Dear Student,

Some of you are getting this message for the second time. If you have already been to the website and completed the online form, please disregard this message. If not, please take a good look around the website so that you can start the course on the first day of class. 

According to my records, you are signed up for one of my two sections of math 1120, business calculus. I am writing you now because you may wish to get started on the course. Also, it is possible that my section is not the right one for you. Therefore I am taking this opportunity to tell you how my section might be different from some of the other sections.  Don't be concerned if you are not a business major. That is not my reason for writing you. Its about the emphasis on ideas and the high level of expectation. 

First, I plan to emphasize ideas. The test interval technique and the geometry of the derivative are important ideas. You will also learn about interpreting 0/0 in several contexts. You'll see four ways to deal with 0/0, and each one is important in calculating a derivative using the limit definition.

You must also agree to roughly 14 online homework sets that we call WebWork. These will be due about once a week throughout the semester.

Second, I plan to treat your section, as I always do, as the most important course I teach. I will learn your names soon, especially if our section does not grow past 40 (to the expected 80) and I will consistently be prepared for class. In exchange, I will expect you to be prepared to learn, that you will not leave the classroom during a lecture, that you will consistently do the homework and webwork. BTW, makeup exams when given, are oral.

If you decide that this is the right section for you, please complete the online form at the website, http://www.math.uncc.edu/~hbreiter/m1120/index.html <http://www.math.uncc.edu/~hbreiter/m1120/index.html>

You will see at the website that all the tests for the last 8 years (14 sections in all) are available to you, with solutions. The grades are determined using the 85%, 70%, 55%, 40% scale for A, B, C, and D, and that there are bonus points built into each test. In other words, there may be 120 points available on a test, but a score of 85 (out of 120) is an A. I do not take your percent correct, but instead, your raw score.

I hope to see you in January.

Cheers, Harold Reiter