Welcome
to the HappyCal Zone
(Honors
AP Calculus BC, Period A)
Web address shortcut for this page: www.modd.net/1112hcal
Are
you nervous when you see NCWEE? concerned when you see CIRC? perturbed when you
see PBC? Visit Mr. Hansen’s fabled abbreviations
page to make sense of those cryptic markings you see on your papers.
Schedule
at a Glance (see archives for older entries) |
|
|
M 4/23/012 |
No school. Continue studying AP review problems
every night. The “Exam-ish Tests” will be scored at
a total of approximately 150% of the value of a typical 50-minute test. |
|
T 4/24/012 |
AP Exam-ish Test, Part IA (multiple choice,
no calculator). We will start at
7:55 sharp: 28 questions in 55 minutes. |
|
W 4/25/012 |
AP Exam-ish Test, Part IB (multiple choice,
calculator required). We will start
at 8:00 sharp: 17 questions in 50 minutes. |
|
Th
4/26/012 |
AP Exam-ish Test, Part IIA+ (free response, calculator required
for #1 and #2, not permitted for #3).
Question #3 will be distributed at the 30-minute mark, and you may continue
working all 3 problems without calculator until time is called at 8:45 sharp. |
|
F 4/27/012 |
AP Exam-ish Test, Part IIB (free response, no calculator). We will start at 7:55 sharp: 3 multi-part problems
in 45 minutes. |
|
M 4/30/012 |
HW due: Bring your AP review log up to date. You
should have 35 minutes’ worth of problems for each day (except weekends). It
is better to do a little each day, but if you have a block of time on the
weekend to make up for time missed during the week, you can still earn full
credit. |
|
T 5/1/012 |
HW due: Continue daily AP review log. Class today
will start at about 8:15. |
|
W 5/2/012 |
HW due: Same as yesterday, except that class will
start at about 8:10. |
|
Th
5/3/012 |
HW due: Same as yesterday, except that class will
start at about 8:05. |
|
F 5/4/012 |
HW due: Same as yesterday, except that class will
start at 8:00 sharp. |
|
M 5/7/012 |
HW due: Spend 5 or 10 minutes reviewing last
Friday’s Question
#2 and the solution key. Write a few sentences summarizing what you
learned. For example, you might say, “In part (c), I learned that I should have
remembered that the Taylor approximating polynomial is guaranteed to match
the function and all the function’s derivatives only at the center of the
expansion. Away from that point, all bets are off! In this problem, we were
told that f and all of its
derivatives existed for all real numbers, but in general, we wouldn’t even be
able to say that.” |
|
T 5/8/012 |
HW due: Nothing special, just another 35 minutes’
(or more) worth of AP review problems. |
|
W 5/9/012 |
AP Exam, Trapier Theater.
Please arrive by 7:45 a.m. |
|
Th
5/10/012 |
No additional HW due. Bring your log sheet for final
checking. There will be a “relaxed start” today at approximately 8:15 or
8:20. |
|
F 5/11/012 |
No additional HW due. |
|
M 5/14/012 |
No class. Everyone has an excused absence for
morning or afternoon AP exams today. |
|
T 5/15/012 |
No additional HW due; relaxed start at approximately
8:15 to 8:20. |
|
W 5/16/012 |
No additional HW due; relaxed start at 8:15. Class today and tomorrow will be in
MH-313. |
|
Th
5/17/012 |
No additional HW due; relaxed start at 8:15. Class today is in MH-313. |
|
F 5/18/012 |
Field trip to the National Cryptologic
Museum, Fort Meade, MD (adjacent to the NSA parking lot). We will leave at
8:00 a.m. sharp from the service road near the Martin Gym. |
|
M 5/21/012 |
Guest speaker: Mr. Fred Richards, Senior Director,
Oracle Business Intelligence. |
|
T 5/22/012 |
No additional HW due; relaxed start at 8:10, please. |
|
W 5/23/012 |
HW due: Read through the entire “Excelcise”
(click here and read the 10/28
calendar entry), and practice the techniques. Your target time for a passing
score is 5 minutes. If you can beat Mr. Hansen’s best time, you will earn a
bonus. |
|
Th
5/24/012 |
In class: More attempts at passing the “Excelcise.” Those who have already passed are expected to
help their classmates. |
|
Essential Links:
-- STA School
Handbook
-- College
Board: AP Calculus BC Course Description
-- Eric Weisstein’s World of Mathematics, the Web’s most
extensive mathematics resource (no kidding!)
-- WolframAlpha,
a site that I possibly shouldn’t tell you about . . .
Extra Help:
-- Karl’s Calculus Tutor for
first-year students
-- Calc101.com, another site I might not want
to tell you about (click it and you’ll see why)
-- Temple University: Calculus on
the Web (COW)
Links Based on Class Discussions:
-- Troy’s
Integral Approximation Thingy: a neat JavaScript application for Midpoint
Rule, Trapezoid Rule, Simpson’s Rule, etc.
-- The “RiemannSums Applet” found by John S. (actually shows
you the rectangles or trapezoids)
-- Chris and Andrew’s proof that
Simpson’s Rule is a weighted average of the Midpoint and Trapezoid Rules
-- Braxton’s direct proof of FTC2
-- Proof that FTC1 implies FTC2 and
conversely
-- Related rates tutorial and
practice problems
-- Partial
fraction decomposition with sample problems and solutions, courtesy of the
University of California at Davis
Links for AP Preparation:
-- Real
sample AP questions from the College Board
-- AB Calculus Cram Sheet
-- BC Calculus Cram Sheet
(courtesy of Will Felder and Mr. Hansen)
-- “Stuff
you MUST know cold” (link to another AP calculus teacher’s site; requires
Adobe Acrobat reader)
-- Review question logsheet (requires Microsoft Excel); also available are
old versions for 2003, 2009, 2010, and 2011
-- Permitted features for
graphing calculators on the AP examination
-- Actual
college calculus tests from Mr. Hansen’s alma mater (great practice!)
-- Multiple choice practice #1 with answer key
-- Multiple choice practice #2 with answer key
-- First semester recap
(recycled from my 2006-07 IntroCal class, for which
this handout served as a full-year recap)
Fun Links:
-- Homemade “Segway”-like balancing scooter uses a fair amount of calculus!
-- Mathematicians
as depicted in the movies (Good Will Hunting, etc.)
-- An Algebra II problem that
has a calculus flavor to it. (This is problem #26 from §11-7 of Foerster’s Algebra and Trigonometry: Functions and
Applications.) The problem is to determine which sweepstakes prize is
better: a $20,000 lump sum or $100 a month for life. Assume 4% annual interest
compounded monthly. In part (d), the challenge is to determine how the answer
changes if the interest rate changes to 7%.
-- The Mt. Sinai problem and two
variations
-- The astonishing Bailey-Borwein-Plouffe algorithm for
calculating pi to any desired decimal place
-- Sound wave analysis
(harmonics, Doppler shift, etc.) / excellent site developed by students at
TJHSST in Virginia
-- Good problems
(some calculus, some not)
-- More fun links on Mr. Hansen’s home page
Serious Links:
-- Summer math camps
for talented high school students
-- Click here for other serious links
Return to Mr. Hansen’s
home page
Return
to Mathematics Department home page
Return
to St. Albans home page
Last updated: 23 May 2012