Math 4 – Precalculus – Spring 2008
Instructor: Mark Eastman	Office: Room 714A
Room 709 – TTh 8:00 - 10:35 am	Telephone: 479-6496
mark.eastman”at”cabrillo.edu	http://www.cabrillo.edu/~meastman
COURSE KEY : E-YSSR7PBKGXR7Q

Text	Swokowski & Cole, Algebra and Trigonometry, 12th edition
Office Hours	Monday, Wednesday: 9:30 am – 10:30 am Tuesday, Thursday: 10:35 am – 11:10 pm Friday: 9:30 am – 10:00 am
Attendance	I will be taking daily attendance for the first few days of class, and I will drop those students who do not consistently show up to class. I will not formally take attendance after the first few weeks of class. I think that you should be responsible for your own attendance, and I strongly recommend that you be here for all class meetings. Whether or not you attend, you will still be responsible for all material covered and any changes to the syllabus.
Practice Homework	New homework assignments will be distributed periodically. You will be given many practice problems for each section. These will contain many odd-numbered problems, and the answers to these can be found in the back of the text. You do not have to turn these problems in. These problems will give you an excellent indication of the type of problems that you will be expected to be able to do on the tests.
Turn-in Homework (on-line)	Weekly homework will be assigned and submitted on-line at: http://west.ilrn.com/ilrn. You will need the COURSE KEY (above) for this course. These assignments will be problems from the text, with answers in different formats, that you will submit at the website. There will be about 15 - 20 problems to hand in each week, usually due by Friday at 11:55 pm; the problems will be automatically graded by the website program. Your homework score will be the percentage (out of a possible 100) of all the problems that are assigned.
Tests	There will be three tests throughout the semester, each covering two to three chapters from the text, at about four week intervals. Each of these tests is worth 100 points. Each test will include an in-class portion; there may possibly be a take-home portion. If you are caught cheating on a test, you will be given 0 points for that test. If you are unable to attend class on the day the test is distributed, please contact me, either in person or by phone at 479-6496, so that we can make alternate arrangements. You may be able to take the test before the test is scheduled, but you may not take it after the scheduled time.

Final Exam	There will be a comprehensive final exam worth 200 points. It is scheduled for Tuesday, 3 June from 7:00am to 9:50am.
Electronics	You may use a graphing calculator when doing any homework, during class discussions, and when preparing for a test, but graphing calculators will not be allowed during certain portions of tests. You are allowed to use a scientific calculator on all parts of any test. Cellphones should be off or in silent mode during class; should you need to take a call, please leave the room before connecting. Cellphones need to be turned off during tests.
Study Centers	The MESA Transfer Study Center is located in room 714. The Study Center is a great place to get tutorial help. You can get individual help from the tutors, work in a group with others from your class or other Math 4 classes, or use the computers for some extra help. Check the MESA website for this semester’s hours of operation. The Math Learning Center (MLC) is another place to get help when the MESA Study Center is closed. The MLC is located in Room 1074 in the Learning Resources Center.
Workshop	An Academic Excellence Workshop for students enrolled in any Math 4 class will be offered this semester. The workshop will be held in the MESA Center. See me or check with the MESA Center for details on days and times.
Materials	You should have the following items at each class session: · a pen or pencil and paper for taking notes · your textbook · a ruler for drawing lines and graphs · a graphing calculator (I will be using a TI-86 in class) · a second color pen/pencil, or a highlighter to emphasize points
Helpful Hints	Mathematics is a subject you must practice in order to be successful. Plan to attend every class meeting--you can quickly get behind if you don’t attend class. Spend some time doing math every day: reading the textbook, working on homework problems, making study aids. It is better to study some every day rather than cramming a lot of study time in the day or two before a test. In class, ask questions if you don’t understand a concept. If you are having difficulty with the material, see me during my office hours, or go to the Study Center. Make contacts with other students in the course: you can study together or just keep each other going.
Grades	Grades will be assigned based on your total points from your four midterm tests, and your final exam. Grades are usually assigned on a sliding scale, with the highest group of total points receiving an A, the next highest a B, and so on. A credit/no credit option is not available for this course. There are 600 possible points for this course. It is usually the case that the standard percentages (90% or more for an A, 80% or more for a B, and 70% or more for a C) are approximate values for which to strive.