Course Information
Trigonometry, Math 144--Section 02
Fall, 2001

Office Hours: T 9:00-10:30am, W 9:00-10:00am and 2:00-3:00pm, F 11:30am-12:30pm, and by appointment or e-mail.

Objectives: The goal of this course is for you to develop a thorough understanding of the trigonometric functions, including circle and triangle interpretations, evaluation, graphs, properties, applications, and identities involving them.  Emphasis will be placed on ideas that will be useful in Math 170, Calculus I, for which this course is a prerequisite.

Prerequisites: The prerequisite for this course is Math 143, College Algebra, or equivalent.

Materials: The text is Precalculus with Unit-Circle Trigonometry, 3rd edition, by Cohen, Chapters 6-8, 9.1, 9.2, 9.6, 9.7, 12.1, and 13.6.  You may want to have a graphing calculator, but an ordinary calculator with trig functions will suffice.  I will be using a TI-83.

Format and Evaluation: Time in class will be spent exploring the material through discussions, group and individual work, and brief lectures.  Homework will be assigned but not collected.  You should come to each class prepared with questions from the reading and homework for the section marked on the calendar for that class.  Each Monday (except December 10) there will be either a brief quiz over the previous 2 sections, or a half-hour exam (preceded by time for questions).  Since your lowest quiz and exam score will be dropped, there will be no make-up quizzes or exams.  The final date is firm, so please mark it down now.
 

Overall percentages of 90%, 80%, 70%, 60% will guarantee the letter grades A, B, C, D. Cutoffs for +/- will be determined at the end of the semester, but will be within 3 percentage points of these values.

Philosophy: I believe that all of you can succeed and that hard work counts for a great deal.  I expect you to attend each class session and to be responsible for material covered in any sessions you are forced to miss.  Studying together and discussing problems are encouraged, after you have worked hard yourself to understand the material or solve a problem, since this can be a very effective and rewarding way to learn mathematics.  However, you should write up homework on your own in order to guarantee your own understanding of the material.

Accommodations: If you have a diagnosed disability or believe you have a disability that may require reasonable accommodation on the part of ISU, please call 282-3599 to make an appointment with Dian Jenkins, Director, ADA and Disabilities Resource Center.

Expectations: It is important to keep in mind that university courses are very different than high school courses.

In this class you will be expected to become largely responsible for your own learning.

You should strive to learn actively, both within and outside of class, by

• attending every class session;
• reading the material for the first time before the class in which it will be covered;
• participating in group work and lectures during class;
• taking thorough notes;
• formulating questions;
• recording and asking questions on material and problems you do not understand;
• working at least 2-3 hours (on average) outside of class for every hour in class;
• learning from mistakes of your own and others (including me);
• being organized, clear, and accurate;
• developing efficient and effective study, work, and problem-solving skills;
• learning to read the textbook effectively, which may involve rereading maybe many times;
• seeking out additional resources for help on material or additional skills;
• taking responsibility for learning material not explicitly covered in class, or which you did not understand or missed.

I plan to be prepared, patient, available, approachable, and fair.

I look forward to a successful and rewarding semester of learning together.