Description: Topics include polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions and their inverses. This course is generally taken in preparation for Calculus but may be taken by other students who desire a more in-depth study of mathematics. Precalculus is often a first-year Mathematics course for majors other than Mathematics (who, generally, took this in high school). A grade of C- is required to progress to any course for which MAT130 is a prerequisite. This will make sure that students have mastered enough of the material to provide them with the tools necessary to reach for success in later courses.
Weeks one through seven will cover algebra and weeks eight through fourteen will cover trigonometry. If you need to review additional prerequisite information, look at your MAT120 notes or your high school equivalent. We will be covering some review topics because intermediate algebra and introductory trigonometry are taught differently in different schools. The goal of this course is to prepare all of you to take Calculus I; if that means reviewing some topics taught in previous mathematics courses, so be it! Additional information and practice can be obtained from the Khan Academy at https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra2 and https://www.khanacademy.org/math/trigonometry.
Instructor: Hello! I am Ms. Schwartz and I will be guiding you through the material this semester. I am a doctoral candidate at the State University of New York at Albany and will earn my Ph.D. in Non-Linear Mathematics at the end of this term. I am very excited to be teaching this course as it is my final Teaching Assistant assignment. This semester, we will study the key concepts that first got me interested in mathematics. I hope you will learn to love math as much as I do!
Grades and Answer Keys: All grades will be posted on the Grades and Answer Keys page using the final five digits of your Crystal Fjord University identification number. Do NOT give out that number or your grades will no longer be private and people will have access to additional personal information on other University sites that are accessed with your University identification number. Make-up and revised work will not be accepted because the answers will become available to all students. Please, make sure that all work represents your best efforts before submitting it.
Weekly Discussions = 10%
Weekly Assignments = 30%
Weekly Quizzes = 20%
Midterm Exam = 20%
Final Exam = 20%
A+ = 97% to 100%, A = 93% to 96%, A- = 90% to 92%
B+ = 87% to 89%, B = 83% to 86%, B- = 80% to 82%
C+ = 77% to 79%, C = 73% to 76%, C- = 70% to 72%
D+ = 67% to 69%, D = 63% to 66%, D- = 60% to 62%
F = 59% and below
Assignments: Weekly lessons are on pages are listed as Week One, Week Two, etc. for that course. Please, make sure that you are on the correct week. Click on the Assignments to go to the Assignments page. Many assignments will be handed in using the contact form at the bottom each week’s page. You may want to bookmark the Assignments page for easy access, but that is your choice.
Course Updates: This course may be updated depending on the needs of the students. It is a good idea to look at the current week’s work a few times during the week to make read any new information that might be provided. For instance, the professor might answer questions that several students have asked or provide additional information on a topic that some students have found difficult.
Discussion Participation: As per University regulations, all students are required to post a minimum of two comments per week: one comment with your own ideas and one reply to a classmate. The professor will read comments at least twice a week. Please, do not answer assignment-specific questions! The professor will clarify all assignments and provide additional information as necessary. This rule is to make sure that no misinformation is accidentally shared with the class. Make sure that all of your comments are on topic and appropriate to a course discussion. You can disagree with a post, but do not insult or otherwise demean the person. All language and words must be civil! There will be no profanity, sexual discussion or anything else that is not appropriate for a formal course discussion. Failure to follow these terms will lead to the comments being deleted and the student receiving an F in the course. Repeated infractions will result in the student being expelled from the university.
Quizzes and Exams: Professors generally use the tools available in WordPress to give exams but there may be links to outside exam sites as deemed appropriate by the individual professor and/or the department. Exams, if any, will be posted in each week’s listing under the Assignment’s menu. Due to the online nature of the quizzes and exams, most will be open-book style unless specific sites that reduce that likelihood of reading notes are used. It is still important that you learn each week’s material or you will quickly become lost as the .course progresses.
Self-Assessments: Self-assessments, if utilized, provide immediate feedback and are not graded. Self-assessments are a quick way for you to determine if you understand key concepts in that week’s lesson. If there are any self-assessments, they will be embedded into the lesson’s page near the bottom of that week’s lesson (after all of the lesson content has been presented).
Transcript: The final grade will be posted on each student’s private transcript page within two weeks following the completion date of this course. Your date of birth, in mm/dd/yyyy format, is the password for your official transcript page. Go to your transcript page from your personal Crystal Fjord University student page (i.e. https://crystalfjorduniversity.wordpress.com/your-name).
Saving/Appealing Grades: All current students, discussions, grades, and answer keys will be removed from this course within a week after this course is finished so that the course can be prepared for the next class. If you want to keep track of your grades for each assignment, print the grades out, copy to a document on your computer, save the page as a pdf file, or keep screenshots. Professors will keep copies of all grades for a month following the conclusion of the course unless an appeal has been filed. Grade appeals must be filed with both the professor and the department within one month following the conclusion of the course. This gives students two weeks from the time final grades are posted to transcripts to submit appeals.
Note for All Undergraduate Courses: Much of this same information is the same for most undergraduate courses, especially for courses that are generally taken by freshmen and sophomore students (100 and 200 levels courses). The instructor, the course description, grading policy, and possibly a few additional course-specific details will vary by course.
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