Instructor: Victor Roytburd (Amos Eaton 405, Ph. 276-6889, roytbv@rpi.edu)
Tentative Office hours: Tu, Fr, 4-5:30 (or by appointment)
Teaching Assistant: Joseph Rosenthal
rosenj2
Office
hours: We 4-5 (Eaton 424)
Class meets: Tu, Fr 10:00-11:50, Room CARNEG 101
Web-page: http://homepages.rpi.edu/~roytbv//ma1/ma1-f12.html
Course Philosophy
In this course we will revisit some basic notions of
calculus. The emphasis will be on the conceptual understanding of calculus and
on mathematical rigor. One of the goals of the course is helping students to refine their capacities of reading
abstract mathematical texts and develop facilities to write brief mathematical
proofs.
I don't have a rigid agenda as to how much material to cover. The pace of the course will be mostly determined by our progress, which will be measured by the performance on the homework assignments and tests. I am somewhat skeptical about benefits of doing homework problems in groups; and there are some educational research findings that suggest that students working individually master the material better than those working in groups. What is definitely helpful is telling your solutions to your friends for "quality control."
Textbooks:
(1)
(required) The Way of Analysis, by
R. S. Strichartz, Jones and
The
book by Strichartz provides very good explanations and motivations for many
subjects.
(2) (recommended) Introduction to Analysis, by Maxwell
Rosenlicht,
(3) (recommended) Principles of
Mathematical Analysis, 3rd Edition, by W. Rudin, McGraw-Hill.,
Homework: There will be weekly homework assignments that will be collected and graded.
Tests: There will be three tests and a final.
Grading: Homework 35%, Tests 40%, Final 25%
Course Outline
I expect
to cover the material contained in at least six first chapters of the text by
Strichartz. Here are the key topics:
-
Basic logic. Countable and
uncountable sets, cardinality, Cantor's diagonalization.
-
Cauchy sequences. Limits, sups and
infs. (The real number system.)
-
Open sets and closed sets; Cantor
sets.
-
Compacts.
-
Continuity and uniform continuity.
Continuity via open sets.
-
The intermediate value theorem.
Continuous functions on compact domains. Monotone functions.
-
Definition of the derivative. Big O
and little o.
-
Local
behavior of a function and the sign of its derivative. The mean value theorem.
-
The
calculus of derivatives.
-
Integrals
of continuous functions. Fundamental theorem of calculus.
-
The
Riemann integral. Improper integrals.
-
Basics
of complex numbers.
-
Numerical
series and sequences.
-
Uniform convergence of functional
sequences.
-
Power series.
-
Elementary functions
Tentative course schedule week by week (all text references are to The Way of Analysis):
|
Week |
Topics |
Sections |
|
8/28, 8/31 |
The logic of quantifiers. Countable and uncountable sets. |
1.1-1.4 |
|
9/4 |
Cauchy sequences. Limits, sups, and infs. |
2.1 (pp. 25-34), 3.1.1 |
|
9/7, 9/11 |
The real number system. Review of different ways of establishing the real number system. |
Notes, 2.1.2, 2.4.1-2 |
|
9/11, 9/14 |
Limits, open sets and closed sets. |
3.1-3.2 |
|
9/18, 9/21 |
Compact sets. |
3.3 |
|
9/25, 9/28 |
Continuity. |
4.1-4.2.1 |
|
10/2 |
Concepts of continuity.
Exam review |
4.2 |
|
10/5 |
EXAM 1 |
|
|
10/9 |
(Monday schedule). NO CLASS |
|
|
10/12 |
Monotone functions |
4.2 |
|
10/16, 10/19 |
Derivative and its properties. |
5.1-5.2 |
|
10/23, 10/26 |
Properties
of the derivative. Calculus rules. |
5.2-5.3 |
|
10/30 |
|
5.3.3-5.4, 6.1 |
|
11/2 |
The
Riemann integral. Improper integrals. |
6.2-6.3 |
|
11/6 |
|
|
|
11/9 |
EXAM 2 |
|
|
11/13 |
|
6.3 |
|
11/16 |
Primer of
complex numbers. Numerical series. |
7.1, 7.2 |
|
11/20 |
Numerical
series. Functional series |
7.2, 7.3 |
|
11/22-11/26 |
Thanksgiving break |
|
|
11/27 |
Power
series. Elementary Functions |
7.4, 8.1 |
|
11/30 |
Elementary
functions |
|
|
12/4 |
Weierstrass's Approximation Theorem |
7.5 |
|
12/7 |
Last day
of classes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12/12 |
Final Exam: 3-6pm in |
|
Statement of Academic
Integrity
The guiding principle is that work that you present for
grading as your own should in fact BE your own. The following statement on
Academic Integrity is from the course profile on Digital Measures:
Student-teacher relationships are built on trust. For
example, students must trust that teachers have made appropriate decisions
about the structure and content of the courses they teach, and teachers must
trust that the assignments that students turn in are their own. Acts, which
violate this trust, undermine the educational process. The
There will be no class on Tuesday October 9 (Monday, Columbus Day schedule)
Exams
Test 1 will be given on Friday, 5 October 2012, in class. (Test solutions.) The test will cover the following topics; references are to the Textbook:
-
Countable
and uncountable sets, cardinality, Cantor's diagonalization. (Sec. 1.2)
-
Cauchy
sequences. (Know results of Sec. 2.3,
see the summary in Sec. 2.5). Limits, sups and infs. (Sec. 3.1)
-
Open
sets and closed sets; Cantor sets. (3.2)
-
Compacts.
(3.3)
-
Continuity
and uniform continuity. Continuity via open sets. (4.1)
-
The
intermediate value theorem. (4.2.1)
Test
questions will be similar to the shorter homework questions from the homework
assignments 1-5. You will be allowed the use of one sheet of hand-written
notes.
To give
you some idea of the possible length and degree of difficulty of the test, here
is a copy of the test I gave when I last taught this course several years ago. Test 1 fall 2006. The scope of your test
will be different, however.
Test 2 will be given on Friday, 9 November
2012, in class. The test will cover the following topics; references are to the
Textbook:
-
Definition
of the derivative. Big O and little o. (5.1)
-
Local behavior of a function and the sign of its
derivative. The mean value theorem. (5.2)
-
The calculus of derivatives. Inverse function
theorem. (5.3)
-
Higher derivatives and
-
Integrals of continuous functions. Fundamental
theorem of calculus. (6.1)
-
The Riemann integral. Improper integrals. (6.2-6.3)
The test
format will be similar to that of Test 1; questions will be similar to the
shorter homework questions from the homework assignments 6-9. You will be
allowed the use of one sheet of hand-written notes. Test 2 solutions
Final Exam will be given on Wednesday 12/12, 3-6pm in
Here is a
copy of the final exam given in 2006. Your exam will
be at least one problem shorter than this one. You will be allowed the use of
one sheet of hand-written notes.
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Last updated 12/05/2012