MATHEMATICS 311 – Fall 2007

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Christopher Swanson Office Phone: 419-289-5264 Office: 209 Patterson

E-mail: cswanson@ashland.edu Home Phone: See first day handout.

Web page: http://personal.ashland.edu/~cswanson Fax: 419-289-5791

OFFICE HOURS: Mon. 11-12; Tues. 4-5; Wed. 10-11, 1-2 (in Kett. 119); Thurs. 9-10, 3-4; Fri. 3-4, 4-5

OR by appointment OR almost any other time I am in my office.

MEETING TIMES: Tues., Thurs. 1:40pm-2:55pm in Patterson 301.

TEXT: Experiencing Geometry: Euclidean and Non-Euclidean with History (3^rd Edition) by Henderson and Taimina, Prentice Hall, Inc., 2005.

TECHNOLOGY: A software package called The Geometer’s Sketchpad is on the Ashland University network and will be used to explore Euclidean Geometry.

READING QUIZZES: Reading assignments will be assigned during almost every class. You must complete the reading assignments before you come to class so that you are prepared to discuss the problems related to the assignments with your classmates. Each quiz will consist of one question that should be easy to answer if you have done the reading. Although I will generally not announce the quizzes, you should expect a quiz with every reading assignment. Please note that if you have not come to class prepared to discuss the problems, your homework group will likely evaluate you in a way that will affect your attendance/participation grade as well.

HOMEWORK: You will work on the homework problems from the textbook in groups during the class meetings, and you will write up your solutions as a group (unless specified otherwise). You may discuss the problems on the homework sets with other members of the class outside of your group, but you should mention any classmates with whom you discuss the problems. In addition to textbook problems, you will be given problems to be completed using Geometer’s Sketchpad. Starting September 10^th, homework problems are due in my office every Monday by noon. Some of the problems are in sections that ask you to express your ideas through writing or talking to someone else before reading further. Often, a large part of the punchlines of these problems is given away in the reading that follows. Just using this reading to answer the problem will not be very beneficial to your understanding of geometry. The homework set should be legible, written in correct English (including complete sentences when appropriate), and stapled. Since you will be allowed to turn in second drafts of your solutions, you may wish to compose your solutions on a computer, but this is not required. Late homework will be accepted with a penalty of 10% of the point value of the assignment per weekday it is late.

PROBLEM EXTENSIONS: Many of the problems in this course should stimulate you to think of additional geometric questions not listed in the textbook. You are encouraged to investigate these thought-provoking questions with your groups or individually and to hand in the results of your investigations individually. To receive full credit for this portion of the course, you need to hand in approximately 5 such investigations, though the depth and quality of your investigations will determine the credit you receive. As you hand in these investigations, I will update you as to the total amount of credit you have received in this category.

EXAMS: There will be one midterm exam and a comprehensive final exam. Exams may include a take-home portion.

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Students with disabilities who have documentation on file with Classroom Support Services (105 Amstutz, extension 5953) are entitled to reasonable academic adjustments/ accommodations under The Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Qualified students are encouraged to identify to professors early in the semester. Ashland University makes great effort to provide equal access to all students who have documented disabilities.

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MATHEMATICS 311 – Fall 2007

GRADING: Midterm Exam 15% Homework 45%

Final Exam 25% Attendance/Participation 5%

Reading quizzes 5% Problem Extensions 5%

The final course grade will be determined by calculating a scaled course percentage for each student based upon the course breakdown above. The chart below lists the lowest grade that a student would possibly receive if his/her scaled course percentage falls in the corresponding ranges.

Scaled course % Grade Scaled course % Grade

93 to 100 A 73 to 77 C

90 to 93 A- 70 to 73 C-

87 to 90 B+ 67 to 70 D+

83 to 87 B 63 to 67 D

80 to 83 B- 60 to 63 D-

77 to 80 C+ below 60 F

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The course will cover material from Chapters 0-4, 6-11 from Experiencing Geometry: Euclidean and Non-Euclidean with History (3^rd Edition) by Henderson and Taimina, Prentice Hall, Inc., 2005. We will observe the following schedule as closely as possible:

Dates Text Chapters Comments

8/28, 8/30 Axiomatic Systems

9/4, 9/6 Geometer’s Sketchpad, 0, 1 Meet in Kettering 217 on 9/4

9/11, 9/13 Metric System, 2

9/18, 9/20 3, 4

9/25, 9/27 6

10/2, 10/4 7

10/9, 10/11 8

10/16, 10/18 8 MIDTERM EXAM ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18^th

10/23, 10/25 9

10/30, 11/1 9

11/6, 11/8 10

11/13, 11/15 10

11/20 Pythagorean Theorem No class 11/24 – Thanksgiving break

11/27, 11/29 11

12/4, 12/6 Shape of Space

COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM IS 4:00 p.m. TO 6:00 p.m., TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11^th