Math UN1201: Calculus III

Instructor: Akram Alishahi
Email: alishahi@math.columbia.edu
Webpage: courseworks.columbia.edu and math.columbia.edu/~alishahi/CalcIII.html
Office hours: Tuesday: 9:30a-10:30a and Thursday: 1:30p-2:30p or by appointment; at Math 613

Teaching Assistants:

Office hours will be posted soon at
http://www.math.columbia.edu/general-information/help-rooms/333-milbank/

Help Room Hours: Milbank 333, The room will open on Monday Sep 11.


Textbook: James Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 8th Edition. For more information: http://www.math.columbia.edu/programs-math/undergraduate-program/calculus-classes/#textbook

An earlier edition of the book is also fine and much cheaper, but the homework references come from the 8th edition. Please get the correct problems from the library or a friend.


Prerequisite: Math. UN1101 (Calculus I) or equivalent. For more information: http://www.math.columbia.edu/programs-math/undergraduate-program/calculus-classes/#placement


Overview: Welcome to Calculus III! The topics you will be learning about this semester are

The prerequisite material for this course is covered in Calculus I. Familiarity with the material of Calculus II is helpful but not essential. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding whether this is the right course for you.


Homework: There will be problem sets every week, due at the beginning of class on Tuesdays. If you can't make it to the class, put it in the assigned box outside of 410 Math.

You are welcome to work on the assignments together, but you must write up in your own words. Late homeworks are not accepted. Solutions of homeworks will be posted on Courseworks after each assignment is due.

Late homeworks are not accepted. Solutions of homeworks will be posted on Courseworks after each assignment is due.


Exam: There will be two 75-minute in-class midterm exams, and a final exam.

Midterm 1: October 3

Midterm 2: November 2

Final (Tentative schedule):

If you have a conflict with any of the exam dates, you must contact me ahead of time so we can make arrangements. (At least a week ahead is preferable.) If you are unable to take the exam because of a medical problem, you must go to the health center and get a note from them -- and contact me as soon as you can.


Grading: The final course grade will be determined by:

Homework:           20%

Midterm 1:            20%

Midterm 2:            20%

Final:                    40%

The lowest homework score will be dropped.


Getting help. If you're having trouble, get help immediately. Everyone who works seriously on mathematics struggles. But if you don't get help promptly you will soon be completely lost. The first places to look for help are my office hours and the course TA in the help room. Talking to your other classmates can also be helpful. Finally, there is information about tutoring resources through CC / SEAS, GS, and Barnard at http://www.math.columbia.edu/general-information/tutoring-services/.


Student with disabilities: Students must register with the Disability Services and present an accomodation letter before the exam or other accomodations that can be provided. More information is available on the Disability Services webpage: http://health.columbia.edu/disability-services


Tentetive Syllabus

Date Book Section(s) Homework Notes
09/05 Brief overview, coordinate systems (12.1,10.3,15.7,15.8)
09/07 Vectors (12.2)
09/12 Dot product (12.3) HW 1 due
09/14 Cross Product (12.4)
09/19 Equations of lines and planes (12.5) HW 2 due
09/21 Parametric curves, conic sections (10.1, 10.5)
09/26 Cylinders and quadric surfaces (12.6) HW 3 due
09/28 Review
10/03 Midterm 1
10/05 Vectors functions (13.1)
10/10 Derivatives and integrals of vector functions (13.2) Drop Date:Barnard, CC, GS, SPS
10/12 Arc length and curvature (13.3)
10/17 Motion in space: velocity and acceleration(13.4) HW 4 due
10/19 Functions of several variables, limits, continuity (14.1, 14.2)
10/24 Partial derivatives (14.3) HW 5 due
10/26 Tangent planes and linear approximations (14.4)
10/31 Review HW 6 due
11/02 Midterm 2
11/07 University Holiday
11/09 The chain rule (14.5)
11/14 Directional derivatives and the gradient vector (14.6) HW 7 due
11/16 More on Directional derivatives and the gradient vector (14.6)
11/21 Maxima and minima (14.7) HW 8 due
11/23 Thanksgiving!
11/28 More Maxima and minima (14.7)
11/30 Lagrange multipliers (14.8)
12/05 Complex numbers (Appendix H) HW 9 due
12/07 Review