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QSCI 291 Finale Review

QSCI 291 Analysis for Biologists I

Winter 2011 in 175 Johnson Hall @ 9:30

Course Objectives

• Develop the ability to use and interpret functions and their derivatives.
• Gain an appreciation of using differential calculus to solve problems and gain insight into biological and physical phenomena.

Course Organization

Chapter 1: Preliminaries

• Review basic algebra & trigonometry
• Introduce the basic functions we will be using
• Examine how basic functions are transformed and their biological relevance

Chapter 2:  Discrete Time Models, Sequences & Difference Equations

• Examine exponential growth & decay from a difference equation perspective
• Provides a rationale for the need for limits

Chapter 3: Limits & Continuity (skip 3.6)

• Limits & continuity are key concepts in calculus

Chapter 4: Differentiation

• The derivative is defined with geometric interpretation
• The principal rules for “taking the derivative” of a function are introduced

Chapter 5: Applications of Differentiation

• Use of derivatives to find extrema, inflection points & other properties of functions
• Optimization problems, implicit differentiation, related rates, approximation and local linearity. Examination of some biological models.

Homework, Quizzes, & Exams

• Homework: There is no graded homework. Practice problem sets will be assigned weekly. Solutions will be posed on the course website.
• Quizzes (9): Tuesdays (except as noted), starting in Week 2. Typically 3-5 problems similar to those in the problem set assigned at the start of the previous week. Quizzes are open book & you have the whole period to work on them. Make-up must be completed within the same week.
• Final Exam: Wednesday March 18 @ 8:30-10:20. Counts as the equivalent of 2 quizzes. Open book.

• Grade Calculation

The 9 Quizzes plus the Final Exam (counts twice) produce 11 scores. The 2 lowest of these 11 scores are dropped and the percent grade is from the remaining 9 . In the table, scores for the 9 quizzes and the final make up 11 scores. Of these the two lowest (quiz 4 and quiz 8) are dropped and the percent grade using the others is 84% . If the student did  not take the final, the final would be entered as two zero scores and since these would be the lowest, they would be dropped and the grade woulbe be the average of the 0 quizzes. Many take the final in the hope they can bet a higher score than any two quizzes and thus improve their grade 

Grade Conversion Chart:

At the UW, there are 34 decimal grade categories (0.7, 0.8, … , 4.0). This class is not graded on a curve. You are competing against one of the following grade bins, not each other.

The 84% of Student X is recorded as a 3.4.