Introduction to Functions and Calculus I

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General Information

Lab meetings are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the semester. Below is a schedule of the lab meetings for the fall. The following paragraphs are meant to clarify a few terms used in the schedule below.

Labs: Labs are structured in-class activties designed to build your skills in mathematical computation, reasoning, and modeling and to build your conceptual understanding of the course material. Labs are required of everyone, and your lab average counts for 15% of your course grade. Labs are generally due in class on the Wednesday or Friday following the lab meeting. Out of fairness to the students in the course, late labs will not be accepted. However, your lowest lab grade will be dropped at the end of the course.

Each graded lab assignment is meant to take between 60 and 90 minutes, including the time spent during the lab meeting. However, sometimes we get overly ambitious and write labs that take too long. If you find yourself spending more than about half an hour on a given lab after the lab meeting is over, please email the assistant course head (angelavc@math.harvard.edu) and let them know immediately. If enough students report that a lab is taking far too long, then we might extend the lab's due date.

Problem Sessions: Problem sessions are those lab meetings during which no graded lab assignments are given. They are devoted primarily to working problems and reviewing material. Even if you find that you are not having difficulty doing the homework problems, you should still make a habit of attending these sessions.

Gateway Exams: Gateway exams are given during lab meetings. See the course syllabus for more information on gateway exams. Since taking a gateway exam does not take up a full lab meeting, the time remaining after a gateway exam will be use for an abbreviated problem session.

Lab Times and Locations

You are encouraged to attend the lab meetings led by your section CA, but if you cannot do so due to some scheduling reasons, you should attend lab meetings led by one of the other CAs. You must attend the same CA's lab meetings all semester whether or not that CA is your section CA. Below is the lab schedule for the fall.

Time Tuesday Location Thursday Location Course Assistant
1 to 2 p.m. SC 111 SC 111 Margaret Barusch
5 to 6 p.m. SC 116 SC 101b Evan Hepler-Smith
7 to 8 p.m. ** permission from Dr. Vierling-Claassen required to attend this lab ** SC 411 SC 116 Connie Zong
8 to 9 p.m. ** permission from Dr. Vierling-Claassen required to attend this lab ** SC 411 SC 411 Jennie Schiffman

Fall Lab Schedule

Week Date Lab Meeting
1 Tuesday
9/16/03
No lab meeting.
Thursday
9/30/04
Lab 1: Algebra Review [Handout]
2 Tuesday
10/5/04
Lab 2: Radio Carbon Dating and Boston Harbor Tides [Handout]
Thursday
10/7/03
First Gateway Exam: Algebra

Practice Problems:
3 Tuesday
10/12/04
Problem Session
Thursday
10/12/04
Linear Modeling [Handout, Data (Excel file)]
4 Tuesday
10/19/04
Problem Session
Thursday
10/21/04
Laser Speed Guns [Handout]
5 Tuesday
10/26/04
Problem Session
Thursday
10/28/04
First Exam: No Lab Meeting
6 Tuesday
11/2/04
Problem Session
Thursday
11/3/04
Functions and Derivatives: f(x) to f'(x) and Back Again
7 Tuesday
11/9/04
Second Gateway Exam: Limits and Derivatives

Below you will find practice problems covering all of the areas that will be on the gateway. You can also take a practice gateway online.
  • Finding Limits Graphically: Problems
  • Finding Limits Algebraically: Problems
  • The Definition of the Derivative: Problems
  • The Derivative as the Slope of a Tangent Line: Problems
  • The Derivative as an Instantaneous Rate of Change: Problems
  • Graphs of a Function and its Derivative: Problems
  • Using the Derivative to Determine Intervals of Increase and Decrease: Problems
  • Using the Derivative to Determine Intervals of Concavity: Problems
Thursday
11/11/04
Holiday! Veteran's Day.
8 Tuesday
11/16/04
Problem Session
Thursday
11/18/04
Lab: Modeling with Exponential Functions [Handout]
9 Tuesday
11/23/04
No Problem Session or Lab
Thursday
11/15/04
Holiday: Thanksgiving!
10 Tuesday
11/30/04
Lab: Optimization [Handout]
Thursday
12/2/04
Third Gateway Exam [Practice Problems]
11 Tuesday
12/7/04
Problem Session
Thursday
12/9/04
No lab: Second Midterm Exam
12 Tuesday
12/14/04
Lab: Modeling with Logarithms [Handout]
Thursday
12/16/04
Problem Session
13 Tuesday
12/21/04
Last Day of Classes! No lab or problem session.
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Fall 2004

URL: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~mathxa/laboratory/
Last modified: 8/11/2004 Harvard University FAS Shield
 
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