Math 20A is the first quarter calculus course for students majoring in mathematics, engineering, and the sciences. It provides the foundations of differential and integral calculus of one variable. A list of topics covered in the course, together with a tentative lecture schedule, is posted on the course webpage.
The course textbook is Calculus: Early Transcendentals, Single Variable, 4th edition by Rogawski, Adams, and Franzosa. You will also need a Macmillan Achieve access code for the online homework. There are a variety of options for the access code together with an eBook or print book available from the UCSD bookstore and from the publisher (see https://bit.ly/3scqQtD ). I recommend getting a physical copy if possible – it makes it much easier to study without distractions. Other good references include Paul’s Online Notes and Khan Academy.
The lectures are Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00-4:50 pm at Warren Lecture Hall 2113. Attendance and taking notes in lectures are strongly recommended. There will be podcasts that you can view after each lecture. The lecture slides will be posted on the canvas.
The discussion sections are led by the TAs on Wednesday from 2:00 pm to 3:50 pm at Warren Lecture Hall 2113. The goals of the discussion section are:
To provide more examples and practice.
To enable you to ask more questions.
In particular, if you find that the lectures do not have enough examples, please go to the Discussion Section for more!
The professor and TAs will hold office hours at regular times each week. These times are listed under the Homepage->General information. To meet the needs of different students, the office hours are spread out across different days/times and a mixture of in-person and remote. The goals of office hours include:
For students to ask questions about the course material and homework problems.
For students to work on practice problems and homework in an interactive way with the professor and TA and in collaboration with each other.
To discuss specific student questions about course logistics and study tips.
The official online discussion forum for this class will be on Piazza; the Piazza will be linked from Canvas. On Piazza, the students and the instructors can answer questions collaboratively. This is a great place to post questions about concepts, examples from lectures, course logistics, and practice problems.
Piazza rules:
Respect your classmates, TAs, and instructors.
You may discuss any ungraded practice problems on Piazza.
You may not discuss the actual homework problems on Piazza.
There will be weekly homework assignments, due on Thursday at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. They will be submitted online using Macmillan Achieve, which can be accessed by clicking on the “Macmillan Learning” link on the class Canvas page. There are also textbook homework problems posted on the course webpage, which you are expected to complete, but which will not be collected or graded.
Policy on late homework: You will get 80% credit for homework problems turned in late for 2 days after the due date.
Overview: The course will have three main exams:
Midterm 1 occurs on Thursday of Week 2 during the lecture.
Midterm 2 occurs on Tuesday of Week 4 during the lecture.
The final exam occurs during finals week.
"Second chance" grading scheme for exams: The final exam will be divided into three portions. One portion covers the material of Midterm 1 and one covers the material of Midterm 2. The third portion covers the material in the last portion of the course.
These later portions will allow you to "replace" your midterm scores: For instance, if you do better on the "Midterm 1" portion of the final than you originally did on Midterm 1, then your Midterm 1 grade will be replaced by your grade on this part of the final. The same is true for Midterm 2.
Policy on missing exams:
If you miss a midterm exam, then the corresponding portion of the final exam will serve as an automatic make-up midterm.
If you miss the final exam for a medical or family emergency, then you may request an "incomplete" grade. To make this request, email me directly at zez084@ucsd.edu before the start of the exam.
A small part of the grade will be based on participation. You will get "participation points" each time you complete certain designated participation activities like attending a discussion section (1 point), attending an office hour (0.5 point). To get a perfect grade, you should obtain 4 participation points total.
35% Homework
60% Exams (Midterms and Final)
5% Participation
After the total course grades are computed through the grading scheme described above, then letter grades will be assigned based on certain cutoffs. These cutoffs will be at least as generous as the standard cutoffs (70% for C-, etc.). Thus:
Getting 70% guarantees at least a C-
Getting 73% guarantees at least a C
Getting 77% guarantees at least a C+
Getting 80% guarantees at least a B-
Getting 83% guarantees at least a B
Getting 87% guarantees at least a B+
Getting 90% guarantees at least an A-
Getting 93% guarantees at least an A
Getting 97% guarantees an A+
However, the cutoffs may be adjusted or "curved" to be more generous than the scale above. This will be decided based on comparing with the historical grade distribution.
There are 2% extra credits that you can earn which will be directly added to your final grade above. Each time you answer a question in class, you will get 0.25% extra credit (up to 4 times). And the other 1% extra credit will be given to everyone if more than 80% of students fill in the evaluation at the end of this class.
Collaboration on homework is encouraged. However, you should think about the problems yourself before discussing them with others, and you must work through each solution on your own before submitting it and understand anything that you submit. The use of solution manuals, homework from previous quarters, and “homework help” resources like Chegg is not permitted.
Students needing academic accommodations must register with the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD). The student must provide the appropriate accommodation documentation to the instructor no later than the end of the first week of classes.