Math 139: Plane Analytic Geometry

Course description: Beginning course in plane analytic geometry including the straight line, the circle, parabola, hyperbola, and the transformation of coordinates. The departmental syllabus can be found at http://www2.sfasu.edu/math/courses/syllabi/MTH139Syllabus.pdf

Course Prerequisites and Corequisites: MTH 133 and MTH 138 (or the equivalent.)

Contact Information: It is easiest to reach me by email at longne at sfasu dot edu. Other class information can be found on d2l.sfasu.edu or my webpage http://www.faculty.sfasu.edu/longne/. My office phone number is 936-468-1822 but it is difficult for me to call outside of the Nacogdoches area so email is preferred.

Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday from 10 to 12 or by appointment. This means you need to come see me when you have a question.

Meeting time and place: 12:30-1:45 PM in Math 212 for section 003

Text and Materials:

No textbook is required. Notes including definitions and questions will be provided. A binder to keep these notes and your work together is suggested.

Calculators are not allowed on exams.

The best way to learn is to do; the worst way to teach is to talk.

-Paul Halmos

Course Requirements:

Mathematics can be fun and challenging at the same time. SFA defines a semester credit hour as meaning “a student is expected to spend about two hours in preparation for each hour of class per week.” Since this class is 3 credit hours, you are expected to spend at least 6 hours per week working on geometry outside of class. This includes time spent meeting with me outside of class during my office hours, or by appointment, whenever you have questions.

  • Exploration, collaboration, and communication in class are essential for this class. Therefore, attendance is mandatory and active participation contributes to your grade.
  • Homework: In this course we will learn about geometry by solving a carefully designed sequence of problems. In each class, the instructor will assign a section of the notes and questions for students to prepare to turn in at the start of the next class. Selected problems will be graded for process, not just answers. For this reason, it is important to clearly communicate your work as well as the ideas and motivation necessary for the reader to understand your process. Because many of the homework problems will be presented in class, late homework is not allowed.
  • Presentations\Participation: In class, we will have student presentations on the questions assigned for that day and we will discuss related ideas as well as any other relevant topics. We will also regularly work in small groups on problems to be presented and turned in at the next class meeting. You are expected to participate in these small group activities as they provide a wonderful way to gain a fuller understanding of what we are doing by communicating with others. Arrive on time (early) and prepared to participate in class.
  • Two In-class Midterms will be given after we finish each of the first two chapters of materials. You will be notified of the date of the exam at least a week in advance. Exam makeups must be approved beforehand with documentation of a valid university sanctioned excuse. Bring your university ID card to all exams.
  • A Final Exam (lasting 2 hours), taken on December 15th from 10:30-12:30.

 

Grading Policy:

The Final Grade will be determined by the scale: 100%-90% A, 89%-80% B, 79%-70% C, 69%-60% D, and 59% and below is an F.

Daily Work Presentations/Problem Solving/Homework 25%
Tests 2 Midterm Tests 25% each
Final Exam Final Exam 25%
Final Course Grade   100%

Course Policies:

  • Rules for collaboration: You allowed (and encouraged) to talk to me and other students about the ideas and problems in this course. This is true for homework as well as in class assignments, and you should write a note on your paper of other students you work with. The write-ups are to be done individually. Discuss the problems in a group, then write up your solutions by yourself. It is not OK for a group to work together, copy down the work, and turn in identical write-ups (even if the group all contributed equally). The individual understanding and writing is a very important part of your learning. You should not look for resources outside of this course for help (the notes, other students in this class, talking to me are all allowed). You should not consult the internet, other texts, and other students not in the class for instance. You may talk to other faculty on occasion but I would prefer if you regularly talked to me so you will get the most complete help based on this course.
  • I will send e-mails to the entire class during the course. Check your SFA e-mail address or have SFA forward your e-mail to an account you check at least daily.
  • DO NOT use your cell phone in class. This especially includes texting. Phones should be set to silent mode and put away during class time. I will confiscate your cell phone for the duration of the class period if I see you use it during class. You may NOT use your cell phone as a clock or calculator on quizzes or exams.

