MTH 163 is a unified course in precalculus designed to prepare you to take MTH 271 (applied calculus for students in science, business administration or social science). Credit cannot be awarded for both MTH 166 and MTH 163 .

Prerequisite : The prerequisite is three units of high school mathematics, and a placement exam is given to be sure that your math skills are adequate to enroll in MTH 163 .

If you do well in this course, you will be able to:

1. Solve problems involving equations, inequalities, and systems of equations.

2. Operate on functions (addition, multiplication, composition, and inverses).

3. Graph linear, quadratic, exponential, and logarithmic functions.

4. Factor polynomials and find zeroes of polynomials.

5. Use matrices to solve systems of linear equations.

6. Use a graphing utility as an aid in problem-solving.

The required textbook for this course is:

•  Larson, Hostetler, Edwards, Precalculus, A Graphing Approach, 4th edition, Houghton Mifflin Co., 2005 (will be shrinked wrapped with Study and Solutions Guide, and Eduspace ).

•  A Scientific Notebook CD with 180 day license is available through the NVCC campus bookstore for about $30. A permanent CD is available from MacKichan Software for about $99.

•  A graphing calculator: TI83 or TI83 plus recommended.

There are 3 exams in this course. You are expected to take your examinations at one of the NVCC campus Testing Centers. Be sure to allow enough time to complete your exam before the Testing Center closes; Testing Centers have specific policies relating to the administration of ELI exams. You will need to take a photo ID, your NovaConnect empl ID number, and the appropriate Exam Pass when you go to the Testing Center.  

For Testing Center locations, hours of operation and policies, click here.

For information on taking exams outside of the metropolitan area, click here.

I am here to help you succeed in this course. Occasionally questions or problems may arise. Here is how to contact me when they do:

• BY EMAIL: mroberts@nvcc.edu
• BY CAMPUS TELEPHONE: (703) 323-2150
• BY ELI TELEPHONE: (703) 323-3347
  

Your Email Account:
You have been assigned a VCCS email address for use in this and other courses that you take through NVCC or other colleges in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The VCCS requires that you use this email account for any course-related email communication so that we can insure your privacy as required by law. If you don't know your VCCS email address, go to the Start Page and search for your address. You must use this account to submit assignments in this course.

To log on to your email account and check for mail, click the Student Email tab near the top of this page. Enter your complete email address as your user name. Use the same password as you first used to log onto Blackboard (either the birth date you gave when you registered, or the last 4 digits of your student number). If you need help using the email account, go to the Email Login Page and click the link to "online documentation."

Please check your email regularly. That is how I will return graded assignments and send other private, course-related information. I will also reply to your emails at your VCCS account. I will not accept or respond to email sent by you from any account other than the one provided by the VCCS.

Discussion Forums:
In addition to email, you, I, and the other students in the course will communicate using discussion forums. Discussion forums allow you to post your ideas and comments and read and respond to the ideas and comments of others, without having to be connected to the course at the same time.

To access the discussion forums click the DISCUSSION BOARD button. At this point you will be presented with a list of all the discussion forums. Click on the forum that you wish to access. Click the ADD NEW THREAD button at the top of the page to create a new message. You can also click the subject of any message to read it, or click the REPLY button to write a response to a message.

There is an Introductions Forum, where we introduce ourselves, and an Open Forum, where you can ask questions or post comments about anything in the course.

1. Use your web browser to connect to http://www.nvcc.edu/bbstart. Follow the directions to determine your email, Blackboard and VIVA account user names and passwords.
2. Access your email account and make sure you know how to use it; you will be required to use this account for all course-related email.
3. Log on to Blackboard at http://learn.vccs.edu.
4. Click on this course under "My Courses." Review the entire course to make sure you understand what will be required of you. Then start completing the assignments.

Please note that account generation takes approximately one week from the time of your paid registration. If you cannot log on after one week, contact the IT Help Desk. If you can log on to Blackboard, but your course isn't listed, please contact ELI or your instructor.

Submitting Assignments