Cal Poly Mathematics

Math 241, Calculus IV
Fall 2003

Time: MTWR 4-5
Location: Building 38, Room 148

Instructor: Dr. Ben Richert
Office: Building 25, Room 325
Office phone: (75)6-1681
Office hours: M,T,W: 12-1; R: 12-1, 2-3; and by appointment.
Email: brichert@calpoly.edu

Course description: Math 141, 142, and 143 develop single variable calculus and the theory of vectors. In Math 241, we extend these ideas to functions of many variables. This allows us to find tangent planes (before we found tangent lines), find density and center of mass of surfaces with variable density (before we could only handle lamina of constant density), find surface areas (before we could only find surface areas for surfaces of revolution), find volumes of spaces enclosed by surfaces (before we could only do this if the surfaces in question were again surfaces of revolution), find the length of parametric curves (before we could only measure arc-length), and so on. In the process we will develop a number of interesting tools including partial derivatives, the chain rule, Lagrange multipliers, double and triple integrals, vector fields, the gradient vector, Green's theorem, Stokes' theorem, line integrals, and surface integrals, to name a few.

Course home page: Blackboard on my.calpoly.edu.

Text: James Stewart, Calculus, fourth edition, Brooks/Cole Publishing, 1999.

Syllabus: We will be working through chapters 15-17 of Stewart's Calculus in this course.

Prerequisites: Math 143.

Grades: Grades will be based on quizzes and exams. The quizzes count for 20%, the first in-class exam counts for 20%, the second in-class exam counts for 25%, and the final counts for 40%.

Reading: Students are expected to read the section of the text to be covered on a given day before the lecture.

Individual Homework: Individual homework questions will be listed on the web as we go through the semester. These will not be collected, but will be used in the construction of quizzes and exams.

Quizzes: There will be one quiz each week (typically on Thursday). This quiz will usually be based on the homework, and the intention is that completing the individual homework assignments and looking over your solutions will be sufficient preparation. No makeup quizzes will be given; however, your lowest quiz score will be dropped.

Exams: There will be two in-class exams and one cumulative final. Exam 1 is scheduled for Thursday, October 16. Exam 2 is scheduled for Thursday, November 13. These dates are tentative. The cumulative final will be held from 4-7 on Thursday December 11.