SI September 4, 2016

Applied Mathematics 21a

Mathematical Methods in the Sciences
MWF 11:00am-noon

Northwest Labs B103

Course Description
What is multivariable calculus?
Multivariable calculus is, on its face, simply the extension of the ideas of calculus from one dimension to multiple dimensions.
This extension is worthwhile because in most areas of endeavor, functions are functions of
more than one variable. For example, the amount of candy you buy today may depend both on
how much spare change you have and how recently you saw the dentist. How hot it feels to you
outside may depend on the temperature, the humidity, and the windspeed, and these in turn are
functions of your latitude, longitude, and of time.
This extension to multiple dimensions is surprisingly mathematically rich, incorporating geometric intuition, vector valued functions, optimization, and probability, along with other topics.
What will I gain from this course?
Learning goals:
We will work to connect the multivariable framework to objects and phenomena in the world,
furthering a quantitative viewpoint.
This course will contribute to your knowledge of the discipline of mathematics, including
your understanding of the power of mathematics.
Learning to learn the material in the course will create an opportunity to develop new skills,
as needed, to progress towards mastery of the material, and to engage in mathematical
inquiry.
Learning objectives:
By the end of the course students will be able to:
1. Communicate clearly and precisely the ideas of multivariable calculus.
2. Given a problem from within the scope of the course, students will be able to identify, select,
and apply relevant methods from the course.
3. Construct a geometric description of any concept from the course.
4. Use vector notation and operations to express and solve problems.
5. Describe, approximate, and graph curves, functions and surfaces in three-space, and using
cross-sections or level curves when appropriate.
6. Use partial derivatives, the directional derivative, the gradient, and the chain rule to identify
the sensitivity of one or more quantities to change in other quantities.

7. Differentiate and integrate vector-valued functions and functions of several variables.

8. Apply techniques from the course to optimization and probability problems.
9. Compute or approximate circulation, flux, curl, divergence, and flowlines of a vector field.
10. Use theorems of vector calculus (Greens, Divergence, Stokes) to simplify calculations of
flux and circulation.

Teaching Staff
Instructor: Dr. Sarah Iams
office: Pierce Hall 283
e-mail: siams@seas
Head teaching fellow: Rodrick Kuate Defo
office: Cruft 402
e-mail: rkuatedefo@fas
A full list of teaching fellows, office hours, and sections will be posted on the course website.

Prerequisites
Prior to taking this course, students should have completed single-variable calculus, such as AP
Calculus BC, at the level of Math 1a and Math 1b.

Course Materials
There is one textbook for this course:
Calculus: Multivariable, Edition 6, by McCallum et al. ISBN 9780470888674.
Copies of this textbook are at the COOP and on reserve at McKay library on the third floor of
Pierce Hall. The Student Solutions Manual is also on reserve at McKay library.
We will also make regular use of the Mathematica computational program in this course. It
should be installed on your personal computer prior to the first meeting of your section. You can
download it from http://downloads.fas.harvard.edu/download.

Homework and Study Habits

Homework covering the previous weeks material will be posted on the course website on Friday and
will be due the following Friday as a *.pdf upload to the course site on Canvas. A homework cover
sheet is also due at that time. Part of the homework each week may be assigned via WeBWorK,
an online homework system designed to give you immediate feedback. Some homework problems
will be assigned as a team problem that you will work on during section and then will submit with
an individual writeup as part of your homework.
Late HW policy: You have 72 late hours to distribute across all of your homeworks. The
timestamp on Canvas is considered the HW submission time. Submissions will be rounded up

to the nearest hour (HW submitted at 5:15pm is 1 hour late, etc). These hours are designed to
address cases of illness, computer failure, unexpected travel, or other contingencies. Once these
hours are used, late assignments will not be accepted.
Learning multivariable calculus requires hard work as you work to acquire new ways of thinking.
Productive practice is important to learning mathematics. To aid in this, we will make extra
problems available on WeBWorK beyond those required for the homework. In addition, the
text divides questions into Exercises, Problems, and Strengthen Your Understanding questions.
Doing all Exercises and Strengthen Your Understanding questions should be a routine part of
your studying. Problems may be more involved or time consuming and create an opportunity to
engage in more creative mathematical practice.

