Finite Mathematics MAT 141, Sections WE Introduction David J. Gisch

Instructor Information

Name: David J. Gisch Email: djgisch@dmacc.edu Phone: 515-633-2419 Office: W210 Office Hours: (M/W) 12:00-2:00 & (T) 1:00-2:00, or by appointment Webpage: www.gischsource.com

About Me • Born in Algona, IA • BA and MA from the University of

Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls, IA) • MS from Northern Illinois University

(Dekalb, IL) • Taught as an adjunct in several

community Colleges. • Taught high school in Sioux City

(Bishop Heelan) for 4 years. • Married and have a great wife, a

wonderful little boy, and a tolerable cat.

Your Email

• I will always send material to your DMACC email address.

• You can have your DMACC email forwarded to another account if you wish. To do so check out

http://www.dmacc.edu/helpdesk/outlook2003.pdf

Email Etiquette • Always include a subject line, with our course title (MAT

110). • Remember, without facial expressions some comments

may be taken the wrong way. Be careful in wording your emails.

• Use standard fonts, complete sentences, proper spelling and grammar, and avoid slang and uncommon abbreviations.

• Do not use obscene or threatening language. • Special formatting such as centering, audio messages,

tables, html, etc. should be avoided unless necessary to complete an assignment or other communication.

Email • I will make every attempt to respond to emails I can

answer properly within 24 hours during the work week though it may not be possible in all cases. When I say, “emails I can answer properly,” it is often very hard to respond to math questions through email. If I do not respond to your email it is not because I do not care but that I most likely cannot properly answer you through email. In this case, if you do not get a response from me I would expect you to ask me your question in the next class period. If you do not ask, I will assume you have figured out the problem.

We will now be going over the syllabus. I emailed it to you this morning, and you can always access it on my website. NOTE: We will not cover every piece of the syllabus today and I expect you to read the full version. Your first quiz is over the contents of the syllabus.

Course Information Course Description & Credits

http://www.dmacc.edu/courses/crsrod.asp A general education course in practical mathematics for those students not majoring in mathematics or science. This course will include such topics as set operations and applications, methods of counting, probability, systems of linear equations, matrices, geometric linear programming and an introduction to Markov chains.

Textbook and Materials Required Textbooks & ISBN

Finite Mathematics (DMACC Edition), By Lial, Greenwell, & Ritchey; ISBN: 1269345567

Required Materials You will need something to take notes in. Our textbook and the accompanying code to MyMathLab. I require you to have a TI-83, 83Plus, 84, 84Plus, or 89. If you do not purchase one of these calculators I cannot guarantee help with calculator issues. Also, without one of these calculators you will not be able to complete calculator related questions on the exams. NO CELL PHONES AS CALCULATORS. Access to computer with internet access. We have labs on campus or you can go to a public library. Microsoft Office is available at the Bookstore for students at a cost of $10.00. Having this software at your disposal is necessary to complete certain assignments. All campus labs have this software.

Attendance • Regular, ongoing class participation is necessary for

success in this course, as is timely arrival for all class sessions. In order to successfully participate in class, you must attend class. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of every class session. If you have not arrived when attendance is taken, you will receive half of the points available for that class session; if you leave class early, you will receive half of the points available for that class session; if you arrive late and leave early (why would you even come?) you will receive zero points for that class session.

Attendance Attendance will be worth 4 points total for each class session; points for any homework/quizzes/activities/etc. will be in addition to the attendance points. In addition: • If you arrive late, it is your responsibility to make sure that you

have not been counted as absent. (You need to check with me at the end of each class session if you have arrived late.)

• This policy applies to all absences for any reason. In relation to the 4 points per class session I will not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences.

• I do realize that sometimes things are out of your control so I will drop your lowest attendance score at the end of the semester.

Aside from the 4 points per class session: • If you miss class I will not “catch you up” at your leisure. • You may make up exams under certain circumstances—see missed exam

policy below. • Any in class assignments you missed cannot be made up—even if you

notify me beforehand. • If we turn something in and you are absent it will be considered late—no

exceptions.

Study Tips • The biggest piece of advice I can give you is SHOW UP TO CLASS. If

you make a commitment to do so it is likely that you will continue on to be more diligent in your study habits having already committed time coming to class. If you miss any lecture it is your responsibility to obtain notes from a classmate, do not ask me for a copy. Once you obtain the notes, if you need assistance you may seek my help.

• If you make a habit of missing class or not completing assignments you should not expect to pass this class.

• As this course is a 3 hour course I expect a minimum of 6 hours per

week outside of class.

Tutoring • Free tutoring services are available at West campus

in Room 212E (Bell Room) from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM, Monday through Thursday. The tutors are former and current DMACC instructors and are very friendly. Feel free to stop any time if I am unavailable. No appointments are necessary.

Office Hours • (M/W) 12:00-2:00 & (T) 1:00-2:00, or by appointment

Grading Weighting of grades for this course: All grades will be rounded to the nearest whole percent and will be posted at www.pearsonmylab.com. Log in and click on gradebook to see your current grade. Grades will be updated as often as possible but know that I only guarantee to update them after each test. A 95-100% B 83-86% C 73-76% D 63-66% A- 90-94% B- 80-82% C- 70-72% D- 60-62% B+ 87-89% C+ 77-79% D+ 67-69 F 0-59% Discrepancies with all graded material must be handled within one week of receiving the grade for that item in MML. Failure do so in this time period forfeits your right to contest the grade you received.

