Your own resolution to success is more
important than any other one thing.
Abraham Lincoln

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• Instructor. Dr. H. Knaust, Bell Hall 219, tel. 747-7002,
  e-mail: helmut@math.utep.edu,
  

• Office Hours. M-R 10:30-11:30, or by appointment.

• Other Help.
  • The S.O.S. Mathematics web site at the URL: http://www.sosmath.com covers the subject of differential equations exhaustively.
  • The Tutoring and Learning Center, located on the third floor of the UTEP Library, tel. 747-5366, offers free tutoring.
    

• Textbook. Blanchard, Devaney and Hall, Differential Equations. First Edition. Brooks/Cole, 1998. The textbook is required at all class meetings, and the parts covered in class are intended to be read in full.

• Prerequisites. I will assume that you have a thorough knowledge of the material covered in your Precalculus and your first two Calculus courses. In particular, it is essential that you are comfortable with techniques of integration and the method of partial fractions. You can find material for both of these topics on S.O.S. Mathematics.

• Contents. The course will "uncover" the following material:
  • Chapter 1.1-1.8
  • Chapter 2.1-2.4
  • Chapter 3.1-3.7
  • Chapter 5.1-5.2
  • Chapter 6.1-6.4 incl. selected topics from Chapter 4

• Graphing Calculators. You may use a calculator in class and on exams. Some programs for the TI-85 will be made available in class.

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• Tests. Three tests will be given on the following dates:
  • Thursday, June 15
  • Thursday, June 29
  • Friday, July 14
  Each test counts 20% of your grade. Make-up tests will only be given under extraordinary circumstances, and only if you notify the instructor prior to the exam date.

• Homework. The instructor will regularly assign homework. Although the homework will not be collected or graded, it is essential for your success in this class that you diligently work all the homework problems. Homework will include reading assignments.

• Quizzes. There will also be some unannounced quizzes. Quiz problems will be identical to prior homework assignments and/or designed to check on your understanding of the assigned reading material. Your worst quiz will be dropped, the others will make up your quiz score, which accounts for 10% of your grade.

• Final. The final on Friday, July 28, 10:00 am -12:45 pm is mandatory and comprehensive. It counts 30% of your grade.

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• Time Requirement. I expect that you spend an absolute minimum of 10 hours a week outside of class on solving homework problems, reading the textbook and reviewing your class notes. If you do not have sufficient time to study, you must take the course some other semester.

• Drop Policy. The class schedule lists Friday, June 30 as the last day to drop with an automatic "W". After the deadline, I can only drop you from the course with a grade of "F". Consult the current Class Schedule, page 3, for details.

• Information on the Web. This syllabus and all home work assignments can be found on my homepage http://helmut.knaust.info.
  

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