Math 3C - SPRING, 2001		GENERAL INFORMATION

TEXTBOOK: [S] Math 3C Reader by J. Stopple
[KA] "Introductory Differential Equations" by J. Kostelich and D. Armbruster
We will roughly cover all [S] and [KA] Chap 1-3

Lecture location & time: (1) WEBB 1100 TR 8-9:15 (2) PSYCH 1824 TR 3:30-4:45
Instructor: Xi Chen
Phone #: 893-3878
Email: xichen@math.ucsb.edu
Office and Office Hours: South Hall 6502, TR 10-11:30am or by appointment

HOMEWORK: Homework is due each week in your discussion section. It will be
graded and handed back to you the next week in the discussion section.

GRADING: Your grade in this course is based on weekly homework, two
in-class midterms and one final. The grading policy is: you will receive a
C- or below if you fails to get 55% out of the final no matter how well you
did in homework and midterms; on the other hand, you will receive at least
a C if you score 55% or more in the final; if you pass the final, I will
use the formula
       max(15% homework + 20% mid1 + 20% mid2 + 45% final,
	   25% mid1 + 25% mid2 + 50% final)
to calculate your course grade. In English, I will take the sum of 15%
homework, 20% each midterm and 45% final or the sum of 25% each midterm
and 50% final, whichever is better, as your course grade. The letter grades
are determined by curve fitting, roughly, 30% A, 35% B and 35% C. (This ratio
is only for the students passing the final. So if 40% students fail the final,
there are only 18% A, 21% B and 21% C.) To give you an idea about the
failing rate of this course, last quarter I had a class of size 94 and
in the end 34 failed (C- or below). So the failing rate is about 36%.

EXAMS: No books are allowed in exams. You may use a scientific calculator
and a notecard. You should bring a photo ID to all exams. A scientific
calculator is a calculator which cannot be programmed and does not
have graphing functions. So GRAPHING CALCULATORS (or whatever the name
you have for them) are not allowed. The only purpose you use a
calculator should be for numerical operations.

The first midterm will be around the 4th week (before the course drop date)
and the second will be around 8th week. The final will be on June 9 from
7:30pm to 10:30pm. Unless announced otherwise before the exams, the
midterms will be held in the same room where the lecture meets. The room
for the final is usually NOT the room where the lecture meets. It will be
assigned later.

WEBSITE: http://www.math.ucsb.edu/~xichen/

I have taught this course twice before. You can find my old class pages
under the above URL, where there might be something interesting you
such as old exams.