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Course Description
This is a Kursus Teras offered by school of physics. Students who take this course cannot simultaneously take MAA101/4 and MAA 111/4 because these courses overlap with ZCA 110. Two lecturers will share the teaching load. Yoon Tiem Leong will be taking the Calculus part (for the first 10 weeks), whereas Associate Professor Dr. Rosy Teh will be taking over the linear algebra part (week 11 - week 13).
Generally ZCA 110 is taken by most first year students in the school of physics. This course serves the purpose to prepare the basic foundation for any science students (particularly physics students) who would need this very important basic mathematics in their future undertaking of any discipline of study.
The course will be conducted in English.
Course Duration
This course is offered in the first semester for science students in the USM -- a 14-week term at USM that runs from 11 July 2005 until 22 Oct 2005.
Course Prerequisites
Despite no formal prerequisites (prasyarat kursus) for this course, students are assumed to have been familiar with some basic mathematics at STPM or Matrikulasi level, such as simple differentiation, integration, trigonometry, basic algebra, geometry, and of course arithmetic of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. Students who have a good foundation in the pre-U level mathematics as mentioned would definitely have an advantage. For those who don't, working hard (and smart) consistently throughout the course will almost sure to compensate for the the lack of strong foundation.
In addition, since this course will be conducted in English, students of course must also able to to understand, to read and to write in English.
Consultation hours
There is no specific timeslots allocated for consultation with Yoon Tiem Leong as he is of dedicated willingness to offer consultation and advice to students who wish to engage in discussion with him anytime. However, in order to avoid inconveniences students are advised to call up (ext 3674) or email him (tlyoon@usm.my) before rushing into his office. His door is always open to you.
You would need to contact Dr. Rosy Teh for her consultation hours.
General Comments
Calculus and linear algebra are the two very basic mathematical tools for anyone who wish to study any branch of scientific discipline.
As most mathematic calculation involves integration, differentiation, algebraic solutions to simultaneous equations etc., calculus and linear algebra are almost an indispensable survival skill a student must master in order to perform any basic mathematical calculation. Just like a building worker would not be able to built any lasting building if he lacks the basic knowledge of, say, tightening a screw or knocking a nail, a science students lacking proficiency in calculus and linear algebra shall be seriously hindered when he/she is given the task of performing a serous investigation (either experimentally, theoretically or numerically) of any phenomena that necessarily involves mathematics of some kind. Having said that, ZCA 110 is not a particularly difficult subject. I would say it's "sup sup shui" (Cantonese, meaning "no sweat") as long as you keep an attitude to study and practice it consistently throughout the course.
Calculus is tightly related to geometry, hence the geometrical interpretation of calculus makes it easily visualised, hence less abstract. Most concepts discussed in the calculus of ZCA 110 have been actually studied in the STPM or Matrikulasi syllabus. In ZCA 110 we extend the syllabus further to investigate more diversified kinds of functions (e.g. hyperbolic functions, inverse trigo functions etc.). In addition we shall also investigate the theoretical roots of some 'mysterious' formulae that were used but rarely explained in the pre-U level, such as d/dx (cos x) = -sin x. To explain this formula we need to go back to the basic idea of limit which is one of the most abstract ideas in calculus. Besides being a very interesting topic, the idea of limit may pose some challenge to the students who are new to it. Other than the concept of limit, the calculus syllabus also necessitate many problem-solving and calculations involving, e.g. integration, differentiation and graphing of many types of functions. Needless to say, practice is the only way (unless you are exceptionally brilliant) to make your study of ZCA 110 a perfect.
Textbooks
Lectures on the Calculus part by Yoon Tiem Leong will primarily base on the book "Schaum's series Calculus by Frank Ayres and Elliott Mendelson". Occasional reference will be made to Thomas' Calculus (Published by Pearson) and Engineering Mathematics Volume 1 (published by Pearson Malaysia). Students are strongly urged to get either one of these books.
It is strongly advised that students should not be contented with the lecture material supplied by the lecturers alone. They should STUDY these suggested texts and try out the exercises on a consistent manner throughout the semester. You gonna prepare to think in an intellectual manner in order to comprehend the essential concepts and ways of performing calculation I wish to convey in this course. So please exercise your initiatives to think independently and critically.
