Calculus III (Math UN1201)

Instructor: Mike Miller
Email: mmiller@math.columbia.edu
Webpage: here! homework will also be posted to Courseworks
Office: Math 427
Office hours: Monday 10AM-12PM; Thursday 11AM-1PM

Teaching assistants: Each section has one graduate TA and two undergraduate TAs. You may attend any of their help hours. You may (and should!) email your graduate TA with any questions, but not your undergraduate TAs. 

Section 5 (1:10PM): Graduate TA is Alex Zhang, zz2375@columbia.edu. His help room hours are Thursday 3-6.

Undergraduate TAs are Jungsoo Lee and Andrew Sullivan. Their help room hours are Monday 12-2 and Friday 11-1 respectively.

Section 6 (2:40PM): Graduate TA is Aaron Chow, tc2931@columbia.edu. His help room hours are Monday 1-4.

Undergraduate TAs are Daiki Tagami and Samuel Hatem. Their help room hours are Tuesday 9-10, 1-2 and Wednesday 9-11, respectively.


Textbook: Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 8th Edition, by James Stewart. See here for more information.

The textbook is very expensive, and most students do not refer back to it after they finish the calculus sequence. It is much cheaper to purchase an older edition of the textbook; very little changes except for the problems. 

However, problems are assigned out of the 8th edition.
You should make sure to get the correct problems either from the library or from a friend.


Prerequisites: The only prerequisite course is Calculus I (Math UN1101) or equivalent; see here for more information on what constitutes an equivalent. 


Homework: Most homework will be assigned on Tuesday and due by the beginning of class the following Tuesday, and will otherwise be noted on Courseware and the homework. Your homework must be dropped off in drop-boxes on the 4th floor of the math building; it will not be accepted electronically.
The homework will be posted here and on Courseware. You can work together with other students on the assignments (I encourage it - explaining math helps you understand and remember math), but answers must be written up in your own words, and you must write down who you collaborated with.

Late homework will not be accepted.


Tests: There will be two 75-minute midterm exams and a 3-hour final exam.

Midterm 1: October 3
Midterm 2: November 7


Section 5 (TR 1:10-2:25) Final: Tuesday Dec 17, 1:10-4:00PM
Section 6 (TR 2:40-3:55) Final: Thusday Dec 19, 1:10-4:00PM

The test dates cannot be moved. You must plan your travel well in advance to not conflict with exam dates.


Grading: The final course grade is weighted as:

Homework: 10%
Midterm 1: 25%
Midterm 2: 25%
Final: 40%

Your bottom two homework scores will automatically be dropped.


Students with disabilities: To receive accomodations for exams (or otherwise), you must register with the Disability Services office and present an accomodation letter.
More information is available here.


Getting help: Math, and college, can be hard; anybody who's done a lot of math will tell you that they've struggled. If you're finding that you're struggling with the course, you should get help immediately.
If you're finding yourself overwhelmed but don't get help, then the tide may very well sweep you away and leave you completely lost!
You can come to my office hours (listed on my main page and this syllabus), or to the help room, where there is always TA - your specific TA's help room hours will be posted as well. And as mentioned above, I recommend working with your friends!
There is information here about tutoring services. I will warn that private tutoring, especially in NYC, can be extremely expensive.


Tentative schedule

Date Book Section(s) Homework Notes
09/03 Brief overview, coordinate systems (12.1, 10.3, 15.7, 15.8)    
09/05 Vectors (12.2)    
09/10 Dot product (12.3) HW 1 due  
09/12 Cross Product (12.4)    
09/17 Equations of lines and planes (12.5) HW 2 due  
09/19 Parametric curves, conic sections (10.1, 10.5)    
09/24 Cylinders and quadric surfaces (12.6) HW 3 due  
9/26 Vectors functions and space curves (13.1)    
10/01 Review    
10/03 Midterm 1 HW 4 due Will include (12.1)-(13.1)
10/08 Derivatives and integrals of vector functions (13.2)   Drop date: Barnard, CC, GS, SPS
10/10 Arc length and curvature (13.3)    
10/15 Motion in space: velocity and acceleration (13.4) HW 5 due  
10/17 Functions of several variables, limits, continuity (14.1, 14.2)    
10/22 Partial derivatives (14.3) HW 6 due  
10/24 Tangent planes and linear approximations (14.4)    
10/29 The chain rule (14.5)    
10/31 Review HW 7 due Note the Thursday due date
11/05 Academic Holiday    
11/07 Midterm 2   Will include (13.2) through (14.5)
11/12 Directional derivatives and the gradient vector (14.6)    
11/14 More on Directional derivatives and the gradient vector (14.6)    
11/19 Maxima and minima (14.7) HW 8 due  
11/21 More Maxima and minima (14.7)    
11/26 Lagrange multipliers (14.8) HW 9 due  
11/28 Thanksgiving!    
12/03 Complex numbers (Appendix H)    
12/05 Review HW 10 due Note the Thursday due date



Image of a successful calculus student by Ryan Armand.

 

Homework 9Homework 9