Home, 12/12 (last message)

The course is over and the final grades are in! You can find the statistics, solutions to all the exams and worksheets and the final grade distribution on the "scores and docs" page.

If you took the final exam and would like to know your score, you can email me to find it out.  (Then you can put this information into the grade computer to see what overall grade you had at the end.)

It has been a pleasure to teach this class!  Thanks to everyone who participated in class discussion - this has been one of my most active classes ever!

Have a great winter break!





(scroll down for previous messages)

Home, 12/3

A few words about our plan for finals week.  We will meet on Monday at 12:30 in our usual classroom to return exam 4 and distribute final grades. If you cannot come to this meeting, you can find out your grade during office hours below, or send me an email inquiry from your Murray State account (so I know it is you).

For anyone wishing to improve their final grade, the final exam replaces your weakest exam, if it is better.  The final exam is on Wednesday, 12/8 at 10:30AM.

The final exam will have 6 pages, which is 50% longer than a regular exam, but with twice the time, so time should not be an issue.  It will be comprehensive and will consist of problems like those already given on exams.  Thus, make sure you can do all the previous exams.

Here is the schedule of office hours for next week (also by appointment, if you cannot make these times):

Monday 10:30-3:30
Tuesday 10:30-3:30
Wednesday 9:30-10:30
12:30-3:00
Thursday 10:30-1:30

Good luck on all your finals!

Home, 12/1

Exam 4 is scheduled for Friday, 12/3. It will cover sections 5.1-5.5. Check out sample exam 4 and do all the problems. Note that the bonus problem is taken from section 5.5 - since we will have covered this section, it will be among the problems in the main part of the exam.

Now that you have the first three exam grades, you can check with the grade computer to see what you need to make on exam 4 in order to get a desired grade.


Home, 11/23

Exam 4 is scheduled for Friday of the last week of classes.  We will meet on the Monday after it to distribute the final grades, based on the four exams, so you can decide whether to take the final or not.

We will have one more Joysheet, which I will distribute after we come back.  Solutions to Joysheet 7 have been posted.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!


Home, 11/19

Exam 3 turned out fairly well, although some of you probably wish you had done better.  You can see the scores and the solutions on the usual page.

We have one more exam on Thursday or Friday of the last week of classes.  The material on this exam is not large, so it is a good opportunity to get a good grade.  A contrary factor to this is that many students do have trouble with logarithms and are overwhelmed at the end of the semester.  Please plan accordingly and invest some time in this chapter - it really is not very difficult.


Home, 11/12

Exam 3 is scheduled for Tuesday, 11/16.  It will cover sections 3.1-3.5 and 4.1.  For practice, consider all of sample Exam 3 (except for 5d and second question in 5a) and the following problems in Exam 2: 1, 5, 8-10.

I handed out Joysheet 7 to serve as a warm-up for the exam.  It it due on Tuesday.  If you would like to see it before Monday, check the "complete worksheets" file on the "scores and docs" page.  Also, check the solutions to Joysheet 6 - judging by the scores, you could use some review of this stuff.

Don't forget that the grade computer can tell you how well you are doing overall.  As the end of the semester nears, it's good to put in your information to see where you stand.  Then you can put hypothetical information for the next two exams in and see what final grade comes out.


Home, 10/28

Exam 2 was given on Thursday and I have not assigned any new homework.  Just enjoy the weekend (for once).  I'll return the exams on Monday.


Home, 10/22

Exam 2 was given on Thursday and I have not assigned any new homework.  Just enjoy the weekend (for once).  I'll return the exams on Monday.


Home, 10/21

If you happen to be looking at this page this morning (ahead of the exam) - I just posted solutions to  Joysheet 5.


Home, 10/15

Exam 2 is scheduled for Thursday of next week (10/21).  It will cover sections 1.3-1.5, 1.7, 2.1-2.4.  To practice for it, check out the following problems on sample exam 2: 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8ac.

Joysheet 5 was handed out today, it is due on Tuesday.  If you would like to have it before Monday, you can find it in the "complete Joysheets" file on the "scores and docs" page.


Home, 10/8

We finally finished chapter 1 and started 2.1 today.  Our second exam is coming up at the end of chapter 2, so look out for it soon.


Home, 9/24

Exam 1 turned out well.  Lots of A's, high average!  Good job, class!  You can find the statistics and the solutions on the usual page.

Homework has been assigned up to 1.3.

Now that you have your exam 1 score, you can enter it with your joysheet scores in the grade computer to see how well you are doing overall.  Try it - link is at right!


Home, 9/17

Exam 1 has been rescheduled for Tuesday.  Come with questions for review on Monday.

To help you study for the exam, check out sample exam 1 on the "scores and docs" page.  It is a good example of what you will see on your exam, although I do mix the problems up a little from semester to semester.  If you need help, make sure you come for office hours.

Solutions for Joysheet 2 have been posted.  Many of you had trouble with fractional expressions and fractional exponents.  Compare your work with the solutions to see what you missed.

Some of you had trouble printing the sample exams.  I converted them to PDF in a different way and re-uploaded them: hopefully this solves the problem.  If it persists, you might have an older version of Acrobat Reader - update it!


Home, 9/13

Joysheet 2 is due on Tuesday.  If you did not have a chance to get it in class, you can find it on the scores and docs page (see complete joysheets at bottom of page).

Exam 1 is scheduled for Friday.  It will cover sections 0.2-0.7, 1.1 and 1.2.  I expect to give you another joysheet before the exam, although I will not be able to return it to you in time for the exam.


Home, 9/3

Solutions and scores of Joysheet 1 can be found on the "scores and docs" page.  Make sure you look over problems where you did not receive many points.

Homework has been assigned up to 0.6.  I expect us to have our first exam the week after next - more on that next week.


Home, 8/27

Homework has been assigned up to 0.4 and a worksheet has been handed out today (it is due on Tuesday).

On the "scores and docs" page, I added sample exams from a previous semester.  They are very illustrative of the questions that you will see on our exams, so I highly recommend studying the sample exams as preparation for our exams.  Keep in mind that I vary the problems, so some of the problems on our exams may be different from what you see on the samples.


Home, 8/22

Welcome to the course!  Look around to familiarize yourself with the layout of these webpages.  Note that the most important links at left are highlighted.  All documents (homework assignment, solutions to exams, etc.) can be found at the "scores and documents" page.

These pages will get more content as information becomes available.  Check back often: useful information is provided in the "home" section (which you are reading), typically updated weekly.