Fall 2018 | Professor Kate Poirier

Month: May 2020 (Page 2 of 2)

Pre-class prep lesson for Monday, May 11

2.2 Determining Volumes by Slicing (part 2)

P. 150: 58, 59, 74 – 80 all, 98 – 102 all
Find the volume of the solid obtained by rotating the region bounded by the curves y = x^2, y = 12-x, x = 0 and x ≥ 0 about (a) the x–axis; (b) the line y = -2; (c) the line y = 15; (d) the y-axis; (e) the line x = -5; (f) the line x = 7.

Webwork: Shells and Washers due 5/17

Lecture notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lugsw916xjk5j3l/Note%20May%2011%2C%202020.pdf?dl=0


Back to volumes by slicing

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CUNY’s flexible grade option

Some students have questions about CUNY’s new flexible grade option. You can see more information about the credit/no credit option here. Make sure you talk to your academic advisor and financial aid advisor if you’re considering this option. If you decide to switch to the credit/no credit option, you’ll have do this yourself on CUNYFirst (you might have to wait until course grades have been assigned).

I also received a document outlining the difference among these options. Hopefully this can help answer some questions. 1202 Flexible Grading Policy Chart for Students

The deadline to withdraw officially from the course is this upcoming Thursday, May 14.

Webwork re-opened: new deadlines

As promised, all old Webwork sets have been reopened. Old sets are now due on May 17 at 11:59pm.

There are four sets that are still new; two of them are optional and two of them are required:

  1. (Optional) Riemann Sums Open, closes 05/17/2020 at 11:58pm EDT.
  2. Area Between Curves Open, closes 05/17/2020 at 11:58pm EDT.
  3. (Optional) Volumes Open, closes 05/17/2020 at 11:58pm EDT.
  4. Shells and Washers Open, closes 05/17/2020 at 11:58pm EDT.

Please note that they’re all due on the same day that the old sets are due, but they’re due at 11:58pm instead of 11:59pm. The difference is timing is just so that the four new sets appear at the top of your page.

If you don’t want to revisit your old Webwork sets, no worries. Just focus on the top 4 (or only the 2 that are required, if you don’t want to do the optional ones).

Pre-class prep lesson for Wednesday, May 6

2.2 Determining Volumes by Slicing (p. 141 – 149)
  • P. 150: 58, 59, 74 – 80 all, 98 – 102 all
  • Find the volume of the solid obtained by rotating the region bounded by the curves y = x^2, y = 12-x, x = 0 and x ≥ 0 about
    • (a) the x–axis;
    • (b) the line y = -2;
    • (c) the line y = 15;
    • (d) the y-axis;
    • (e) the line x = -5;
    • (f) the line x = 7.

Webwork:

  • Volumes (optional) due 5/12
  • Shells and washers (for now, look for volumes that can be calculated by the disk method) due 5/17

 


Motivation

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Test #3b checklist

Instructions for Test #3b are detailed here and summarized below.

  1. Make sure you are familiar with the academic honesty policy here.
  2. If you haven’t already, sign up for an interview time slot here (Webex/Zoom links for interviews will be posted later).
  3. Test #3b opens Wednesday at noon; closes Friday at noon.
  4. Once you start the test, you have one hour to complete the WeBWorK component and another 30 minutes to submit your written work. (Late submissions will incur a penalty of 5 points every 30 minutes.)
  5. Show all your work. Use a new piece of paper for each question. Write the page number and question number clearly at the top of the page, along with your name.
    • If you are integrating, don’t forget to check your antiderivatives by differentiating.
    • If you are using a convergence test, don’t forget to state which one.
  6. If you use scrap paper for your rough work, write “Rough” at the top of the page and include it at the end of the document with your written work.
  7. Submit your written work as a single PDF. Include your Student ID in the photos of your work.
  8. Use this link to upload your written work (this is a different link from last week’s for Test #3a).
  9. After you take the test, you can take a second version of it (with different questions) after 24 hours. Use the same link to upload your written work. Only the written work corresponding to the higher WeBWorK score will be graded.
  10. Try to relax, if you can! Just do your best, whatever your best is right now.
    • This test has 5 questions.
    • You have two days during which you can take two versions of the test.
    • You have the option to change your course grade to credit/no credit later.
    • This test is important for your course grade, but grades might not be the most important thing in your life right now.

Your WeBWorK test score will not count toward your Test #3 grade. It will be used only to determine which version of your written work will be graded. Your Test #3 grade will be calculated as follows:

    • 1/3 Test #3a written work
    • 1/3 Test #3b written work
    • 1/3 interview

Math Chair’s Email

I’ve received a few questions about yesterday’s email from the chair of the Math Department, so I hope I can clarify a few things for everyone.

  1. The email was sent to the whole class.
  2. The investigation she referred to was about an academic integrity violation we found out about on Test #3a. If you did not commit a violation on Test #3a, then you do not need to worry about this investigation.
  3. The investigation is completely separate from Test #2 and the appointments some people have scheduled with me to talk about Test #2.
  4. Test #3b is still on for tomorrow – Wednesday 12pm to Friday 12pm this week; our Test #3 interviews are still on for next week.

Some of you are probably wondering what is going on. The fact is that there has been widespread cheating in this class (even when we were meeting in person). Usually these matters can be dealt with privately, so you might never know that your classmates got caught cheating, but this is not a usual semester and have been required to have more of these conversations publicly.

