Difference between revisions of "MATH 102 - Differential Calculus with Applications to Life Sciences"

Revision as of 23:22, 2 September 2016

Course overview

As with any course on differential calculus, the central character in this course is the derivative. The course starts by building up to the limit definition of the derivative and proceeds through analytical, graphical and numerical approaches to build students' understanding of several types of functions and their derivatives. Next, we cover optimization, with applications to biological systems as well as principles of data fitting. A section on growth, decay and periodic phenomena precedes an introduction to differential equations and their use in modeling of biological systems.

One big difference between this course and a more traditional calculus course is the inclusion of examples and applications from the life sciences in place of the more traditional emphasis on physics. These examples and applications come from a wide range of fields including biochemistry, cell biology, ecology, genetics, population biology and evolution.

You should have taken a calculus course already if you are enrolled in this course. If you have never taken a calculus course, you should talk to your advisor at the beginning of the year about transferring to Math 180, 184, or 110.

General information

• Course policies and information
• Midterm information
• Final exam information

Getting answers to your questions

• WeBWorK FAQ
• Piazza - the online forum for Math 102 - sign up for a Piazza account through Connect.

Additional resources

• Supporting materials for computational WeBWorK problems
• Practice problems
• Videos and demos
• Material from previous years including a collection of Java applets

• Sustainability