• algebraic functions, including polynomial and rational functions,
• the circular trigonometric functions and their inverses,
• exponential and logarithmic functions, and
• combinations of these.

1. Draw conclusions about algebraic aspects of an equation or function from its graph, and vice-versa.
2. Solve polynomial, rational, and absolute value inequalities, and express their solutions in interval notation.
3. Rewrite quadratic functions by completing the square.
4. Simplify [solve] algebraic, trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic expressions [equations].
5. Find the domain, range, and graph of elementary functions.
6. Find the inverse of a one-to-one function.
7. Demonstrate understanding of the Factor Theorem and Fundamental Theorem of Algebra and use them to completely factor and find the zeros of (sufficiently simple) real polynomials.
8. Use polynomial long division to rewrite an rational function as a polynomial plus a proper rational function.
9. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the circular trig functions that includes their definition, their values at basic angles, their graphs, their inverse functions, and the Pythagorean identities.
10. Know and use the sum and difference formulas for sine and cosine and formulas that follow from these.
11. Solve story problems by constructing and analyzing polynomial, trigonometric, and exponential models.

1. model phenomena in mathematical terms,
2. solve problems using these models, and
3. demonstrate an understanding of the supporting theory behind the models apart from any particular application.

Students who are certain that they want to use WebAssign (see below) can save money by buying the book bundled with a WebAssign access code at our bookstore. Everyone else should try it for free first. Based on my limited experience, I think that the cheapest way to obtain the book only is probably to purchase it online and then sell it yourself on Amazon when you're through with it.

It would be good to have your copy of the textbook by the first day of class, but it's possible that everyone will have free online (but not down-loadable) access to our book for the first two weeks of class through WebAssign, and that students who purchase WebAssign will have online access to our book all semester. Even of that's true, I find flipping through the pages online to be pretty clumsy and an impediment to learning from the book. I think even those students who buy WA will want a hardcopy of the text, which can be bought online at a reasonable price.

Although basic ideas we learn in this course can appear on several exams or quizzes, each weekly quiz will be based primarily on material covered since the time of the previous exam or quiz, and each midterm exam will be based primarily on material covered since the previous midterm. Our departmental final exam in this course will be cumulative. Unless I specifically tell you otherwise, you should assume that any topic of this course could appear on the final.

The 50-minute exam is worth 50 points, the 75-minute exams are each worth 100 points, the final exam is worth 200 points, and the weekly in-class quizzes are worth 50 points altogether. I'll assign letter grades by this scale:

Letter grade:	A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	D-
Minimum required score:	90%	87%	83%	80%	77%	73%	70%	67%	63%	60%	57%

I won't drop any exams, but if you do better on the final exam than on your worst 75-minute exam, I'll raise that (one) exam score by averaging it with your final exam (percentage) score. Then, at the end of the semester, I'll calculate your grade two ways--based on the percent you earned of the 650 possible exam points, and again based on the percent you earned of the 700 possible exam and quiz points--and give you whichever letter grade comes out higher.

If you're absent on a non-exam day, I'll assume that you have a good reason for missing and will not require an excuse. Read the text and try the homework for the day you miss and then bring questions to me in my office. See Make-up Policy for absences on exam days.

Note: College of Charleston policy requires me to take roll during the first two weeks after drop/add, until I determine that all of my students have attended at least once, and report the results to the College. Any student who has not attended class at least once during these two weeks will be dropped from this class. These roll calls will not be used in my calculation of the remaining students' grades at the end of the semester.

Quizzes:
At the end of the semester--starting from the date of the last in-class quiz and ending on the last day of final exams--I'll allow you to make up at most two (2) quizzes that you've missed for any reason. These makeups can only be used to replace quizzes that you've missed, not simply low scores. No Absence Memo will be required for makeup quizzes.

The makeup can cover any topic from the course, not necessarily the topic of the quiz you missed, and will be taken outside of class at a mutually agreed upon time. Contact me after the last quiz to schedule a makeup.

I'll drop your two (2) lowest quiz scores (after any makeups) before computing your quiz average.

After each class, do as many of the assigned problems as possible. There will be limited time to ask questions about these at the beginning of the next class. If you run into dificulty, really try; don't flit from one unsolved problem to the next.

Don't just do the homework until you get the right answer, but practice homework problems until you can do them reliably on an exam. Practice reading the instructions on homework problems. If you are able to do the homework only after looking at some answers in the back to figure out what the question is asking, then you're not prepared for the exams.

Begin extra studying well in advance for the tests, at least a week. Rework old problems that could appear on the test. Write (and rewrite) a special set of notes that summarize in your own words the important facts for the test. Include in these notes the different types of problems appearing in the homework and the steps you follow to solve each type. (For example, here are the notes written by an A student while studying for the first test in MATH 111 Precalculus.)

Let a, b, c, d be your scores on exams 1, 2, 3, 4. Make sure you use d to denote the lowest of these four. Let X be your desired score in the course overall. Represent these scores as numbers between 0 and 100. For instance, if you got a 75% on exam 1, represent that score as 75. To get an A in the course, X would have to be 90. See the syllabus for my grading scale. Let p be your score on exam 0. Let q be your quiz average (after dropping your two lowest quiz scores) multiplied by 5. p and q will be numbers between 0 and 50. (You'll have to estimate q if you're planning to makeup a missed quiz or two before the semester's over.)

What percent do you need to earn on the final to get X in the course? The answer is tricky because: 1. I compute your grade with and without the quizzes and give you whichever letter grade comes out higher, and 2. I raise your worst midterm by averaging it with the final in case you do better on the final. Here's the answer.

• If X > 2q, then:
  • If X > (p+a+b+c+3d)/6.5, then you need to earn (6.5X-a-b-c-0.5*d-p)/2.5 percent on the final.
  • If X ≤ (p+a+b+c+3d)/6.5, then you need to earn (6.5X-a-b-c-d-p)/2 percent on the final.
• If, instead, X ≤ 2q, then:
  • If X > (p+a+b+c+3d+q)/7, then you need to earn (7X-a-b-c-0.5*d-p-q)/2.5 percent on the final.
  • If X ≤ (p+a+b+c+3d+q)/7, then you need to earn (7X-a-b-c-d-p-q)/2 percent on the final.

"5-25" means at least the odd numbered problems between 5 and 25, inclusive, and preferably the even numbered problems as well. * indicates a challenging but worthwhile problem.
** indicates a very challenging problem for your enjoyment only. I won't put a ** problem on an exam, and I probably won't have time to do one in class.
"12.rev" refers to the review exercises at the end of Chapter 12.
[17] means to do problem 17 if time allows us to cover this topic in class.