James (Jim) Frankenfield - Tutoring Services

Math Tutoring, Maths Tutoring, Mathematics Tutoring

I offer Math Tutoring and teaching from middle school through university level. My forte is high school and college and level physics which includes IB Mathematics, A-Level Maths, AP Math and of course actual college courses. I have taught and tutored courses from middle school through calculus as well as a few higher level courses. (I have tutored Complex Analysis and select Calculus 4 material and taught a unique graduate course on Nonlinear Dynamics as well as one in engineering.) I am currently updating a graduate text I wrote around 1990 which I hope to self-publish in the near future.

I am an engineer at heart (primarily ECSE - Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering with some graduate Mechanical coursework and some limited Civil Engineering background) who went back to graduate school in physics and also obtained a second graduate degree in math. Therefore my emphasis and interest is applied. I also believe in a combination of methodology and conceptual understanding. (Nothing is more frustrating than trying to teach an engineering course to students who learned to grind through calculus problems but were never taught the underlying concepts.) I do not teach "tricks" or special formulas which will be forgotten, nor am I impressed by that.

I maintain an MAA Webwork installation of my own for assigning homework or practice problems. This is something which very few tutors have available. Quite a few universities use it and some high schools that have a strong enough IT person or department may use it. (It's popular in academics but not trivial to maintain. It requires a solid knowledge of UNIX and server management and this is beyond the abilities of most tutors, including STEM tutors.)

For more about my tutoring follow the links at the top or on the side of the page. To get started you can contact me.

My Background

I did not take AP calculus in high school since I had already taught myself calculus. I did take AP physics which was calculus based and received 2 semesters of credit from RPI where I studied engineering. I did not take the Calculus AP exam since I had not taken the couse but probably should have.

After working in engineering (in computer design, semiconductors, and rocket motors) for a few years and becoming bored I returned to graduate school at Utah State University in the Physics department. During the year preceeding my return to full time studies I was taking 3 graduate engineering courses a term while working more than full time. My choices were limited and I ultimately took primarily Mechanical Engineering analytical courses as well as some electrical and computer engineering. As a result of these credits and the need to take graduate level math in order to succeed in graduate physics I earned a second masters degree in math. For my thesis-equivalent in math I taught a graduate seminar on Non-linear Dynamical Systems and Chaos for a group of engineering graduate students. I prepared my own text for that course. Throughout my graduate studies I maintained close ties to the college of engineering as well as the physics and math departments.

I have taught high school and university math courses (as well as physics and engineering courses) and managed a university "help desk" for math and physics. I have significant experience designing, planning, delivering and assessing courses within accredited institutions.