BASIC MATHEMATICS – SPRING TERM 2022
COURSE INFORMATION– Preliminary version, 8th March 2022 –Forms of instruction
Until further notice, the instruction will be in the form of a series of video-recorded lectures,
posted online, and exercise classes on Zoom. The exercise classes may move to a physicalclassroom later during the term, when travel into Japan becomes possible again. The final
exam may take place on campus or online, depending on the circumstances.
All course material will be published through the course home page on NUCT.
Course content
The course covers the following topics, each of which will be the subject of one video-recorded
lecture.
12
3
4
56
7
8
910
111213Topic
Lines and their slopes
Sets and logic
Functions and their graphs
Combinations of functions
Transformations of functions
Quadratic functions
Polynomial functions
Exponentials
Logarithms
Systems of equations and inequalities
Linear systems, vectors and matrices
Derivatives, I
Derivatives, II
Final exam

Section
12, 3
4
5
6
7
9
9
10
11

Exercise class
18th April
25th April
2nd May
9th May
16th May
23rd May
30th May
6th June
13th June
20th June
27th July
4th July
11th July
25th July

The section numbers in the table indicate sections in the main course book (see below).
1. Times and venues
The exercise classes take place on Mondays, 13:00–14:30, starting on the 18th April.
An introductory meeting will be held on Monday the 11th April, at 13:00.
Examination
The examination consists of homework and a final exam.
• Homework: A number of written homework assignment will be given during the course.
Discussion and collaboration amongst students is encouraged; however, the participants
are required to hand in individually written solutions to the problems, and may be asked
to explain their solutions in class.
• The final exam will take place either on campus or online, depending on the circumstances (including the visa status of the participants).
• Preliminary date for the final exam is Monday the 25th July.

Grading
A total score (0–100 %) is calculated as the weighted average of the scores obtained on thehomework (20 %) and the final examination (80 %).
The final grade is determined by the total score, as follows:1
F : 0–59 %, C-: 60–64 %, C : 65–69 %, B : 70–79 %, A: 80–94 %, A+: 95–100 %.
Course withdrawal: Students who do not participate in the final exam will receive the gradeW.
Textbooks
The main textbook of this course is:• Rhonda, Huettenmueller: Precalculus demystified, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill (2012).
Those who want additional reading for the content of the lectures 2 and 11–13 may consult (forexample) the following books:• Seymour Lipschutz: Schaum’s outline of set theory and related topics, 2nd edition,
McGraw-Hill, 1998 (lecture 2);• Otto Bretscher: Linear Algebra with Applications, 4th edition, Pearson 2009(lecture 11);
• Serge Lang: Short calculus, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2002

(lectures 12, 13).

Instructors
Main instructor: Erik Darpö (contact via email, NUCT or by appointment)
Office:Science Building A, office no A-331
E-mail:darpo@math.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Web page: http://www.math.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~darpo
Telephone: 052-789-5612
Teaching assistant: TBC

1Students who enrolled before April 2020 will receive a grade on the five level scale S-A-B-C-F or, in the caseof course withdrawal, Absent.
2