Kennebecasis Valley High School
Welcome to AP Calculus AB
September 2, 2008
Mrs. Butler
First Day Information
• Student Fee $ 35
• School Lock $ 5, you may use your previous
lock if it is a school lock
• Lockers 611 – 630 (2 are in this wing and
the rest are around the corner)
• Today’s schedule:
• Period 1 and then Grade 11 and 12 assembly
• Period 2 11:00 am – 12:00 am
• Lunch
12:00 noon – 12:50 pm
• Periods 3 – 5
1:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Mrs. Butler’s contact info
• Home 648-0286 until
11:00 pm
• Email
butlemar@nbed.nb.ca
• Notes will be posted on:
www.butlersmath.wikispac
es.com until Oct 1
• After Oct 1 on:
https://www.edline.net/In
dex.page
Math Contests
• Wed Nov. 19 Canadian Open Math Challenge
www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca
• March Maritime Math Competition
http://www.math.unb.ca/MaritimeMath/mathpo.html
• Tues Apr. 7 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
Important Dates
• Wed Sept 10 Student ID photos
• Thurs Sept 11
• Meet the Teacher 7 pm
• Grade 9 Activity Fair
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Tues Sept 23 University Visits (3 PQ)
Tues, Wed Oct 14 – 15 Teacher PD
Fri Oct 24 Immunization Clinic Grades 9 & 12
Tues, Wed Nov 4, 5 Post Secondary Day
Thurs, Nov 6 Parent – Teacher 5:00 – 7:30pm
Mon, Nov 10 Parent – Teacher 8:30 – 11:00am
Fri Nov 21
PD Day
Fri Nov 28
PD Day
Fri Dec 19
Last Day of School before Christmas
Tues Jan 6
Back to School for Students
Jan 19 – 23 Exam Period
start time
8:50am
Wed Jan 28 First Day of Semester 2
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 (Blue text, $ 100)
• Calculus: A First Course; by Stewart et al
(Red Text, $ 100)
• TI 83 Plus graphing calculator ($3 fee,
starts with batteries, but you are
responsible for all other batteries and it
must be returned in working order)
AP Calculus Info
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Quizzes, HW Quizzes, Tests and Exams
You may choose to begin unit tests as early as 8:00 am, but I cannot give you extra time
after class, you can’t be late for your next class
No school exam exemptions
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 period 1 and then after school for 3 hours. There will be an
imposed time limit on this, simulating the external exam
External Exam Wed May 7 @ 9:00 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
• 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
• 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 29 through the entire semester and will run from 12:30 – 1:00 pm. I will be
here most days except when I am on duty.
Every student sign up for a day, so that we have 3 or 4 students on duty per day. Have
lunch in my room on that day and answer questions if students show up. Each tutor
should let me know they were there so I can record it.
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
On days you are absent, or you have a meeting or when there is no school, just show up
on another day, and let me know. The more tutors the merrier!
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 14 weeks, being at 14 lunchtimes will give you 50/50,
13 lunchtimes will give you 46.4 out 50.
Every day you are there over the 14 required timed 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