On the other hand, for people who are expecting to make only mechanical memorisation yet can pass with flying colour (just like what you did during the pre-U years), please be prepared for disappointment. There is a high risk that you shall flop the course if you study mathematics via memorisation and don't practice enough on the exercises suggested.
Main Text:
1. Calculus, Schaum's outlines Series, fourth edition, by Frank Ayeres Jr. an Elliot MEndelson, McGraw-Hill 2000 edition.
2. Thomas' Calculus, 11th edition, by G.B. Thomas, Pearson international edition.
Others references:
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A particularly ''understandable'' book written specially from the context of Malaysian students is recommended here. It's a lecture notes series published by Pearson Malaysia (first print 2004). The Title of the book is Engineering Mathematics Volume 1, editor-in-chief Cheng Mee Chooi (the former Head of Mathematics Department of University of Malaya.). This lecture notes series was the collective work of the mathematics lecturers in the Multimedia University (MMU), and is written to cater for the preference of Malaysian students in mind. It may suit your appetite for 'buku rujukan STPM' style reference book. It contains most of the contents we will discuss in ZCA 110 (including calculus, series, linear algebra. In addition it also contains other topics e.g. vector algebra, complex numbers, differential equations etc.). In addition to its 'easy to read' features (from the view point of most Malaysian students), the price of the book is also cheap in comparison, and is quite worthy for its contents that cover so many topics. |
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Calculus, 8th edition, by Howard Anton, Irl Bivens, Stephen Davis, 8th edition, Published by John Wiley. |
Tutorial questions
Conventionally, in other courses, students are normally given tutorial sheets or problem sets to solve (on weekly basis). Their solutions are then passed up to the tutors for grading and marks of certain weightage may be allocated. However, based on the track record of real life history, there exist a common (and shameful) practice among the students. A huge portion of students simply become copycats and submit the copycat solutions for marks they don't deserve. It is strongly felt that if a huge portion of students continues to practice such a huge scale plagiarism, the assignments submission system does not serve much purpose other than a superficial formality.
As such, instead of assigning tutorial questions to be solved and passed up, students will simply be asked to practice the exercises in the Schaum's Series Calculus for themselves. These exercises (include 'solved problems' and 'supplementary problems') are the 'problem sets for tutorials'. My philosophy is quite simple: As an adult you are no longer treated as kindergarten kids. Hence you would not be forced to pass up any 'exercise' or 'assignment' for marking and grading. Instead you are only expected to try out the solved and supplementary problems in the Schaum's Series by yourself. Roughly we will cover three topics each week during the lectures, hence your are expected to go through the solved and supplementary problems in these topics every week. We will discuss the solved problems from Schaum's Series during our weekly Friday tutorial session.
Since this is a 4 units course, as a rough guide, students have to spend about 4 hours for revision per week for this course. In other words, if you spend about 4 hours per week to practice the exercises it would be suffice to pass the course. Of course, if a student want to score excellently he/she is required to walk an extra mile by spending more time than suggested for practicing the exercises.
Remember, now you can't wait passively for your tutors to mark the tutorial questions for you anymore. Hence you have to be proactive to take initiatives to discuss whatever questions you have with Yoon Tiem Leong (the lecturer) during tutorial sessions, or you may consult the assigned tutors during their respective consultation hours. To encourage active learning, you are also expected to make active discussions with your fellow course mates. It would be an excellent practice if students could form study groups among themselves.
Weekly Quizzes for coursework marks
Coursework makes up 30% of the final grade of ZCA 110. Conventionally tests would be the primary method of assessment (along with attendance, assignment grading, etc.). However, in the Calculus part of ZCA 110, an alternative approach will be opted. Instead of grading tutorial sets and conducting tests, continuous assessment in the form of weekly quizzes will be conducted in the last 10 or 15 mins in each tutorial session (Friday). The quizzes will be based on the topics that have been discussed during the previous week. For example, the quiz for the Friday of week 4 will base on the lectures that were covered in week 3. The solutions for quizzes and students' accumulated coursework marks will be updated regularly and can be checked from the course webpage.
The coursework marks for the Calculus part is 22.5 (out of 30 marks).
Dr. Rosy Teh will have her method for the coursework assessment for the Linear Algebra part. The linear algebra will carry 7.5 marks for the coursework (out of 30 marks).