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Math 1431

Section 14830 MWF 12‐1pm SR 117

Dr. Melahat Almus

almus@math.uh.edu

http://www.math.uh.edu/~almus

COURSE WEBSITE:

http://www.math.uh.edu/~almus/1431_sp16.html

Visit my website regularly for announcements and course material!

Read the syllabus (posted on the course website!).

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Policies-

Read the syllabus!

Must have a CASA account. Everyone has free access until the access code deadline.

Purchase the access code from UH Bookstore by 1/31 or else you’ll lose access to CASA. No make ups for assignments you missed due to not having access.

Must attend both lectures and labs.

CASA:

All online assignments (quizzes, test 1, practice tests, EMCFs) will be taken at CASA. Textbook link is at CASA. Watch the due dates carefully – no make ups!

LAB:

You must be registered for a LAB (face to face OR online). Quiz in lab every Wednesday and Friday starting 2nd week of school.

Make sure you write down your TA’s name and email address.

IF you’re registered for an online lab, create a space account as explained on the course website. You will have lab time options to choose from.

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TESTS

Test 1 is over the prerequisite material. Take practice test 1 first to see what to expect on test 1. Reserve a seat for Test 1 asap.

Tests 1,2,3,4 will be taken at CASA Testing Center by reservation. Reservation is at CASA website (under the online assignments tab); will open 2 weeks prior to each test.

Final will be taken at CASA by reservation. No exemption from the final; no early finals – plan accordingly.

Make ups: No make ups on any assignments/tests. If you miss a test, you will get a 0 on it and your raw score on the final will be used to replace one missed test.

No calculators.

ONLINE QUIZZES

There are approx. 26 online quizzes; at least one per each section we cover in class. 20 attempts. Watch the due dates carefully.

LAB QUIZZES

Written quiz every Wednesday and Friday in LAB. Mostly covers the previous 2-3 lectures’ material. No make ups.

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WRITTEN HOMEWORK

Posted on my website; print it out and solve the problems on that sheet. Must be turned in ONLINE at CASA before 11:59 pm on the duedate. See information link on course website about how to upload homework. No late homework.

POPPERS

Starting 3rd week of school, we’ll have daily poppers. Purchase a package of popper scantrons from Bookstore with your SECTION NUMBER on it. Bring a scantron to class ever day starting 3rd week of school.

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CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR:

Be here on time (at least 5 minutes before the lecture so that you can get seated!)

If you have to be late (on occasion!)- enter quietly without disturbing others.

Pay attention to the lecture. You are here to learn; stay away from internet and other distractions for 50 minutes!

Don’t use laptops, don’t surf on the internet during lectures.

Cell phones should be in silent mode.

Bring printed blank notes from my website to class for ease of note taking.

If you have a question during the lecture (related to the lecture!); please do not hesitate to ask. There are undergrad TAs around to help you out; you can call them for help as well.

Respect your friends! Do not distract anyone by chatting with people around you… Be considerate of others in class.

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Section 1.1 - A Review of Functions

Homework: Read Section 1.1 from your textbook.

You need to know:

Finding domain & range of certain functions.

Basic properties and graphs of polynomials, rational functions, exponential functions, logarithmic functions.

Everything about the six basic trig functions (their properties and graphs, basic identities).

Inverse Trig Functions.

Polynomial Functions:

Rational Functions:

Exponential Functions:

Logarithmic Functions:

Basic Trig Functions:

Inverse Trig Functions:

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Section 1.2 – An Intuitive Introduction to Limits

Suppose that a function f has the following graph.

We want to describe the behavior of f when x is very close to 1.

As x approaches 1 from the left (that is, x is very close to 1 but 1x ), what function value do we expect to get?

As x approaches 1 from the right (that is, x is very close to 1 but 1x ), what function value do we expect to get?

As x approaches 1, what function value do we expect to get?

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The question is; as x approaches 1 (symbolized as: 1x ), is there a target

number that f x is approaching?

We say that 2 is the limit of f x as x approaches 1. This is written as:

Informal Definition: We say that the limit of f x as x approaches c is the real

number L , if the y coordinates of the points ,x f x are getting closer and

closer to a certain target number L as x approaches c from each side of c . This is written as:

limx c

f x L

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Example:

3

limx

f x

4

limx

f x

0

limx

f x

We can describe the behavior of f x as x approaches 0 in terms of one-sided

limits.

Here, 2 is the limit of f x as x approaches 0 from the left (or from below):

And, 4 is the limit of f x as x approaches 0 from the right (or from above):

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This example illustrates a very important fact about the existence of limit.

Fact: limx c

f x

exists if and only if limx c

f x

and limx c

f x

both exist and are

equal.

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Example: Given the graph of f, evaluate the following limits, if they do exist.

2

limx

f x

1

limx

f x

0

limx

f x

1

limx

f x

0

limx

f x

1

limx

f x

0

limx

f x

3

limx

f x

5

limx

f x

5

limx

f x

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Homework: Read Sections 1.1 and 1.2 from your textbook.

Homework #1 is posted on my website.

Check my website regularly for announcements.

www.math.uh.edu/~almus