Attendance 5%

Homework 20%

Quizzes/Projects 15%

Exam 1 15%

Exam 2 15%

Exam 3 15%

Comprehensive course final 15%

Homework Homework will be a mixture of online assignments, take-home work, and in class material. In class material and take-home work may consist of a number of things and will not be announced ahead of time. • In class material may only be completed if you are present in class. If you

are absent you will receive a zero—no exceptions. • If you want credit for take-home work you need to be in class to get that

assignment and need to be in class to turn it in on the due date. If you are absent on the due date and turn it in later it will be counted as late and be given half credit—no exceptions.

The majority of the homework will be completed online at www.pearsonmylab.com also known as My Math Lab (MML). Content will be assigned on a weekly basis. Each week we will cover several sections of content. Whenever we finish a section, the homework for that section will be made available on MML by Friday of that week. All online assignments from a given week will be due on the Monday the week after at 11:59 P.M. This way you will have the opportunity to seek help the following Monday before it is due. As assignments are posted I will try to announce them in class, but I expect you to check MML daily to keep up on your assignments. Stating you did not know about an assignment is not acceptable.

Homework Cont. You may redo the online homework as many times as you like until the deadline to improve your score. You can also continue to work on the online homework after the due date, but you will have 50% deducted from each late problem. For example, if you finished 9 of 10 problems correctly before the due date and finished the 10th problem after the due date your final homework score would be 95% (assuming the questions were weighted equally). Thus, it is my expectation that you should be able to achieve a 100% or near-to on your homework.

Quizzes • Some quizzes will need to be completed in MML.

Unlike homework, you only get two attempts on MML quizzes and no help aids. So be sure that you understand the content before starting the quiz. You will also only get a maximum of 90 minutes to complete each MML quiz.

• You will also periodically be given quizzes or projects in class. These will all be announced ahead of time and will have a clear due date. No late quizzes will be accepted.

Online Addendum

All issues related to online homework and quizzes must be worked out prior to the

deadline. Saying your computer was not working or the website was slow is not acceptable. To prevent this issue DO NOT wait until the night something is due to start the assignment online.

Missed Exams All exams will be taken as paper and pencil tests in class. If any event prevents you from attending an examination, you must notify the instructor prior to the exam. Failure to do so will automatically result in a zero on that exam. If the instructor is notified ahead of time an exam will be placed in the Academic Resource Center (ARC) and must be completed by the next scheduled class, unless the initial circumstance prevents you from doing so. Failure to complete the exam by the next class will result in a zero. • If you also provide documentation of the illness or emergency

(police report, tow receipt, juror notice, Dr.’s note, etc) you may take the exam for full credit.

• If you are unable to provide documentation you will automatically be deducted 20% of the exam value. This includes any circumstance where you chose (an event that was not an emergency, such as vacation, attending a wedding, etc.) to be absent.

Missed Exams TO BE CLEAR For any circumstance where you choose to be absent—an event that was not an emergency, such as vacation, attending a wedding, etc.—you must make up the exam beforehand (for full credit) or take it late at a deduction. If you are sick, but have no insurance and/or can’t afford to go to the doctor, then you need to decide if it is in your interest to take the exam while you are sick or wait and take it late at a deduction.

Missed Exams Students with disabilities who need accommodations must present their letter of accommodations to the instructor before such accommodations can be made. In the event that accommodations require exams to be taken in the ARC the exam must be taken the same day it is scheduled in class or the following academic day. If you fail to take the exam in this time period you will automatically be deducted 20% of the exam value. Failure to complete the exam within one week will result in a zero.

Late Assignments

Late Assignments See Homework and Quizzes for an explanation. The only addition to this is that your lowest homework score will be dropped.

Each test I will update the gradebook. This may change your score as it will recalculate and drop the score that is best in your favor. At the same time, I will input a zero for any homework assignments that have not been attempted as MML does not grade assignments that have not been attempted. This may possibly cause your grade to go down.

Final Exam Final Our Final will be during normal class time. The final will be comprehensive.

Two weeks before the final you will be given a study guide. Section WE, 10:10-12:10 – Wednesday, December 11

Important Dates • No classes Monday, September 2 (Labor Day). • No classes Friday, October 18 (Faculty In-service). • Last day to drop, Friday, November 1 • Campus closed, November 28-29 (Thanksgiving)

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MyMathLab

• We will use the online service MyMathLab (MML) for a majority of our homework and our quizzes.

• MML Registration sheet • MML videos on Gischsource.com

www.Gischsourse.com

• I will post notes, and extras on this site for your convenience.

• There are great study guides with video tutorials on here too!

• Class Schedule.

MML vs. Gischsource MyMathLab (MML) MML is where you go to complete homework and quizzes. All grades will be posted here. And you can use it for studying purposes by having MML generate new problems and taking practice tests. This is a site controlled by the book publisher. Gischsource.com This site is primarily a reference site. You can access class notes, helpful guides and tutorials, and the course calendar here. This is a site I pay for myself to house all content that I produce in relation to the classes I teach.

Questions???

• Now would be the time to ask.