General Information 

Course Title: Calculus I Section 1 - Spring 2023

Section: MATH-UA.121.001

Class Meetings: Asynchronous, weekly meetings on Mondays,

Wednesdays at 10:00 - 11:15 am.

Join URL:  https://nyu.zoom.us/j/98079003445 Attending class

synchronously is highly recommended, but the recording will be
uploaded to brightspace - zoom menu - cloud recording tab one hour
after the lecture, you need to finish watching and taking notes
within 24 hours and start to do HW ASAP.

Recitation: Attending synchronously is mandatory. Your

recitations will be on Fridays, please check your schedule on Albert

Office Hours:

• Shizhu Liu Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1:00 - 1:45 pm via

Zoom https://nyu.zoom.us/j/98033616093 
• Shuvadeep Saha TBA via Zoom Meeting ID: 
• Animesh Ramesh in-person office hour Thursdays 3:30 - 5:00 pm
251 Mercer Street CIWW 505

 
Contact Information 
Professor: Shizhu Liu
• Calculus I questions and course logistics, add a new post to
https://campuswire.com/p/G1EDB2D61 enroll code 4759 
• Personal questions please email Shizhu Liu
<shizhuliu@nyu.edu>

Recitation Leaders: Shuvadeep Saha (shuvadeep.saha@nyu.edu),

Animesh Ramesh (ar8006@nyu.edu)

 
Course Description 
In this course, we will study the foundations of calculus, the study of
functions and their rates of change. We want you to learn how to
model situations in order to solve problems. If you have already
taken calculus before, we want you to gain an even deeper
understanding of this fascinating subject.

The derivative measures the instantaneous rate of change of a

function. The definite integral measures the total accumulation of a
function over an interval. These two ideas form the basis for nearly
all mathematical formulas in science. The rules by which we can
compute the derivative (respectively, the integral) of any function
are called a calculus. The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus links the
two processes of differentiation and integration in a beautiful way.

The importance of calculus cannot be overstated! In physical and

biological sciences, economics, and even social sciences, the
transition from qualitative or descriptive understanding to a more
quantitative understanding is invariably achieved through
mathematics and calculus in particular. This is because in all of these
natural systems, one studies quantities that change with time or
parameter values and inter-relations between such variables. This is
the reason why a strong foundation in calculus is necessary in order
to understand your chosen field of study at a deeper level.
 
Learning Goals 
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
• compute the value of limits and identify when they don't exist
by applying the theoretical concept of a limit and using
algebraic means.
• compute derivatives by applying the theoretical concept of a
derivative and using standard rules of differentiation.
• explain the theoretical concept of the integral; compute both
definite and indefinite integrals using the fundamental theorem
of calculus.
 • describe how the mathematical concepts of integration and
differentiation are the natural result of an investigation into the
nature of the physical world and perform further investigations
using the new tools presented in class.
• communicate mathematically, including explaining, making,
and critiquing mathematical arguments.
Course Structure, Components, and
Responsibilities 
• This is an asynchronous course that has no fixed lecture times
by the registrar. However I will have weekly sessions on
Monday and Wednesdays 10:00 - 11:15 am via Zoom:  
 
Join URL: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/98079003445
 
• Attending the above meetings is strongly suggested if your
schedule allows it, you will not be penalized if you can't make
it. However The recording of the above will be uploaded to
brightspace - zoom menu - cloud recording tab one hour after
the lecture, you need to finish watching and taking notes
within 24 hours and start to do HW ASAP. It is a crucial step
to become successful in this course. 
• Recitations are on Fridays and are mandatory, please
make sure to check your schedule on Albert.
• Being engaged with the course is a must to be successful so I
strongly recommend students participate during live sessions
and/or recitations. We will also have an online discussion
forum, Campuswire, being part of this forum community
is also important. A lot of your questions can be answered
there. Your participations in recitation, office hours and online
environments will count towards some portion of your overall
grade.
• Midterm Exams and Quizzes will be proctored during
your recitations. And the two midterm exams will be in-
person during the recitation even if your recitation is
online.
• Final Exam will be in-person during undergraduate final
 exam week, with all students at NYU taking MATH-UA 121
Calculus I in Spring 2023, no matter if the section is online or
in-person. 
 
Your journey through this course may be less traditional than
you may expect. Instead of a traditional lecture each week, you will
be completing online lessons and exercises at your own pace prior
to the first meeting each week. This will allow us to spend more
time working together on problem-solving during our meetings.
 

