Math 40 Elementary Algebra

Section 861 2019 Fall Syllabus

Course Description

Prerequisites/corequisites/advisories

PREREQ.: MATH E1 or MATH E3 or MATH 35 or MATH 30 or placement in MATH 40. See also the Prerequisite skills below.

Student Learning Outcomes

CCSF MATH 40 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES


After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Outcome 1: Apply sign rules, fraction rules, order of operations, and properties of algebra to evaluating or simplifying numerical, absolute value, polynomial, rational, and square-root radical expressions.
• Outcome 2: Separate second-degree polynomials into their component factors and combine polynomial, rational, and square-root radical expressions.
• Outcome 3: Solve equations in one variable that are linear, quadratic, or rational that simplify to be linear or quadratic, linear inequalities in one variable, and 2 x 2 linear systems.
• Outcome 4: Sketch graphs for lines and relate graphs, slopes, intercepts, tables of values, and equations for lines.
• Outcome 5: Apply a generalized problem-solving process to solve translation, cost, mixture, perimeter, area, rate, and proportion problems.

Class Meetings

There are weekly meetings on the Ocean Avenue Campus; attendance at these meetings may be waived at the instructor's discretion.

Instructor Contact

Name: Frederick Teti                 Email:      fteti@ccsf.edu        

Course website:     ccsf.instructure.com (i.e., Canvas—log in through RamID)

Office location:               Batmale L760                                   

Phone: 415-239-3357, fax 415-239-3999

Office hours: Please see my Directory page. Making appointments with me is easiest by email.

The instructor will respond to all course email within 48 hours Monday-Friday, exclusive of school holidays.

Course Web Site

Students will use the Canvas learning management system.

Textbook

Text Students must purchase or have regular access (e.g., by using the reserve copies in the Library) to the text: Elementary Algebra by Tussy & Gustafson, 5^th Edition, ISBN 9-781305-032453 or 978-1-111-56766-8

Required Software

Just regular, reliable access to the internet and a browser.

Required Materials

I recommend purchasing a ruler (for drawing number lines) and some graph paper. I allow calculators except when I say otherwise in an item’s instructions. Students should do their homework faithfully and keep their work neatly in a binder dedicated to this class. People requesting a special service (e.g., grade appeal, recommendation letter) must submit their homework binders to me immediately. I do not accept late or incomplete submissions.

Field Trips

None.

Important Dates

See the Calendar.

Dropping the Class

If you decide to discontinue this course, it is your responsibility to officially drop it to avoid getting no refund (after 10% of course length), a W symbol (after 20%), or a grade (after 60%). Also, for several consecutive days with no participation, the instructor may elect to drop a student. See "Participation" below.

Pass‐NoPass (P/NP)

Not available for this course.

Instructor Announcements

The instructor will post announcements on the “Instructor Announcements” page in Canvas throughout the semester. Canvas notifies students according to their preferred Notification Preferences as soon as the instructor creates an Announcement.

Attendance

Attendance at orientation is mandatory. Attendance afterwards is required in the sense that I will withdraw students who are not in good standing.* What does “good standing” mean? Well…

Good Standing & Participation (1) Students must check the website every weekday even if just to look for new information. Logging in once a week to take quizzes is insufficient. (2) Each week, students not in class must have made regular, substantive contributions on the course website before the class meets. (3) Students must never score below 10 on two quizzes in a row. Students must not fall out of good standing for lack of participation.

*Those rare students whom I decide to reinstate will always be required to pass the Midterm Exam with a C or better.

Methods of Evaluation

Diagnostics include quizzes, a Midterm Exam, and the Final Exam. We take the Exams in class.

Exams

There will be a midterm exam and a final exam. The material comes from the textbook, class lectures, and supplemental materials. If any exam is missed, a zero will be recorded as the score. It is your responsibility to take the exams on the scheduled date.

Grading Policy

I count only the ten highest quiz scores in the final grade, each being worth 40 points. The Midterm Exam is worth 150 points. The Final Exam is worth 250 points. I award Midterm and Final Course grades traditionally, according to the percentage earned out of the maximum possible up to that point:

A: greater than 90%

B: greater than 80% and up to 90%

C: greater than 70% and up to 80%

Etc.

FW: did not participate, regardless of test grades earned

An “F” grade indicates that a student attended, participated and completed the course but failed to master the course curriculum.

An “FW” grade indicates the student stopped participating in a course sometime after the “last day to withdraw” deadline. Showing up for the Final Exam without having participated each week beforehand does not count as participation. Please check with your counselor and financial aid advisor for possible implications of the FW grade on residency and financial aid status.

Standards of Conduct

Students who register in CCSF classes are required to abide by the CCSF Student Code of Conduct. Violation of the code is basis for referral to the Student Conduct Coordinator or dismissal from class or from the College. 

Collaborating on or copying of tests or homework in whole or in part will be considered an act of academic dishonesty and result in a grade of 0 for that test or assignment. I encourage students to share information and ideas, but not their work. See these links on Plagiarism:

Encourage Academic Integrity and Prevent Plagiarism

Citing Information Sources

Special Needs

If you need classroom or testing accommodations because of a disability, or have emergency medical information to share with me, or need special arrangements in case the building needs to be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible. Students seeking disability related accommodations are encouraged to also register with Disabled Students Programs and Services located in Room 323 of the Rosenberg Library (415) 452-5481. Please see the DSPS website for more information and alternate locations.

