Instructor: Cindy Merrick
Email: cmerrick@gmu.edu
Office and hours:
Science and Technology I, Room 234
Wed 11AM - 1PM, and by appointment
Text: Thinking Mathematically, Fourth Edition, by Blitzer
Important Dates:
Labor Day - NO CLASS, Monday, September 7
EXAM 1 - Monday, October 5, in class
Columbus Day - NO CLASS, Monday, October 12
Tuesday, October 13, Monday schedule (class will be held)
EXAM 2 - Monday, November 9, in class
Thanksgiving Break - NO CLASS Wednesday, November 25 or Friday, November 27
EXAM 3 - Wednesday, December 9, in class
Last Day of Class - Friday, December 11
FINAL EXAM - in our usual classroom
Extra Credit Project now available!
Purpose: The purpose of this course is to help you to develop problem-solving skills, especially
in a variety of areas of mathematics.
Throughout the course, see if you can break your problem-solving efforts down into
these four steps:
1. Understand the problem: Which part is unsolved? What kind of answer should you get?
2. Decide on an approach that might work.
3. Carry through on your approach.
4. Do a reality check on your conclusion: Are you in the right ballpark?
Should your answer be big or small; positive or negative, etc? Does your answer
have the right units (inches, miles, hours, millions, etc.)?
Goal: I plan to cover some or all material from Chapters 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9 and 13.
Tests and Grading: There will be three in-class exams and a final. The final will
be cumulative. In many cases, calculators will not be permitted. When they are, you will be
notified to bring a calculator with at least basic arithmetic capability (add, subtract, multiply,
divide), as well as being able to take square and cube roots. There will be weekly 10-15 minute
quizzes, drawn from the homework set. There will be no make-ups for quizzes if you are late or
miss class. Homework is not turned in or graded, but do not expect to keep up with the course unless
you spend as much time as is necessary each night doing problem-solving and reviewing the material.
Your final grade will be approximately determined with these percentages:
10% Quizzes
60% Exams (20% each)
30% Final Exam
I retain the right to change these percentages.
Make-up Policy: No make-ups for any tests or quizzes. Missed quizzes will be
considered zeroes.
Honor Code: You are expected to know and abide by the GMU Honor Code.
I have absolutely no tolerance for dishonesty or cheating.