Would anyone mind checking my work? - Calc 2

[opticaltempest]

The images below are scanned images of work for one of my assigned problems in Calculus 2. Right now I am only concerned with integrating in order to find a position function (ignoring the constant of integration for time being).

How does it look? I am checking my work with Maple 10. I do not get the same results when I evaluate Maple's resulting function and my function at the given values for the constants. I can't find my error(s) :( Anyone care to look?

Page 1 -
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/8109/page010dy.jpg"

Page 2 -
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/9177/page028zi.jpg"

Page 3 -
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/2531/page035tl.jpg"

Page 4 -
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/456/page046xs.jpg"

Thanks

 

[Fermat]

There is an error in the last line of the last page (page 4).
You multiplied the contents of the square brackets by -u.
But you forget to change the sign of all of the terms within the square brackets!

 

[dicerandom]

Just out of curiosity, do you always write your work out in that much detail or was that for our benefit? I think my hand would fall off if I wrote every problem I did like that.

 

[opticaltempest]

I don't write out all of my homework in this detail. This is a more complicated problem assigned by my instructor that we turn in for a grade. Sometimes it helps out with partial credit if I make some mistakes early in the problem.

I'm anal about my organization. It can be frustrating when I take mathematics tests. I hate having to works problems in a hurry. It causes me to scribble bits and pieces of a problem all over the paper.

I wish mathematics courses, specifically calculus, would put some emphasis on mathematical writing.

When is formal mathematical writing taught in an undergraduate mathematics program?

 

[dicerandom]

I think it would vary from place to place.

As a physics major I was expected to do some writing in my Linear Algebra and Differential Equations classes. Both of those classes had long-term final projects for which I had to write a paper and do a presentation in front of the class, those were both in my Sophomore year. In my Junior year we had long term written assignments in my Classical Mechanics class, this was a requirement by the department since they found that many Physics seniors were having a very hard time doing the kind of writing which is necessary for articles or grant applications. In my senior year (this year, next quarter) I will be expected to write and present a research piece on a subject of my choice, there's an entire 4 unit upper division writing class devoted to this.

Edit: As a Math major I would expect that you'd be doing a lot more writing, I imagine that the upper division math classes largely consist of proofs which you will be expected to write out in some detail.

 

[benorin]

Edit: As a Math major I would expect that you'd be doing a lot more writing, I imagine that the upper division math classes largely consist of proofs which you will be expected to write out in some detail.

Yes, very much the case for me as a math major. Real analysis especially so, under grad was tough with the proofs needing to be detailed and rigorous [Rudin], but the grad version was brutal ! Necessary and sufficient conditions for some obscure theorem to hold it seems that all problems are proofs or disproofs by counter-example.