I know that this whole thing is incredibly stressful for all of you and I want to remind you that I can be extremely flexible about everything except for:

  1. the final exam,
  2. academic integrity.

Just let me know what you need.

While I understand the temptation to reach for just a little outside help when you’re as stressed as you are and it’s as easy as it is, I also want to remind you that committing violations can have lasting consequences for you. For example, there will be instances in your future —not just for academic things, but for jobs you’re applying for as well—where you will have to produce your transcript or ask a professor for a letter of recommendation. This will be difficult with a violation on your record. You don’t want what feels like a little thing now to follow you around for years and I don’t want that for you either.

CUNY has done something really amazing for students caught in this situation this semester by extending the deadline to withdraw from a class until May 14. I’ve already had conversations with some students for whom this class is an extra source of stress and they just want to be done with it. This is completely understandable and not something you should feel bad about. If this is where you are, then getting this course off your plate is the responsible way to handle it. Committing academic violations is not. I want you to make the decision that’s best for you.

Finally, the chair’s email mentioned the app/website Symbolab and why we don’t recommend students use it (or anything like it) at all. It’s definitely a violation to present Symbolab’s work as your own, even if you’re just copying your previous notes. But there’s another problem even with using it as you study. Symbolab is really incredible at finding answers. Really impressive. But, as the chair mentioned, if often solves problems in weird and roundabout ways. It uses techniques that are inappropriate for the problem and refuses to use the appropriate (and easier) ones. Even using Symbolab (or anything like it) to study can give you false confidence that you actually know what’s going on.

The reason that matters for this class is that the learning outcomes on the official course outline (which is linked from the OpenLab site and which we discussed on the first day of class) does not include “find answers.” The learning outcomes list the techniques that you are to use and apply in this class. I am held accountable by the department and the college for assessing whether these learning outcomes have been met, and what I have to go on is what you write down.  It’s obvious if you’re using Symbolab’s approach because it’s often an inappropriate approach, even if you’re not just copying from Symbolab directly onto your paper. I don’t want to tell you you can’t use Symbolab (or anything like it) ever, but it’s very risky and you should know the risks.

Your tests are already open book. What I would do if I were taking tests like yours is open up several tabs on my browser with the relevant chapters of the textbook before starting the test. If you haven’t actually read them (though you should; there’s good stuff in there!) scroll through them for a few minutes so you know where the definitions are, where the formulas are, and what kinds of examples there are. You can refer to these in your written work. As usual, show aaaaaaallll your work.

I hope this helps to clear things up.

Sunday update: emails, deadlines/important dates, MAT 2680

We’re in the home stretch of the semester! There are two more weeks of classes before final exam week. Things usually feel *pretty* stressful at this point in the semester…and that’s when everything is normal. This is not a normal semester! I hope you are all managing the best you can and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Emails

A few of you have written me emails that I haven’t had a chance to respond to yet. I’m not forgetting you or ignoring you on purpose, I promise! I have just been so extremely busy. I know that some of the things you’ve emailed me about are of a stressful nature and I hope the delay isn’t adding to your stress. I can’t tell you when I will get back to you, but I will get back to you!

Deadlines/important dates
  • If you want to submit a Test 2 correction video, you may do so up until next Sunday, May 10 (a one-week extension). You don’t have to get feedback from your study group, but remember that you’ll only get to improve your grade if your video shows a perfect solution, so get any feedback you can. Submit final videos using this link.
  • Test #3b will follow the same format as Test #3a; it will be open from this Wednesday at noon to this Friday at noon. I’ll post a Test #3b checklist soon. A few of you did not submit your Test #3a according to the Test #3a checklist. I know it’s confusing with all the changes, but I expect the instructions for submitting your work for your final exam will be similar, so follow the checklist closely.
  • If you haven’t done so yet, please sign up for a Test #3 interview time slot on this schedule.
  • May 14 is the last day to withdraw officially from the class. You’ll see a W on your transcript but this will not affect your GPA. If anyone is thinking about dropping the class and wants to talk about it with me, just let me know.
  • June 25 is the last day to change your letter grade to the credit/no credit option. More details are here. This option might not work for everyone, but it might make sense for some of you. With this option, the credit/no credit grade does not affect your GPA. Talk to your academic advisor and financial aid advisor to determine if this option would work for you.
  • Yes, I will reopen all your old Webwork sets! No I haven’t done it yet! I’m waiting until after your 5/5 set is due to keep the old sets and new sets separate. The new deadlines will be the week before final exams.
  • I’ve made a few small changes to our new schedule. I expect these should be the *last* changes to the schedule!
MAT 2680

Some of you are required to take MAT 2680 (Differential Equations) after this class for your program. Professor Singh is teaching the online course in Summer Session I. He’s a great teacher! If you are planning to take the course, I really recommend you take it from him.

Pre-class prep lesson for Monday, May 4

1.1 Approximating Areas (p. 5 – 20)
2.1 Areas Between Two Curves (p. 122 – 128)

P. 21: 1 – 7 odd, 12, 15, 16, 17 (optional)
P. 131: 1 – 7 all, 11, 15 – 21 all, 23
P. 271: 63

Webwork: Riemann Sums (optional), Area Between Curves due 5/10

Notes from lecture and office hours:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z6bo23k3staxnpm/Note%20May%204%2C%202020.pdf?dl=0


1.1. Riemann Sums

The Webwork set for Riemann Sums is officially optional, but the pictures in this section will help set us up to understand how integrals can be used to compute volumes, which is the last big topic in the course. Continue reading

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