A Typical Week 
It is important that you consult the dates on each week's overview
page under Weekly Responsibilities on our Brightspace page to
ensure you complete your responsibilities by their due dates.
However, a typical week involves the following:
• Prior to your first meeting on Monday each week, you will be
expected to complete the online lesson (and other occasional
pre-class components) The lesson is usually due one hour
before the first meeting of that week.
• You will review slides and take notes during the lecture, if you
can't join Shizhu's M/W lecture synchronously, you will watch
the recording and take notes within 24 hours. 
• You will also have access to the WebAssign Problem Set and
Homework Assignment when you have access to the lesson.
• You will be expected to complete and submit WebAssign by
Friday midnight.
• You will be expected to complete and submit Homework of the
Week via Gradescope by Sunday midnight.
• You will be given a weekly Quiz during recitation on Fridays.
Textbooks and Subscriptions (WebAssign)
WebAssign
WebAssign is an online, machine-graded homework system that also
includes a digital copy of the textbook. You are required to
purchase a WebAssign license as the required textbook
access. 

WebAssign License

You will have a two-week grace period from the beginning of the
term to purchase and activate a WebAssign license.  Licenses can be
purchased in one of the following ways:

•through the NYU Follett ACCESS program by NYU

bookstore
• online through WebAssign menu on this Cengage
publisher site, must click WebAssign tab
Follett Access Details
The Follett Access program is a partnership between NYU and the
NYU Bookstore that promotes affordability, Students enrolled in this
program will 

The book, Calculus by Stewart will be delivered to you digitally

through the WebAssign platform. The cost of the book is $103,
which will be added as a “book charge” to your bursar bill, this is a
savings of $17 over the publisher’s digital direct price. 

The Follett ACCESS license is good for two years. It is thus a good
option for students who intend to go on to Calculus 2 and / or
Calculus 3, because both of these courses also use WebAssign. 

All students are automatically enrolled in the Follett Access

program. Should you choose to remove yourself from the program
and find your course materials elsewhere, you must login here to the
student portal and opt out of having the course materials provided to
you by Date to be updated

INFORMATION YOU SHOULD KNOW:

• Your username is your school email address.
• If you have opted out of a course, you can opt back in
until the end of the opt out period.
 If you opt out or drop the course, the book charge will
•
be reversed in 24-48 hours
QUESTIONS? CONTACT THE NYU BOOKSTORE:
email – wsq.text@nyu.edu
•
• phone – 212-998-4656
Accessing WebAssign
You can access WebAssign by clicking on the “WebAssign” link in the
Content tool on the course Brightspace site. Clicking on this link
automatically adds you to the roster you to the WebAssign roster. No
separate, username, password or class key is required. 

Textbook
Stewart, James. 2013. Essential Calculus : Early Transcendentals. 2nd
ed. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.

WebAssign includes access to a digital copy of our textbook.

You are not required to purchase a physical copy of the textbook, but
you are welcome to do so if you like to read books in paper. 

Grades and Policies 

• Participation worth 3% (includes videos, assessment questions
below the videos, engagement in synchronous sessions, office
hours, recitations and Campuswire engagement)
• Weekly Online HW via WebAssign worth 5% of course grade
 5 dropped in case you cannot submit or have other
obligations
 no late submission (including those caused by internet
and computer access issue) will be accepted
 Skill refreshers are optional, doesn't count. Those
WebAssign titled with ECET2e Section x.x will be counted
but with 5 lowest drops. 
• Weekly Written HW submitted via Gradescope worth 12%
of course grade
  2 dropped in case you cannot submit or have other
obligations
 no late submissions (including those caused by internet
and computer access issue) will be accepted
• Weekly Quizzes during recitations worth 10% of course
grade
 3 dropped in case you have other obligations
 No make-up for missing quizzes. Because we drop three
lowest scored quizzes and no show in recitation for three
weeks due to any reason, we need to report to your
school to work on leave of absence or better academic
plan, it is nothing about making up quizzes.
• 2 in-person midterm exams during recitation time worth
40% of course grade (20% each)
• 1 in-person comprehensive final exam worth 30% of course
grade
• Above grading weights apply to all students in Calculus I class
fairly. No extra credit for this course, or any other Calculus
sequence course here in the math department.
 

