Dave Smith

dsmith@vhcc.edu

Mth 163

Precalculus I

You must have completed Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry and have a sufficient placement score on the Compass test.

This is a challenging course.  Attend every class and figure to start on 5 hours of homework a week.  You don't learn mathematics by watching someone do it.  You learn by doing it yourself.

The Submit Work form is at http://www.vhcc.edu/dsmith/class_work_form.htm

The homepage for this course is at http://www.vhcc.edu/pc1fall9/ .

Course of Study is under Info at this page.  You should read it.

Do a 15-second timing of pendulums of length 10 cm, 20 cm and 40 cm.  If you don't have 40 cm then do 10, 15 and 20 cm.

For each length figure out how long it took to complete each cycle, on the average.  Give your results rounded to the nearest hundredth of a second.  The time required for a complete cycle is called the period of the pendulum.  The period of the 10 cm pendulum will be Item 4, the period of the 20 cm pendulum will be Item 5 and the period of the 40 cm pendulum will be Item 6.

e.g. if you counted 10 cycles in 15 seconds the period calculation would be 15 seconds / (10 cycles) = 1.5 sec / cycle.  The period is therefore 1.5 seconds.

Use a reasonable scale with the figure below to sketch a graph of the period of a pendulum vs. its length, with the period being the y coordinate and the length being the x coordinate.

Continue with the remaining questions in the document Pend 01.

Also do the requested graphs in the document basic graphs.