Kennebecasis Valley High School
Welcome to Calculus 120
September 9, 2015
Mrs. Butler
First Days Information
• Graphing Calculator TI 83 Plus ($5 rental for 1st semester)
• There is an exam exemption for this course, but
not for AP Calculus AB
Classroom Info
• Absence requires excuse and you are responsible
for making up all material, quizzes and tests
missed
• Talking during instruction AAARRGGHH unless you
are asking me a question
• Cheating AARRGGHH!
• Cell phones AARRGGHH!
• Fire/Evacuation Drill
Mrs. Butler’s contact info
• Home 648-0286
• Text 506-647-6327
• Email
butlemar@nbed.nb.ca
• Notes will be posted on
Edline when updated
• Extra help before school,
afterschool & lunch
(except when I have
meetings/appts/duty)
Math Contests
• November Canadian Open Math Challenge $15 approx.
http://cms.math.ca/Competitions/COMC/
• November Canadian Senior/Intermediate Math Contest
$12 http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/csimc.html
• April Euclid Contest www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca
• These are all roughly 3 hours long
• We’ll try to practice in class, but there may be little time
• If you plan on writing a contest, try to practice at home
• For entrance to certain programs in Ontario universities,
the Euclid may be a requirement
Who invented Calculus?
• Leibniz published his
findings on Calculus first
• Newton went ballistic
• Newton was a secretive,
somewhat paranoid sort.
• Most History of Math texts
seem to believe it was
Newton who first worked
on calculus concepts
What the heck is Calculus?
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Calculus is the study of how things
change
Differential calculus enables us to find,
for a given function, its rate of change
function
For example, the rate of change for
velocity with respect to time is
acceleration
Integral calculus is the opposite of
differential calculus
Calculus solves problems that cannot be
dealt with in regular math, because in
so many cases, quantities are
constantly changing at different rates
Life is not linear!!
Whoever heard of a car that goes at a
constant rate of 110 km/h from here to
Moncton?
Textbooks and Calculators
• Calculus: Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic by
Finney et al 4th edition (Green text, $ 145)
• Calculus: A First Course; by Stewart et al (Red
Text, $ 110)
• TI 83 Plus graphing calculator ($5 fee for
Semester 1, starts with batteries, but you are
responsible for all other batteries and it must be
returned in working order, otherwise $150 or
replace with new calculator in packaging)
Calculus 120/AP Calculus Info
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Assignments, Quizzes, HW Quizzes, Tests and Exams
You may choose to begin unit tests during break, but I cannot give you extra time after
class, you can’t be late for your next class.
Most questions require that all work is shown, a correct answer without work will receive
partial marks but not many
In Semester 2 we will have our school exam at the end of April or first week of May, it
will be cumulative from September and will be a previous AP exam or a practice exam.
We will write it during class over 4 days
External Exam Thursday May 5 @ 8:30 am
You have the option of writing the external exam.
In March, the school asks for a $20 nonrefundable deposit from those planning to write
the AP Calculus exam. If you later decide not to write the external, you will not get this
deposit back.
Those writing the exam are asked for the balance which could amount to up to $100
depending on the exchange rate and the amount District Office decides to subsidize.
Usually the balance students are asked to pay amounts to $50 - $80.
There is a fund for students in need of financial aid.
Success in AP Calculus
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Understand the concepts
Know how to solve problems in a variety
of ways: algebraically, numerically,
graphically
Tests, quizzes and exams will have
questions where calculator are not
permitted and questions that cannot be
solved without a grapher
Know your calculator well, it is your
friend, but it cannot to everything for
you
Practice with different functions and do
your homework
Do not compare yourself to others, do
as much as YOU need to do to master
the concepts
Try not to procrastinate
Ask questions
Success in AP Calculus
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Keep good notes, even though I will be
posting them online, writing or rewriting
notes helps with understanding the
concept
Study together.
We will be exchanging class telephone
numbers.
Don’t be shy about phoning me or other
classmates, everyone has something to
impart. Sometimes explaining a concept
to a classmate helps you to cement that
knowledge in your head
Don’t copy from someone on
assignments. This is only a short term
benefit. You need to understand stuff as
the questions you may be asked can be
drawn from anywhere
Concepts don’t change, real life
problems and exam problems do
Don’t show work this way.
Community Service and AP Calculus
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It is important that students with the most aptitude in math serve others in that capacity
There will be lunch hour tutoring component with this class beginning Monday
September 21 through the entire semester and will run from 12:40 – 1:10 pm. I will be
here most days except when I am on duty or have a meeting. Students will sign in on
days they are tutoring
On days that there are no questions, just use that time for eating lunch, working on
problems, chatting or doing homework, as long as you are there the entire time. We
want to ensure that at least one person is there the whole time
Students will be given a mark out of 50 at the end of the semester based on how much
time you have logged. There are 17 weeks, being at 17 lunchtimes will give you 50/50,
13 lunchtimes will give you 38.2 out 50.
Every day you are there over the 17 required times will net you 1 Bonus mark up to a
maximum of 10
Do’s and Don’ts of Tutoring
• Be welcoming
• If you see someone hovering at the
door, ask them if they have a
question
• With a vague question, ask them if
they have notes from Math class to
show them
• Ask me or someone else if you
don’t know how to do something
• Be patient and understanding
• Try your best . It is always good
enough!
• Please don’t be condescending or
say things like “that’s so easy”…it’s
not so easy for some people
• Don’t worry if you don’t know how
to do something – no one knows
everything!
• Try not to be too loud and raucous
if no one is in here asking
questions, they may be too
intimidated to come in
• Don’t be disheartened if no one
shows up.
• Don’t dis their teachers. Sharing
that info just makes it harder for
that student to establish a rapport
with their teacher. This would be
detrimental to the student’s
learning process
Student Information – hand in please