Collaboration Policy: Collaborating on problem sets

1. Collaboration in planning and designing solutions to homework problems is encouraged, but
no collaboration is allowed in writing up solutions or writing Mathematica code. You are
allowed to work with others in the form of discussing, brainstorming, and walking through
strategies for solving homework problems. But when you have finished interacting, you
must write your solutions and code independently, and you may not compare your written
solutions or code against each other or against notes that were taken during the collaboration.
Specifically:
When you are stuck on a written problem, you may show your work to a collaborator
in order to get help in identifying the error, but you may not look at a collaborators
own written answers.
When you are stuck on a Mathematica problem, you may show your code to a collaborator in order to get help in identifying the bug, but you may not look at a collaborators
own code.
When you are finished a problem, you may check your answer verbally with a collaborator, but there may be no direct comparison of code or homework papers between
collaborators.
2. We expect and encourage you to collaborate with other students in planning and designing
solutions to homework problems. On the HW Cover Sheet, state with pride the names of
the students with whom you collaborated in this manner. The absence of collaborators will
give us cause to worry.
3. Before consulting others (students, TFs, instructors) make sure you have made a genuine
effort to solve the problems by yourself. This is important for identifying your personal
roadblocks so you can focus on them. Problem sets and other worked problems are a key
contributor to learning in this course.
4. Most of the assigned homework problems will be taken from the course textbook or similar
resources. It is not acceptable to simply find pre-existing solutions to these problems and
treat them as collaborators.
5. Violation of this policy may be grounds for disciplinary action via the Honor Council

Academic Integrity
In addition to the collaboration policy described above, we support and adhere to the principles of
academic integrity described in Harvards honor code. We - the academic community of Harvard
College, including the faculty and students - view integrity as the basis for intellectual discovery,
artistic creation, independent scholarship, and meaningful collaboration. We thus hold honesty
- in the representation of our work and in our interactions with teachers, advisers, peers, and
students - as the foundation of our community. At its core is an expectation that you will not
take unfair advantage of your fellow community members.
We will assume your trustworthiness in interactions with us, and with your fellow students. In
the interest of fairness of those who adhere to this code of conduct, if a violation of this trust is
discovered, it will be reported to the Honor Council.

Section
The Teaching Fellows will run weekly recitation sections, and you will be assigned to one section
based on your preferences. You are expected to attend this section. In weeks when there is a quiz
or a team-based homework problem, you are required to attend. In addition, most Mathematica
activities will happen in section.

Assessments
We will have regular quizzes, two midterm exams and a final exam. The quizzes have two goals.
They are designed to be formative assessments, giving you feedback on your knowledge, and they
are designed to be opportunities to recall information. Recall practice is a very effective learning
technique and is one of the main reasons this course has quizzes. Each quiz will be accompanied by
a quiz rewrite assignment designed to restore up to 100% of lost points towards your quiz grade.
For the midterm exams, the rewrite assignments will restore up to 25% of lost points. Some
problems on the exams will look similar to those from lecture and homework, and other problems
will ask you to apply your knowledge in slightly different contexts. We will announce the locations
of the midterm exam on the course website. You will not be allowed to use textbooks, calculators
or computers, or notes on any of the exams.

Grading
Your full participation in the course, including submitting homework assignments, attending and
participating in section and class, and making contributions on Piazza are important to building
our learning community. The course staff reserve the right to penalize your grade if your participation falls below satisfactory levels.
Your final course grade will be determined based on the following breakdown:
Homework
20%
Quizzes
10%
Video Assignments
2%
Midterm I (W Oct 5, 7-9pm)
16%
Midterm II (Tu Nov 8, 7-9pm) 22%
Final Exam
30%

After weighting your grade in each component of the course according to the weighting above,
your letter grade for the course will be assigned using the scale below.
Final Course
Percentage Interval Letter Grade
[93, 100]
A
[89, 93)
A[85, 89)
B+
[82, 85)
B
[79, 82)
B[76, 93)
C+
[70, 76)
C
[65, 70)
C[55, 65)
D
[50, 55)
D< 50
E

Supporting Student Diversity

This class has participatory components, and different students bring different perspectives, experiences, and areas of expertise. Every voice in our classroom is important, and because of this
we ask you to work to purposefully maintain a respectful environment during all interactions with
your classmates.

Students with Disabilities

Students needing academic adjustments or accommodations because of a documented disability
must present their Faculty Letter from the Accessible Education Office (AEO) and speak with the
instructor by the end of the second week of the term. All discussions will remain confidential.

Other Resources
The BSC offers workshops and information on stress management, test anxiety, problems with
attention or sleep, and study skills, along with access to tutors. CAMHS is another resource
for stress or anxiety. For confidential resources related to sexual assault and harassment, contact: OSAPR; CAMHS; Chaplains; BSC; BGLTQ Office; Response Peer Counseling; Ombuds. If
it would be helpful to you, we are available to support you in your efforts to access these resources.