University of Calfornia, Riverside
Mathematics 5A
The Principles of Calculus I
Summer 2025
University of Calfornia, Riverside
Mathematics 5A
The Principles of Calculus I
Summer 2025
Course Materials
All course materials may be accessed through this website.
Introduction
Mathematics 5A is the first course in the The Principles of Calculus course sequence and covers the material in The Principle of Calculus I. The four principles that this course develops are: Decomposition, Transformation, Rigidity, and Symmetry. We will begin the course with a study of the intersection of sets. By the end of the course, we will develop the idea of tangency in an algebraic setting and understand certain models of change from a very fundamental perspective.
Meeting Times and Location
Mathematics 5A Section 001
Lecture:
Tuesdays and Thursdays
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
INTS, Room 1132
Discussion:
Tuesdays and Thursdays
1:00 PM - 2:20 PM
INTS, Room 1134
Expectations
Workload
Mathematics 5A is a five unit class. The expectation is that one unit corresponds to one classroom hour and two hours of independent student work during a 10 week quarter. You should spend, on average, about twelve hours outside of class per week studying the material that we cover in class. Attending office hours is not a part of this study time. Study time is time that you spend, alone or with peers, actively working through the material. This may include time spent reading notes, but simply reading is not enough. Also remember that the expected grade is not an A. To achieve that level of mastery will likely require more effort. Plan your schedule accordingly.
Lecture
The duration of a lecture is 120 minutes. There will be two lectures per week.
Prior to lecture you should have already read the workbook sections for the current lecture, and have attempted the knowledge checks.
We will work in lecture through the Linguistic Mapping Exercises for the sections that we cover that day. Lecture time is heavily devoted to actual problem solving, language acquisition, and instruction on use of principles of reasoning.
You will have a quiz during every lecture. You can drop 2 quizzes. You will earn half credit for taking a quiz and half for you performance on the quiz. Quiz questions are "Pass-Level" questions and may appear on your final exam as such.
Discussion Section
The duration of a discussion section is 80 minutes. There will typically be two discussion sections per week. The graduate student teaching assistant to whom you are assigned will lead both discussion sections.
During each discussion section, you will work with peers on peer engagement exercises and submit them to Gradescope. You will be graded on participation and completeness, not on correctness. Be sure to bring your own copies of these questions as the TA will not print them out for you.
Discussion section is an excellent time for you to ask questions. Ultimately, your questions will guide the discussion sections. I advise that you work in groups practicing knowledge checks with your peers. I expect the teaching assistants to keep track of student progress in whatever way they prefer.