Office Hours:  MW   9:00am -9:30am, 12:15pm - 1:00pm
                        TR    8:30am - 9:30am, 1:00pm - 2:15pm

OFFICE LOCATION: ST. – 116

OFFICE PHONE: 545-3359

PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS:  Math 107 or ACT Math Score of 23-25, or KC Asset Exam Score of 41-55 on Int.Alg. test

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will consider basic algebraic operations and expand their use to cover major topics of factoring; working with exponents; solving equations, including linear, quadratic and systems; graphing; and functions.

TEXTBOOK: College Algebra, by Larson, Hostetler (7th edition, 2007)

EVALUATION: Five 50-minute exams will be given during the semester. 100 pts. Each.

Homework and announced/unannounced quizzes 100 pts.

Thus, TOTAL POINTS FOR THE CLASS would be 500 pts.

Grades will be assigned as follows:

450 – 500 A, 400 – 449 B, 350 – 399 C, 300 – 349 D, below 300 F

CHEATING POLICY: If caught cheating in any way, the student will receive an F for the final grade.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: 
1.  The College Enhancement Center @ Kaskaskia College does tutoring 8-5pm, Monday through Friday

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTAL WEB SITES:
The following web sites will be extremely helpful with many of the concepts of college algebra.   I highly recommend you visit and try these sites out. 

• Geocities.com (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/2426/index1.html)
  You need to scroll down and select pop up menu to see index to lessons and practice quizes on a wide variety of college algebra concepts.  This is a must see site.  Highly recommended for you to see what is available.
• Purplemath.com (http://www.purplemath.com/modules/index.htm)
  Scroll down to advanced algebra topics to find help with an extremely large variety of college algebra concepts.  You should review this site to observe what topics are covered and note when you will need them.
• Expage.com   (http://expage.com/teachermathpage)
  Scroll down to the all about algebra link to access a wide variety of useful algebra links.
• Sosmath.com     (http://www.sosmath.com/algebra/algebra.html)
  This site provides explanations on quadratic functions (completing the square, quadratic formula, etc), composite functions, etc.  Scroll down to see the index of lessons.   You can also get some good explanations on factoring as a review for chapter 1 of the text. There are also lessons on rational functions, polynomial functions, inverse functions, exponential functions, and logarithmic functions.

ATTENDANCE POLICY: To be successful in a math course, attendance would be very important, almost critical. If more than two weeks of classes are missed without a valid excuse ( death in family, hospitalization, nuclear blast, etc.) I reserve the right to withdraw you from class with an F. If you know in advance that you cannot attend class on a certain day, you may possibly get my prior approval. There are no make-up exams or quizzes. If you come to class late, you will not receive extra time for exams or quizzes. You must take the Final Exam (test 5) to have your lowest test score dropped.
 

After successful completion of Math 134 a student should be able to perform the following at a 70% success rate. (C or better)

1. Find the domain & range of a function from its equation and graph.
2. Sketch a graph of a function using transformations.
3. Find combinations and composition of functions.
4. Determine if a function has an inverse.
5. Find the inverse of a function algebraically and graphically.
6. Sketch the graph of polynomial functions by applying the leading coefficient test and rational zero test.
7. Use the remainder theorem and synthetic division to evaluate a polynomial.
8. Perform operations with complex numbers and write the results into standard form.
9. Sketch the graph of a rational function.
10. Sketch the graph of an exponential or logarithm function.
11. Use the compound interest formula.
12. Evaluate logarithms by using the change of base formula.
13. Solve exponential and logarithmic equations.
14. Solve linear systems of equations in two variables graphically and algebraically.
15. Solve a linear system of three variables using Gaus-Jordan elimination and matrices.
16. Perform basic operations with matrices.
17. Use an inverse matrix to solve a system of linear equations.
18. Evaluate the determinant of a 2x2 or 3x3 matrix.