We will convert this score to a letter grade beginning with these

values as cutoffs:

Cuto Letter Grade

ff
93% A
90% A-
87% B+
83% B
80% B-
75% C+
65% C
50% D
 
 

Policy on Exams and Quizzes

We are only able to accommodate a limited number of out-of-
sequence exams (no quizzes makeup though) due to limited
availability of rooms and proctors. For this reason, we may or may
not approve out-of-sequence exams in the following cases:
• a documented medical excuse
• a University-sponsored event such as an athletic tournament, a
play, or a musical performance. Athletic practices and
rehearsals do not fall into this category. Please have your
coach, conductor, or other faculty advisor contact your
instructor.
• a religious holiday
• extreme hardship such as a family emergency
We will NOT be able to accommodate out-of-sequence exams as for
purposes of more convenient travel, including already purchased
tickets. We will announcement final exam date once the registrar
post the plan for undergraduate final exam week, and only plan your
break travel after that.

Exam makeups must occur within one week of the regularly

scheduled exam or quiz, otherwise a zero score will be given.

If you require additional accommodations as determined by the

Henry and Lucy Moses Center for Students with Disabilities, please
finish paperwork with the center and forward the letter from them to
instructor at your earliest convenience. 
 

Tutoring 
There is free math tutoring sponsored by the math department,
please check the math  department tutoring site.
There is also free peer tutoring hold by University Learning Center
(ULC), even covering weekend hours, please check ULC information
site.
 

Calculators 
Calculator is NOT allowed for any exams or quizzes. This is a
standard requirement for all Calculus sequence courses at NYU. A
graphing calculator can be used for class discussion and on
homework. No specific calculator is endorsed, so do not buy a new
one. If you have one already, continue to use that one; if you do not,
try free alternatives such as Wolfram Alpha.
 
Exam Dates
• Midterm 1: Friday, February 24 , in-person during recitation
• Midterm 2: Friday, April 7, in-person during recitation
• Cumulative In-Person during undergraduate final exam week
 
Calendar 
The following is an approximate schedule for the semester:
Week Dates Sections & Topics
Understand the structure of the online courses
0
brush-up precalculus skills using WebAssign

01/23-25 1.1 Functions and their Representations

1.2 A Catalog of Essential Functions
1
01/27 1.3 The Limit of a Function
no recitation this week, no quiz
1.4 Calculating Limits
01/30 - 02/01
1.5 Continuity
2
02/03
Quiz 1 (1.1 - 1.3)

1.6 Limits Involving Infinity

02/06-08
2.1 Derivatives and Rates of Change
3
02/10
Quiz 2 (1.4, 1.5)

4 02/13-15 2.2 The Derivative as a Function

 2.3 Basic Differentiation Formulas
02/17
Quiz 3 (1.6, 2.1)

Presents' Day, no class

02/20 No Class
Wrap up and review for exam 1
02/22
5
In-person Exam 1 (1.1 - 2.2) during your recitation
02/24 Exam 1
meeting time

2.4 The Product and Quotient Rules

02/27 - 03/01
2.5 The Chain Rule
6
03/03
Quiz 4 (2.3, 2.4)

2.6 Implicit Differentiation

03/06-08
2.8 Linear Approximations and Differentials
7
03/10
Quiz 5 (2.5)

Spring Break - No Classes, No Recitation, No Quiz

8 03/13-17

03/20-22 3.1 Exponential Functions 

03/24 3.2 Inverse Functions and Logarithms

9
3.3 Derivatives of Logarithmic and Exponential Functions

Quiz 6 (2.6, 2.8)

3.3 Derivatives of Logarithmic and Exponential Functions

03/27-29
3.5 Inverse Trigonometric Functions
10
03/31
Quiz 7 (3.1 - 3.3)

04/03-05 3.7 L'Hôpital's Rule 

Wrap up and review for exam 2
11
04/07 Exam 2 In-person Exam 2 (2.4 - 3.5) during your recitation
meeting time
04/10-12
4.1 Maximum and Minimum Values 
12 4.2 The Mean Value Theorem
04/14
Quiz 8 (3.7)

13 04/17-19 4.3 Derivatives and the Shapes of Graphs

04/21 4.4 Curve Sketching

 Quiz 9 (4.1, 4.2)

4.5 Optimization
04/24-26
4.7 Antiderivatives
14
04/28
Quiz 10 (4.3, 4.4)

5.1-5.2 Areas, Distances and the Definite Integral 

05/01-03
5.3 The Second Fundamental Theorem of Calculus 
15
05/05
Quiz 11 (4.5, 4.7) - the last recitation and quiz

05/08
5.4 The First Fundamental Theorem of Calculus 
16 05/09 Tue.
Reading Day Review
Reading Day

Comprehensive in-person final exam during the

undergraduate final exam week
05/10-16
Date and time to be announced by university registrar