Rick (Wen) Zhou

Math 181 Calculus for the life sciences I (Spring, 08)

Instructor:  Rick Zhou

Class Times:  MTRF, 10:00- 10:50 am

Meeting Place:  Carver 150

Office:  499 Carver Hall

Office Hours:  TR 2:00–4:00pm, other times by appointment

Other Help: Math help room (Carver 385) is highly recommended

E-mail:  riczw@iastate.edu

Website: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~riczw/math181.html

Prerequisites: 2 years of high school algebra, 1 year of high school geometry, 1 semester of trigonometry (if not covered in high school) or enrollment in Mathematics 141 or 142.

Syllabus

Course Objective:

1. Slope. Equations of lines (quickly go over)

2. Functions. Quadratic functions. Quadratic equations.

3. Regression: linear, quadratic.

4. Derivative: intuitive definition (rate of change, velocity), mathematical definition (limits), rules for differentiation.

5. Derivative applications: increasing and decreasing functions, relative/absolute maxima and minima, applied problems, the chain rule.

6. Difference equations: cascading equations, population growth model, properties of exponents, properties of logarithms, equilibrium, nonhomogeneous difference equations, deriving the difference equation from data, second-order difference equations, nonhomogeneous second-order difference equations.

Class Schedule, Supplementary materials, assignments  (Update weekly)

Announcements (Update accordingly)

Grade

Useful links:

ISU Math Department

Computer lab hours

Help Room and other academic help you can find around campus

"Wir mussen issen, wir werden wissen"
-- David Hilbert