Preface Preface
The purpose of this collection of problems is to serve as a supplementary learning resource for students who are taking a differential calculus course at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. The collection contains problems posed at Math 151 - Calculus I and Math 150 - Calculus I With Review final examinations from 2000 to 2020. The problems are sorted by topic and most of them are accompanied with hints or solutions. Both courses, Math 150 and Math 151, are designed for students enrolled in one of Simon Fraser University's science (mathematics, physics, statistics, chemistry, earth sciences) or applied science (engineering, computing science) programs.
We welcome students from other institutions to use this collection as an additional resource in their quest to master differential calculus.
We hope that other calculus instructors will find this collection useful if only as a way to compare with their own practices.
Although all of the problems contained in this collection have been used, some of them multiple times, as final examination questions, their levels of difficulty may vary significantly from each other. The process of composing a final examination is never simple. The process is largely determined by institutionally prescribed course outcomes. The process also reflects individual instructors' goals of holding a fair and balanced examination that can serve as an objective tool for determining the level of each student's knowledge.
The last chapter in this collection contains a detailed list of recommendations to all students who are thinking about their well-being, learning, goals, and who want to be successful academically.
The authors are thankful to students Aparna Agarwal, Jana Caine, Nazli Jelveh, Brian Li, Ha Thu Nguyen, Geoffrey Nonis, Daniel Sloseris, Eli Stockie, and Michael Wong for their help.
We are particularly thankful to Dr. Sean Fitzpatrick for inspiring and encouraging us to use PreTeXt.
No project such as this can be free from errors and incompleteness. The authors would be grateful to everyone who points out any typos, errors, or sends any other suggestion on how to improve this manuscript.
Veselin Jungic, Petra Menz, and Randall Pyke
Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University
Contact address: vjungic@sfu.ca
In Burnaby, B.C., July 2020