Professor: Jeff
Johannes
Section 2 TR 11:20a-1:00p Fraser 119
Office:
South 326A
Telephone: 5403 (245-5403)
Office Hours: Monday 8-9p, Tuesday 2-3p, Wednesday 10-11a, Thursday 1-2p, 4:30 - 5:30p, and by appointment or
visit
Email Address: Johannes@Geneseo.edu
Web-page:
http://www.geneseo.edu/~johannes
Course Materials
Modeling the Dynamics of Life: Calculus and
Probability for Life Scientists
by Frederick R. Adler
Required: TI-89 Calculator
Additional handouts of reading, problems, and
activities will be provided
Purposes
- Study calculus topics beyond first semester calculus.
- Focus on their applications and uses in biological sciences.
Overview
This course is defined, in many ways, by what
it isn't. It isn't the easy way out of calculus II - in fact, it
will likely be more demanding than 222 would be. It isn't merely
the same topics from 222 with examples using biology. It is a
completely different experience than 222. Some 222 topics will
not be included, most notably infinite series. We will learn many
topics not studied in 222 - including probability and statistics, and
many topics not studied in other mathematics courses - such as discrete
dynamical systems. You will be my experts on biology, and I will
be the mathematics expert. Along the way we will surely all learn
something we never knew before. Be prepared to work, to learn,
and to see some new and different things. Open your minds and
hold on for a biology flavoured adventure in mathematics.
Grading
Your grade in this course will be based upon your
performance on various aspects.
The weight assigned to each is designated below:
Exams:
Assignments: (5% each)
Exam 1
14%
Problem Sets (4) 20%
Exam 2
14%
Reports (2)
10%
Half Exam 3 9%
Final Exam
24%
Reading quizzes (?) 9%
Exercises
With each day of lecture, I will suggest several
exercises that are relevant for practising from that day's
lesson. I will not grade these exercises,
but will gladly discuss or look at them.
Reports
You will write two reports for this class.
They will be of two different types chosen from the following
three: After attending a mathematics department colloquium
(or other approved mathematics presentation) you may write a report.
In your report, please explain the main point of the presentation
and include a discussion of how this presentation affected your views
on mathematics. You may also interview someone involved in the
Geneseo Biomathematics Initiative, and you may write a summary of a
Science or Nature article involving biology and mathematics. You
may choose which report to complete for each due date.
A – Well written, answers the
questions, and is interesting and insightful
B – Well written and answers the
questions
C – Well written or answers
the questions (convinces the reader that you
were there)
D – attempted
Papers are due on the assigned dates.
I will gladly look at papers before they are due to provide
comments.
Problem Sets
There will be four problem sets distributed
throughout the semester. You must complete each of
them. Problem sets are due
on the scheduled dates. You are encouraged to consult with me
outside of class on any questions toward completing the homework.
You are also encouraged to work together on homework assignments, but
each must write up their own well-written solutions. A good rule
for this is: it is encouraged to speak to each other about the
problem, but you should not read each other's solutions. Each
question will be counted in the following
manner:
0 – missing question or plagiarised work
1 – question copied
2 – partial question
3 – completed question (with some solution)
4 – completed question correctly and
well-written
Each entire problem set will then be graded on a 90-80-70-60% (decile)
scale. Late items will not be accepted. Problem sets will
be returned on the following class day along with solutions to the
problems. Because solutions will
be provided, comments will be somewhat limited on individual
papers.
Please feel free to discuss any homework with me outside of class
or during review.
Reading Quizzes
You are responsible for reading the sections before
they are discussed in class. The schedule is given below.
Occasionally - as I see it necessary - we will have short (five minute)
reading quizzes to check that the reading is being done. As the
class shows this is not necessary, they will become less
frequent. The reading quizzes may be as straight forward as -
"Write enough to convince me you did the reading." Points lost on
quizzes may be reearned by finding
errors in the textbook (there are many - both mathematical and writing)
as follows: The first student who notifies me via email of an
error in the section for the next class period will receive one lost
point back on a previous reading quiz.
Exams
There will be two and a half exams
during the semester and a final exam during finals week.
If you must miss an exam, it is necessary that you contact me
before the exam begins. Exams require that you show ability
to solve unfamiliar problems and to understand and explain mathematical
concepts clearly. The bulk of the exam questions will involve
problem solving and written explanations of mathematical ideas.
The first two exams will be an hour's worth of material that I will
allow two hours to complete. There will be multiple options of
times of completing these exams. Tentatively they are scheduled
for Thursdays 7 – 9p, but this is not fixed. The third exam will
be shorter than the others and will be completed in class. The
final exam will be half an exam
focused on the final third of the course, and half a cumulative
exam. Exams will be graded on a scale approximately (to
be precisely determined by the content of each individual exam) given
by
100 – 80% A
79 – 60% B
59
– 40% C
39 – 20%
D
below 20%
E
For your interpretive convenience, I will also give you an exam grade
converted into the decile scale.
The exams will be challenging and will require thought and creativity
(like the problems). They will not include filler questions (like
the exercises) hence the full usage of the grading scale.
Feedback
Occasionally you will be given
anonymous feedback forms. Please use them to share any thoughts
or concerns for how the course is running. Remember, the sooner
you tell me your concerns, the more I can do about them. I have
also created a web-site
which accepts anonymous comments.
If we have not yet discussed this in class, please encourage me to
create a class code. This site may also be accessed via our
course
page on a link entitled anonymous
feedback. Of
course, you are always welcome to approach me outside of class to
discuss these issues as well.
Religious Holidays
It is my policy to give
students who miss class because of observance of religious
holidays the opportunity to make up missed work. You are
responsible for notifying me by January 29 of plans to observe a
holiday.
Schedule (subject to change)
January 20 introductions
20.1 1.2
22 1.5
22.1 1.6
27 1.7
27.5 1.9
29 1.11
29.5 2.8
February 3 1.10
3.1 3.1
5 3.2
5.1 overrun
10
review PS1 due
10.1 review
12 XM1
17 XM discuss
17.1 4.1
19 4.2
19.1 4.3
report1 due
24 5.1
24.1 5.2
26 5.3
26.1 5.4
March 3 26 5.5
3.1 5.6
5 5.7
5.1
overrun
10 review
PS2 due
12 XM2
24 XM discuss
24.1 6.1
24.2 6.2
26 6.3
26.1 6.4
31 6.5
31.1 6.6
April 2 6.7
2.1
6.8
7 6.9
7.1 review
9
7.1
PS3 due
9.1 7.2
14 7.4
14.1 Half XM3
16
7.5
Report2 due
16.1 7.6
23 7.7
23.1 7.8
28 7.9
28.1 8.1
30 8.3
30.1 8.4
May 5
review
PS4 due
Wednesday, May 13 8-11a Final XM
Assignments at beginning of the semester for Calculus 228:
The most important topics to review from 221 for 228 are
differentiation and integration. While I will assume that you
know all of chapters 1-5, focus your review thoughts on Chapters 2 and 4.
Opening day exercises (remember exercises are not graded)
If you want a taste of things, here are some sample questions of review
nature to think about:
p. 215 11 - 34, 45, 51
p. 365 9 - 30