Multivariable Calculus (Math 212)
Multivariable Calculus - Math 212
Spring 2010
Instructor: Dr. Danielle O'Donnol
Office: Herman Brown 452
E-mail: odonnol AT rice DOT edu
Office Phone: (713) 348-2385
Course Information
Meeting time: TR 9:25-10:40 am
Location: BL 131
Website: http://math.rice.edu/~dso1/212s10/
Office Hours: Mondays 2-3:20, Thursdays 11-12, or by appointment
Help Session: Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays 7-9pm
Help Session Location:
| Sundays | HZ AMP |
| Tuesdays | HZ AMP |
| Thursdays | HZ 210 |
TAs:Dan Tanner, Derek Goto, Robert Vance, Jon Fickenscher, and Taylor McNeill
The Final Exam will be on Wednesday April 28th from 7pm to 10pm, in BL 131.
- It is the policy of the mathematics department that no final may be given early to accommodate student travel plans.
- All exams are pledged, closed book, and there are no calculators allowed.
Midterm #3 will be at 7pm in BL 131 on Wednesday April 14th. It covers the material from 5.5 through and including section 7.2. The exam is 90 minutes.
- If you have a conflict it is your responsibility to talk to me ahead of time.
- All exams are pledged, closed book, and there are no calculators allowed.
Here is an old exams that you can look at. Some of these cover matrial that will not be covered on our up coming exam. (Also, those problems from the old exam#2-s that were over material that was not on the second exam, could be good practice for this exam.)
- midterm#3-fall2008
Midterm #2 will be at 7pm in BL 131 on Wednesday March 17th. It covers the material up to and including section 5.5. The exam is 90 minutes.
- If you have a conflict it is your responsibility to talk to me ahead of time.
- All exams are pledged, closed book, and there are no calculators allowed.
Midterm #1 will be at 7pm in BL 131 on Wednesday February 10th. It covers the material up to and including section 2.3. The exam is 90 minutes.
- If you have a conflict it is your responsibility to talk to me ahead of time.
- All exams are pledged, closed book, and there are no calculators allowed.
Text: Vector Calculus by Jerrold E. Marsden and Anthony J. Tromba, 5th edition.
The textbook for the course is an excellent and useful guide. You should carefully study the sections we cover in class.
The subject material is not merely one-dimensional calculus with more variables. You will
learn the role played by geometry in real-world physical systems, as we cover sections of all
8 chapters in the book.
Requirements: It is your responsibility to understand the material from both the book
and lectures for those sections covered.
Homework: You can find the homework assignments here. Homework will be assigned weekly and due the following week on Tuesday. You may hand in your homework in class or turn it in at my office that same day by noon. (If I am not there put your homework under my office door.) Late homework will not be accepted. To compensate for the firm policy against late homework, the two lowest homework scores will not count towards your average.
Homework is not pledged, and you may find it helpful to work with others to solve the
homework problems. However, the write-up you hand in must be your work alone. Although you are free to get outside help on your homework, any attempt to falsify your grade is still in violation of the honor code.
Exams: There will be three exams during the semester and a final exam. The exams will be pledged and closed book. Calculators will not be allowed. The exams will be held outside of class. The exams are scheduled for February 10th, March 17th and April 14th, they will be in our usual call room.
Grade Breakdown:
Your grade in the class will be based on the following weights, where the lowest of the 20% items
will be dropped:
| Homework: | 20% |
| Exam I: | 20% |
| Exam II: | 20% |
| Exam III: | 20% |
Final Exam: | 2x20% |
So either the homework grade, one exam, or half of the final will be dropped. Though you could not do the homework, it is not advisable. It is unusual to do well on exams without the practice of homework.
Final Exams: It is the policy of the mathematics department that no final may be given early to accommodate student travel plans. We will not know when the final in this course will be scheduled for some time. Therefore, if you should make plans to travel before the end of final exam period, and it turns out that the final for this course is after your scheduled departure date, you will have to choose between keeping your plans and receiving zero for the final, or incurring the costs for changing your plans and taking the final at its scheduled time. Thanks for your understanding.
Note: Any student with a documented disability requiring accommodations is requested to speak with me during the first week of class. All such discussions will remain confidential. Students with disabilities need to also contact Disability Support Services in the Allen Center.
Tentative Schedule:
| Week | Sections |
| 1(1/11) | 1.1, 1.2 |
| 2(1/18) | 1.3, 1.4, (1.5), 2.1 |
| 3(1/25) | 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 |
| 4(2/2) | 2.5, 2.6 |
| 5(2/8) | 3.1, 3.3 |
| 6(2/15) | 3.4, (5.1), 5.2 |
| 7(2/22) | 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 |
| Spring Break |
| 8(3/8) | 6.1, 6.2, 4.2 |
| 9(3/15) | 4.3, 4.4 |
| 10(3/22) | 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 |
| 11(3/29) | 7.4 [Spring Recess] |
| 12(4/5) | 7.5, 7.6 |
| 13(4/12) | 8.1, 8.2 |
14(4/19) | 8.3, 8.4 |