A few student perspectives (From end of course evaluations):

  • “I enjoy that Dr. Long believes in us to be able to figure out formulas and equations we have never seen based on the information we are given. It really has boost my confidence in math. I also like that he divides us up in groups, allowing us to know everyone in the class. I also like that he asks to work out problems on the board.”
  • “Dr. Long is a great educator, I learned a lot from the class, while it being relaxed and easy going. Don’t get me wrong, the it was by no means easy, but rarely did I feel as though I was being rushed during class I appreciate that he took the time to make sure we all understood what we were doing and while being slightly irritating, mainly because of myself feeling like I should understand the material faster than I did, he wasn’t condescending, nor did he become outwardly frustrated with us.”
  • “Fantastic teacher that really cares about individual students and learning. Would highly recommend for any student to take.”
  • “I’ve enjoyed this class the most out of all the math classes I’ve taken”

Making Your Homework Easy to Read and Easy to Grade

  • Make sure your handwriting is legible.
  • Homework with multiple pages should be stapled in the upper left-hand corner.
  • In the upper right-hand corner you should write (in this order)
    • Your name
    • MTH 139 Your section (001 or 002)
    • The homework set number
    • The due date of the homework
  • Questions should be clearly labeled and numbered on the left side of the page. There should also be a visible separation between problems. Don’t forget to staple your homework together if you are submitting several pages.
  • You should leave the entire left margin blank so that the grader can use this space for scoring and comments.
  • To ensure that each problem is graded, problems and solutions should be written in the order that they are assigned.
  • It is good practice to first work out the solutions to homework problems on scratch paper, and then to neatly write up your solutions. This will help you turn in a clean finished product.
  • You should write up your solutions by yourself. You should always acknowledge any help received at the top of the assignment or in the right-hand margin.

Homework Grading Rubric:

Homework will be graded on a scale of 0 to 3. (I reserve the right to assign 4 points to an exceptionally well written homework set!) You should not think of the grade of an individual assignment as representing a percentage of questions that you got the right answer for, but rather as delivering a message about the problem solving process:

3 Student work is complete, including justification or explanation of the processes in solving problems. The work may not be completely correct but the work demonstrates a good line of reasoning.
2 Student work is mostly complete and all problems have been attempted including some justification or explanation of the process of solving the problem.
1 Student work is incomplete, lacking explanations, or not an adequate attempt at solving problems.
0 Student work is missing or does not represent an adequate attempt at solving problems.

Remember that your Presentations/Problem Solving/Homework grade will include points for presenting and working on problems at the board. In general, you should be getting more problems properly solved and justified than not in order to pass this class.

Acceptable Student Behavior

Classroom behavior should not interfere with the instructor’s ability to conduct the class or the ability of other students to learn from the instructional program (see the Student Conduct Code, policy D-34.1). Unacceptable or disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Students who disrupt the learning environment may be asked to leave class and may be subject to judicial, academic or other penalties. This prohibition applies to all instructional forums, including electronic, classroom, labs, discussion groups, field trips, etc. The instructor shall have full discretion over what behavior is appropriate/inappropriate in the classroom. Students who do not attend class regularly or who perform poorly on class projects/exams may be referred to the Early Alert Program.  This program provides students with recommendations for resources or other assistance that is available to help SFA students succeed.

Academic Integrity (A-9.1)

Academic integrity is a responsibility of all university faculty and students. Faculty members promote academic integrity in multiple ways including instruction on the components of academic honesty, as well as abiding by university policy on penalties for cheating and plagiarism.

Definition of Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty includes both cheating and plagiarism. Cheating includes but is not limited to (1) using or attempting to use unauthorized materials to aid in achieving a better grade on a component of a class; (2) the falsification or invention of any information, including citations, on an assigned exercise; and/or (3) helping or attempting to help another in an act of cheating or plagiarism. Plagiarism is presenting the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own. Examples of plagiarism are (1) submitting an assignment as if it were one’s own work when, in fact, it is at least partly the work of another; (2) submitting a work that has been purchased or otherwise obtained from an Internet source or another source; and (3) incorporating the words or ideas of an author into one’s paper without giving the author due credit.

Please read the complete policy at http://www.sfasu.edu/policies/academic_integrity.asp

Withheld Grades Semester Grades Policy (A-54)
Ordinarily, at the discretion of the instructor of record and with the approval of the academic chair/director, a grade of WH will be assigned only if the student cannot complete the course work because of unavoidable circumstances. Students must complete the work within one calendar year from the end of the semester in which they receive a WH, or the grade automatically becomes an F. If students register for the same course in future terms the WH will automatically become an F and will be counted as a repeated course for the purpose of computing the grade point average.

The circumstances precipitating the request must have occurred after the last day in which a student could withdraw from a course.  Students requesting a WH must be passing the course with a minimum projected grade of C.

Students with Disabilities

To obtain disability related accommodations, alternate formats and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS), Human Services Building, and Room 325, 468-3004 / 468-1004 (TDD) as early as possible in the semester.  Once verified, ODS will notify the course instructor and outline the accommodation and/or auxiliary aids to be provided.  Failure to request services in a timely manner may delay your accommodations. For additional information, go to

http://www.sfasu.edu/disabilityservices/.