This is the web page for Sections 202 and 205 of MATH 101. The course web page contains information relevant to all of the sections of MATH 101 this semester; please make sure you know all of the information on that page.

Lectures for Section 202: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 10:00–10:50 AM, room BUCH A103 (Buchanan building)
Lectures for Section 205: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 2:00–2:50 PM, room SCRF 100 (Neville Scarfe building)
Office hours: Tuesdays 2:30–4:00 PM and Wednesdays 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
Office: MATH 212 (Mathematics Building)
Email address: use Piazza instead

Evaluation: In our large sections, there will not be biweekly quizzes in class. The course mark will be computed from the following components in the proportions indicated.

  • WeBWorK assignments: 10%
  • Two midterms (6:30 PM on Monday, February 4 and Tuesday, March 12): 20% each. The locations for the midterm depend upon the first letter of your last name.
  • Final exam (3:30 PM on Monday, April 22): 50%. The final exam is in the West Mall Swing Space Building (SWNG); the exact room depends upon which section you are in and the first letter of your last name. My office hours before the final exam will be the usual weekly times plus one last bonus time:
    • Tuesday, April 9, 2:30–4:00 PM
    • Wednesday, April 10, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
    • Tuesday, April 16, 2:30–4:00 PM
    • Wednesday, April 17, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
    • Friday, April 19, 2:00–4:00 PM

We will be using clickers in our section, although only as a learning tool, not as part of your grade. You are required to have a clicker and bring it with you to every class. Information on how to use your clicker is on the UBC web site. The clicker questions from class are posted online.

Helpful resources:There are several ways for you to get help with any calculus difficulties.

We will be using Piazza for all class-related questions and discussion. Piazza is a question-and-answer platform specifically designed to expedite answers to your questions, using the collective knowledge of your classmates and instructor. It has several features that facilitate discussion of mathematics, most notably support of mathematical typesetting (LaTeX). You are encouraged to answer your classmates' questions, or to brainstorm towards answers, every bit as much as you are encouraged to ask questions. Please contact me through Piazza, instead of by email, with any questions you have concerning MATH 101.

Advice for success:

  • Stay caught up! Mathematics is a very cumulative subject: what we learn one week depends crucially on understanding what we learned the week before. Students who fall behind early struggle to catch up for the rest of the course.
  • Put in the hours! Remember the 2-to-1 rule for university courses: expect to spend an average of 2 hours outside of class for every 1 hour spent in class. In our course, that means 6 hours per week, in addition to coming to lectures, is quite reasonable (and some students will spend more than that). Jump right in and start spending that time; don't wait until later in the course.
  • Work on the homework problems! It's tempting to try to find some short cut to obtaining the answers, such as taking dictation from a fellow student or searching the internet. Besides the fact that cheating in this way violates UBC's academic misconduct policies, it's important to realize that working on the homework is the primary way for you to learn the course material. Learning to do mathematics is like learning to do anything else: you can't learn how just by watching someone else do it. Take it from someone with years of experience teaching university courses: people who work through the homework problems (including the Suggested Problems) do better on the exams. It's that simple.
  • Don't give up! In earlier math courses, everything we needed to be able to do might have been conveniently written in boxed formulas that we can instantly apply. In more advanced mathematics courses, however, we don't always immediately know the correct way to proceed; sometimes trial and error is necessary, and there's nothing at all wrong with this. Trying, struggling, going back to another idea, making mistakes, fixing them - these are all part of the learning process.
  • Use our helpful resources! If you are stuck in the middle of a homework problem or a concept from the course, you are on the cusp of a great learning moment. I, the TAs who staff the Math Learning Centre, and your fellow students on Piazza are very happy to help you see the way past that obstacle.
  • Consciously address what you find hard! Why do some people get better quickly when they work hard, while others don't seem to progress as fast? One answer is that deliberate practice is much more effective than going through the work just for the sake of finishing it. From a Freakonomics blog post (boldface is my emphasis): “For example, in school and college, to develop mathematics and science expertise, we must somehow think deeply about the problems and reflect on what did and did not work. One method comes from the physicist John Wheeler (the PhD advisor of Richard Feynman). Wheeler recommended that, after we solve any problem, we think of one sentence that we could tell our earlier self that would have ‘cracked’ the problem. This kind of thinking turns each problem and its solution into an opportunity for reflection and for developing transferable reasoning tools.”