MATH 110: College Algebra

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1 MATH 110: College Algebra Introduction Required Materials Course Components Final Exam Grading Academic Policies Study Suggestions Course Outline and Checklist Introduction Welcome to Math 110. This course is a college algebra course designed to provide the fundamental skills necessary for success in other math courses. Emphasis is given to the study of polynomials, exponential, and logarithmic functions and solving equations and inequalities. The course is mainly problem oriented. Required Materials See the course description for current information about required materials. Library Services Students enrolled in Self paced Courses have access to the UNC Library System. Visit Distance Education Library Services to access a wide array of online services and resources including online databases, online journals, online books, and live help with research and library access. Most online resources require you to log in with your UNC Personal Identification Number (PID). If you have any trouble finding the resource that you need or logging in to a resource, you can contact the library through the contact information at Distance Education Library Services. You can chat live about your problem, or send an to request assistance. Course Components Lessons This course consists of twenty four lessons. Each lesson corresponds to a section of the textbook, and

2 includes objectives, required reading, a discussion, and additional examples that accompany the textbook with helpful hints and warnings about pitfalls. Online Tutorials Tutorials are available online for each of the lessons. They include vocabulary and tutorial style (stepby step) questions. The tutorial assignments are not part of your grade for this course and are completely optional, but they are available if you need them. Practice Problems The practice problems make up the questions in the WebAssign homework assignments. The assignments are open resource. You can use a calculator on the problems that ask you to round to the nearest decimal; otherwise, avoid using a calculator on these questions. A list of the practice problems you are responsible for completing can be found at the end of each lesson. Each set of practice problems also includes an estimate of how long you should spend completing the problems. The practice problems are not timed and you do not need to try to adhere to this estimate; however, you can use it to gauge your time on the assignment or for time management. These twenty four assignments will count for one third of your course grade. Practice Tests Before each unit test, you can take a practice test in WebAssign. These tests are optional and do not count toward your course grade, but they are useful study guides for the unit tests. Tests You will take four computer generated online tests. These tests are closed book exams but are not proctored. You will only be able to attempt each exam once. You should limit your testing time to ninety minutes. Calculators are not permitted. After taking the fourth test, you may retake one of the tests. If the retake score is higher, it will be used instead of your original score to calculate your course grade. The four tests count for one third of your course grade. Final Exam At the end of the course, you will complete a cumulative, paper and pencil (not online) final exam. The exam consists of twenty five questions and counts as one third of your course grade. The final exam must be scheduled and supervised at the Friday Center or at another approved location. When you are ready to take the exam, schedule it through the Self Paced Courses office. You must pass the final exam in order to receive credit for the course. A passing grade on the final exam is 60 percent.

3 Grading Your course grade will be determined by your performance on three components: twenty four homework assignments four tests final exam I will determine your course grade by using the equation below: homework assignment mean+test mean +final exam 3 Grading will be on a ten point scale rounded to the nearest whole number. Letter Grade Numerical Grade (%) A A B B B C C C D D F Below 60 Academic Policies By enrolling as a student in this course, you agree to abide by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill policies related to the acceptable use of online resources. Please consult the Acceptable Use Policy on topics such as copyright, net etiquette, and privacy protection. As part of this course, you may be asked to participate in online activities that may include personal information about you or other students in the course. Please be respectful of the rights and protection of other participants under the UNC Chapel Hill Information Security Policies when participating in online classes. When using online resources offered by organizations not affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill, such as Google or YouTube, please note that the terms and conditions of these companies and not the University s Terms and Conditions apply. These third parties may offer different degrees of privacy

4 protection and access rights to online content. You should be well aware of this when posting content to sites not managed by UNC Chapel Hill. When you are directed to links outside of the unc.edu domain, please be mindful that clicking on sites not affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill may pose a risk for your computer due to the possible presence of malware on such sites. Honor Code As a Self paced Courses Online student, you are responsible for obeying and supporting an honor system that prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing in relation to the academic practices of constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina. The honor system also requires you to refrain from conduct that significantly impairs the welfare or the educational opportunities of others in the University community. Study Suggestions When beginning a new section read the lesson objectives, the required textbook reading, and the discussion section of the notes complete any portion of the tutorial you find helpful watch the section video complete your WebAssign homework assignment. Be an active learner; keep paper and pencil handy while reading and follow along as example problems are solved. Carefully review all graded materials and rework problems that were not completed correctly. Reworking problems will help you avoid making similar errors in the future. Always remember that it is important to communicate mathematically when working problems or writing for a test or the final exam. Write in a mathematical fashion using numbers, variables, symbols, and words to clearly express your solution to a problem. A solution to a problem includes not only the answer(s) clearly indicated, but also the logical progression of steps to achieve the answer(s). When applicable, clearly label all sketches, graphs, and/or charts. Course Outline and Checklist The course schedule is up to you. You can complete the course in as few as twelve weeks or take as long as nine months. The important thing is to get a good start, then maintain your momentum. Since this course is not held in a classroom, I will probably never meet you in person. Still, I would like to know something about you so that I can associate each message from you with something more than a screen name. Therefore, your first task is to send me a Personal Information Sheet. Please tell me why you are taking this course, and any background you have in the sciences. This also gives us a chance to make sure our communication lines are working, and that we can send and

5 receive attachments. Below is an outline of the course. You may also download a course checklist to help you keep track of your tasks for each lesson. You should complete the lessons in order, but you can complete the different tasks within each lesson in the order that works best for you. Lesson Section Title Real Numbers Exponents and Radicals Algebraic Expressions Equations Inequalities Rectangular Coordinate Systems Practice Test 1 (optional) Test 1: Lessons Graphs of Equations Lines Definition of Function Graphs of Functions Quadratic Functions Operations on Functions Practice Test 2 (optional) Test 2: Lessons Polynomial Functions of Degree Greater than Two Zeros of Polynomials Rational Functions Variation Systems of Equations Systems of Linear Equations in Two Variables Practice Test 3 (optional) Test 3: Lessons Inverse Functions Exponential Functions The Natural Exponential Function Logarithmic Function Properties of Logarithms Exponential and Logarithmic Equations Practice Test 4 (optional)

6 Test 4: Lessons Final Exam: Schedule your supervised final exam. Please complete the course evaluation. We want to know if the course met your needs and expectations. The University of North Carolina Last modified: February 16, 2015 Send comments and questions to