Course
Overview
The goal of this course is to provide the mathematical background for
understanding telecommunication systems. A broad range of fundamental
topics is covered, more specifically basic functions (trigonometric function,
complex variable functions, exponential and logarithms), basic calculus
(derivatives, integrals), and elementary probability (random events, probability,
random variables, variance and standard deviation, probability density
and cumulative distribution, special distribution functions).
Prerequisites
MET MA 118, MA 123 or equivalent, that cover trigonometry and introductory
calculus. These prerequisites may also be part of the student's secondary
school education.
Learning Objectives
Methods of Instruction
The course will be primarily lecture-based, with extensive lecture notes
made available by the instructor on the course web site. Questions are
encouraged. Attendance will be taken during each class meeting.
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Lectures that are typically used for presenting new material; a variety of teaching approaches are used in the lectures, including traditional problem solving on the blackboard, PowerPoint slide presentations, video, interactive learning with Personal Response Systems;
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Discussions of exercises, homework and reviews for exam and projects; The web-based component is managed through a course companion web site in CourseInfo that includes
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lecture notes,
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references, library and other institutional resources, links to Internet resources;
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homework assignments and solutions;
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on-line homework submission;
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grade management: remote private access to grading information for the student, spreadsheets and grade statistic functions for the instructor;
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a wealth of communication types: chat (individual or groups), threaded discussion, e-mail (individual or groups), bulleting board;
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results.
Evaluation and Grading
New material will be presented in lecture format. Reviews, exercises and
homework solutions will take place in discussion. Participation in the
discussions, although not mandatory, is strongly recommended and may result
in extra credit.
Weekly quizzes on the homework problems, a midterm and a final examination
will provide the basis for the grade.
No predetermined scale will be used. The final grade will be assigned
based on the following weighting
• Homework Quizzes 40%
• Midterm 25%
• Final 35%
Academic Honesty
Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. They will result in no
credit for the examination. This should not be understood as a discouragement
for discussing the material or your particular approach to a problem with
other students in the class. On the contrary - I urge you to share your
thoughts, questions and solutions. Naturally, if you choose to work in
a group, I will be expecting more than one and highly original solutions
rather than the same mistakes.
Instructor Information
Instructor: Tanya Zlateva, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof.
Office Hours: Tuesday 5-6 p.m. and by appointment
Office Address: 808 Commonwealth Ave., room 250. Boston, MA 02215.
Telephone: 617-353-2568
Fax: 617-353-2367
Tuesday, 6-9 p.m. (Downtown Center)
E-mail: zlateva@bu.edu
web:http://metcs.bu.edu/~zlateva/
Homework
Tue 9/14/1999: HW#1
p. 10, Section 1.2: #7, #8
p. 19, Section 1.3: #4, #5, #6, #7
Tue 9/21/1999: HW#2
p. 23: Section 1.4: #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12
p. 29, Section 1.5: #4, #5, #6, #7, #10
p. 44, Section 2.1: #4, #10
Tue 9/28/1999: HW#3
p. 44, Section 2.1: #5, #6
p. 47, Section 2.2: all problems
p. 51, Section 2.3: all problems
Tue 10/05/1999: HW#4
p. 61, Section 3.2: #1, #3,#5, #7,#9,#13,#15,#17
Tue 10/12/1999: HW#5
p. 69, Section 3.3: #9,#13
p. 77, Section 3.5: #2,#3e)-n), #12, #15, #16
Tue 10/19/1999: HW#6 (no quiz on this homework)
p. 97, Section 4.1: #1,#2a)-d), #3
p. 109, Section 4.3: #2,#3, #5, #7
p. 115, Section 4.5: #2, #11
Tue 10/26/1999: HW#7
p. 90, Section 3.8: #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #21, #46. #54, #55
p. 145, Section 5.2: #1, #2, #3,
p. 150, Section 5.3: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5
Tue 11/16/1999: HW#8
p. 195, Section 7.2: #1, #2, #8, #9, #11, #15
p. 204, Section 7.5: #1-a),d), #2-a),b)
p. 214, Section 7.9: #1-a),b), #2
Tue 11/23/1999: HW#9
p. 134, Section 4.9: #1-b),d),e), #2-a),d), #5, #6
p. 219, Section 8.1: #2, #3, #4
p. 221, Section 8.2: #2, #4, #8, #9
p. 252, Section 8.8: #2
p. 257, Section 8.10: #2
References
Textbooks
Ash, Carol; Ash, Robert B.. Calculus Tutoring Book.. IEEE Press, 1985.
Ash, Carol; Ash, Robert B.. Probability Tutoring Book.. IEEE Press (on
reserve in Mugar library).
Schedule
Week 1: T 09/07 Administrative. Elementary Functions
Readings: Ch.1
Week 2: T 09/14 Elementary Functions (continued).
Readings: Ch.1
Week 3: T 09/21 Limits
Readings: Ch.2
Week 4: T 09/28 Limits(continued).
Readings: Ch.2
Week 5: T 10/05 Derivatives
Readings: Ch.3
Week 6: T 10/12 Derivatives (continued).
Readings: Ch.3
Week 7: T 10/19 Maxima, minima. Graphs of
function. L'Hopital's Rule.
Readings: Ch.4
Week 8: T 10/26 The Integral. Review for
Midterm.
Readings: Ch.5
Week 9: T 11/02 Midterm.
Antidifferentiation
Readings: Ch.7
Week 10: T 11/09 Series
Readings: Ch.8
Week 11: T 11/16 Vectors. Function of complex
variables
Readings: Ch.9, handouts
Week 12: T 11/23 Probability: basic concepts.
Axioms. Conditional probability. Independence.
Random variables.
Readings: handouts
Week 13: T 12/30 Distribution (density) and
cumulative distribution.
Expectation and standard deviation.
Binomial, Normal and Poisson distribution.
Readings: handouts
Week 14: T 12/07 Review for final.
Week 15: T12/14 Final.

