Study Suggestions

• This course is a wonderful ride through first year, first semester calculus.
  
  
• It is actually very interesting.
  
  
• I will try as hard as I can during the course to stand back and explain why something matters, and what is *really* going on.
  
  
• The book is perfectly fine. You should read it, and understand what is going on.
  
  
• My lectures will not stick to the book at times; you will be responsible for both what is in the book and in my lectures. My lectures will be about the underlying ideas, with a few (if I'm lucky) key and illustrative examples of what is happening. Please rely on the book and the teaching assistants to fill in other aspects of the material.
  
  
• I have an informal teaching style. I run a loose, interactive class. I call on people out of the blue. I make mistakes. I get lost. So ask questions, stop and complain, raise your hand and say "what are you talking about? (the less formal "huh?" will also suffice). In a class of 400 people, you are not the only one confused.
  
  
• How to study for this course. The following technique is very popular, and proven to be silly:
  
  
  • The night before the homework is due, look at the assigned list of problems.
    
    
  • Read each problem, and then find the page the book that seems to contain an example that looks like the problem you are supposed to do.
    
    
  • Try and do the problem, make mistakes, get lost, and go to the next problem.
    
    
• Instead, I suggest the following, alternate technique:
  
  
  
  • READ THE BOOK BEFORE I LECTURE ON THE GIVEN TOPIC.
    
    
  • My lectures will then make more sense, and the examples will be obvious.
    
    
  • The homework problems will be easier, and you will be able to show up and ask me truly obscure and obtuse questions that will stun your classmates. Try the above technique. It actually seems to work.
    
    
• There is no substitute for doing homework. I give a lot of homework, perhaps more than other people. The reason for this is so that it gets forced into your brain. In some sense, learning mathematics is like learning a foreign language: there is some critical amount of repetition that you need to do so that things sink in. Use your teaching assistants. Go to their office hours. Badger them. Get your money's worth.

Finally, You may come see me during my office hours. If something truly troubling is up, and you can't make my office hours, set up an appointment with me. You are welcome to ask me questions whenever you see me, but I reserve the right to say "I'm busy, go away". (I know I may not look busy, but that's the great thing about being a mathematician: no one can tell when you're really working). Back to Main Page