutes after each class.
Recitations:

  1. Meets TTh 5:00 in Skiles 249 with Jinyong Ma, 404 894 2695. (send mail); Office periods: M12 in Skiles 127A.
  2. Meets TTh 5:00 in Skiles 254 with Maria Reguera-Rodriguez, 404 385 7497. (send mail); Office periods: W11 in Skiles 146B.
  3. Meets TTh 5:00 in Skiles 270 with Alan Diaz, 404 385 3838. (send mail); Office periods: TBA in Skiles 153.


Class web page

The class will be coordinated through T-Square, but you can also consult the Class web page directly. It is your responsibility to consult T-Square or the web page regularly for information about the class, such as homework assignments. You will also be in e-mail contact with the instructor and the teaching assistants, and we will do our best to respond to your questions.

Required texts

Salas, Hille, and Etgen, Calculus, and on-line materials, which may be linked to from the class website or T-Square (Secton T1 / Secton T2 / Secton T3)

Description: Calculus is not only essential in engineering; it is one of mankind's greatest intellectual achievements. After thousands of years of confusion on the part of philosophers, Newton, Leibniz, and Euler created the tools for understanding the infinite and the infinitesimal. In the third term we learn about derivatives and integrals in three (or even more) dimensions and their uses.

Grading and requirements

There will be tests in the recitations on
  1. Thursday, 4 September,
  2. Thursday, 25 September,
  3. Thursday, 23 October,
  4. Thursday, 20 November,

There will also be a final exam, of course. Homework will not be systematically collected, but instead clones of the homework problems will appear on short quizzes, given most Thursdays. Your quiz average will incorporate at least two drops. In addition, Prof. Harrell may announce occasional contests, and the winner of a contest will receive a small number of extra-credit points.

Students' grades will depend on the following quantity:

    (T1  + T2  + T3  + T4 + Q  + F  - min(T1..T4,F) )    + E + F/2
where the components of this formula correspond to the ingredients mentioned above, after scaling so that all of them except E = extra credit total have a common median of 70. The drop in the formula is the only mechanism for coping with personal events such as illness and family emergencies. There will be no opportunities for make-up tests after the fact. In the event of an absence due to travel representing Georgia Tech, such as an intercollegiate sports competition, you must notify the professor at least two weeks in advance to arrange an early test or other alternative. Otherwise, such absences will be treated as personal.

Calculators and tests

No restrictions will be placed on the use of calculators that do elementary mathematics on the tests. Calculators that can do calculus symbolically shall not be brought to tests. No credit will be given on tests for a correct answer without the intermediate steps.

Readings

The schedule of reading will be posted on the 2401 assignments page and on T-Square. The subject matter covered will be roughly the following:

On-line materials

This course will benefit from occasional on-line materials, which may require the software in the student software suite, especially Netscape, Maple, and Acrobat. There is a home page for the class at http://www.math.gatech.edu/~harrell/2401/, and there are many other useful things you can find in the School of Mathematics Core Curriculum Materials.

Scientists and Engineers today do mathematics differently than in the past. Complicated calculations can be done with software such as Maple, Mathematica, or Matlab, and there are many powerful items on the World Wide Web to help you both to learn mathematics and to do it effectively. We hope that you will use software and the Internet to help with calculations and learning, but always remember that real understanding requires you to exercise your mind as well as your fingers.

Learning Disabilities

It is the right of any student with a certified learning disability to request necessary accommodation. Such requests must be made well in advance of the time that the accommodation is required and a letter of documentation from the ADAPTS office must be presented at the time of any request.

Academic Honesty

It is expected that all students are aware of their individual responsibilities under the Georgia Tech Academic Honor Code, which will be strictly adhered to in this class.
    THIS PAGE IS NOT A PUBLICATION OF THE GEORGIA
    INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE GEORGIA INSTITUTE
    OF TECHNOLOGY HAS NOT EDITED OR EXAMINED
    THE CONTENT. THE AUTHOR(S) OF THE PAGE ARE SOLELY
    RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT.
Return to the 2401 class web page