List of assignments

The course content is in the Modules.

IDs on Test Days

On test days, students must bring a photo ID. People without photo IDs forfeit that day's exam.

Other Information

• These sections of Math 40 feature a mixture (called “hybrid”) of online and in-person delivery methods.
• Attendance at the weekly class meetings is required as described above. I reserve the right to withdraw students not meeting the participation requirement. I reserve the right to assign an FW to students who do not meet the participation requirement after the W deadline. Note that taking the Exams is not a component of participation nor does just taking a Quiz count toward the weekly participation requirement.
• Diagnostics include quizzes, a Midterm Exam, and the Final Exam. We take the Exams in class.
• We earn partial credit for work shown up to but not including the first error (but see the website for lists of “No Partial Credit Errors”). We earn full credit for responses that are best, not merely correct. Best responses are always supported by sufficient, legible work. Final answers always include measurement units if appropriate.
• The quizzes are not collaborative. We may not seek help from other people, nor from the internet, nor from a computer algebra system. I will penalize students who submit identical quizzes.
• Only students who inform me before class (phone and email are okay) of their intended absence and who can document their excuses will be allowed to make-up an in-class exam.
• People arriving late for an in-class exam do not receive extra time.
• Students whose communication devices make audible sounds during an exam will forfeit all credit.
• Students wishing any special dispensation (recommendation letter, test score appeal) must produce their homework binders immediately. My response will depend in part on whether binders’ contents are satisfactory.
• Students incurring insurmountable hardship before the W deadline should withdraw. Afterward, only students performing satisfactorily and who can document the cause of their hardship at the time of the request may qualify for an Incomplete.

Prerequisite Skills from your Basic Math course

Whole Number Skills

• what a whole number is (in particular, that zero is a whole number)
• how to recognize the symbols (whole numerals) that name whole numbers
• how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers and find powers of whole numbers without a calculator
• how to test whole numbers for divisibility by 2, 3, 5, and powers of 10
• how to factor whole numbers, possibly using the divisibility tests
• what a prime number is (and, in particular, that 1 is not a prime)
• that the first ten prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, and 29
• that any whole number except 0 and 1 can be factored uniquely (i.e., in one and only one way) as a product of prime numbers, and that this unique factorization is called the prime factorization of the whole number
• how to find the prime factorization of a whole number, possibly using factor trees

Fraction Skills

• what a fraction is and what a fraction's numerator and denominator are
• that the fraction bar is both an operation symbol denoting the result of division and a grouping symbol
• how to interpret fractions as parts of a whole
• what a mixed numeral is and how to recognize mixed numerals
• what an improper fraction is and how to recognize improper fractions
• how to convert an improper fraction to an equivalent mixed numeral, possibly using long division
• how to convert a mixed numeral to an equivalent improper fraction
• how to reduce fractions to lowest terms by canceling factors common to numerator and denominator
• how to raise fractions to higher terms by multiplying both numerator and denominator by the same nonzero number

Decimal Skills

• the decimal place-value system (i.e., the base-10 positional system)
• what a decimal numeral is and how to recognize decimal numeral
• how to identify the place value of each digit in a decimal
• how to identify the digit of a decimal in a specified decimal place
• how to truncate (i.e., round down), round up, and round off decimals at specified decimal places
• that any fraction is equivalent to either a terminating decimal or an infinite periodic decimal
• how to represent infinite periodic decimals and recognize their repeating blocks
• how to convert a fraction to an equivalent decimal by long division
• how to convert a terminating decimal to an equivalent fraction
• how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals without a calculator
• the shortcut for multiplying and dividing decimals by powers of 10

Percent Skills

• what a percent is
• how to convert among fractions, decimals, and percents
• how to perform operations that involve percentages

Skills for Applications

• how to symbolize, i.e., how to translate words into mathematical notation
• that the whole is the sum of its parts
• how to use addition to find the perimeter of a polygon
• how to interpret a change in value (i.e., an increase or a decrease) as addition or as subtraction
• how to symbolize comparisons expressed by such phrases as "more than" and "smaller than"
• that a whole split into equal parts is the product of the number of equal parts times the size of each part
• how to use multiplication and addition to find areas of regions that are built out of rectangles
• how to write rate phrases as rates, how to write rates as ratios, and how to use multiplication or division to solve rate problems

FERPA Disclaimer

This course is taught in a format that combines multiple sections into one online course environment and allows students in one section to view or comment on the work of students in another section of the same course being taught by the same instructor. If you have any concerns about this, please contact your instructor for more details or to request special arrangements.

CCSF Discrimination/Harassment Policy

The San Francisco Community College District is committed to the principles of equal opportunity, and the prevention of discrimination and harassment in any program or activity of the District on the basis of race, color, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age, gender, gender identity, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, disability or AIDS/HIV status, medical conditions, or status as Vietnam-era veteran, or on the basis of these perceived characteristics, or based on association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics. If you believe you have been subject to discrimination, please contact Dr. Leilani Battiste, Title 5/EEO/ ADA/Title IX Compliance Officer at (415) 452-5053 or lbattiste@ccsf.edu.