AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY
School of Science and Engineering (SSE)
MTH2301 Multivariable Calculus – sections 01, 03 and 04
Fall 2020 - ONLINE
Instructor:
Office Location:
Office Hours:
Meeting Time:
Dr. V. Van Lierde
Building 7 Room 18; extension 2447 or 0535/862 447.
MWF 10.50-11.50AM, TR 8.30-9.30AM, 10.50-12.50 on MS Teams or in
my office. If you are getting in touch online, you can use the designated
Office Hours Team on MS Teams or private chat on MS Teams.
Students are welcome to make appointments outside office hours as well.
01 MWF 9.00-9.50AM, 03 MWF 10.00-10.50AM, 04 TR 9.30-10.50AM
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Pre-requisite
Co-requisite
Pre-requisite for
Offered in Semester
Credit Hours
Contact Hours
MTH1312
None
EGR3401, MTH2303, MTH3301; Co-requisite
for EGR2311 and EGR2312
1&2
3
3 hours per week
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Multivariable calculus covering vectors and surfaces, partial
differentiation, multiple integration, vector calculus including Green's Theorem, Stokes' Theorem and
an introduction to differential equations.
TEXTBOOK: Calculus, Ron Larson and Bruce H. Edwards, 11th edition, Brooks/Cole Cengage
Learning. Chapters with homework annotations available on the LMS.
Optional (but useful) free online textbook: https://openstax.org/details/books/calculus-volume-3
COURSE OUTCOMES:
Upon successful completion of this course, students are expected to
1. Define and use vector operations in two and three dimensions.
2. Define and use vector methods to analyze curves in the plane and in space.
3. Define and use the standard techniques of multivariable calculus, both differential and
integral, and utilize them to solve selected applied problems.
DROP POLICY: The last day to add or drop this course without it reflecting on your transcript is
September 24. The last day to drop this class with a ‘W’ is November 19. The last day to drop with a
‘WP’ or ‘WF’ is December 3.
GRADING:
Participation: 10%
Out-of-class assignments on WeBWorK: 20%
Discussion Board: 10%
Groupwork and presentations: 20%
Midterm (oral): 20%
Final Exam (oral): 20%
2-14 November, TBA
TBA
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Academic Misconduct
The university’s statement on academic integrity is found in AUI Catalog and Student Handbook:
“It is the aim of the AUI faculty to foster a spirit of honesty and a high standard of integrity. The
attempt of students to present as their own any work which they have not produced is a most
serious offense and makes the offenders subject to serious consequences, including suspension.
AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY
School of Science and Engineering (SSE)
The instructor is responsible for initiating action for dishonesty or plagiarism that occurs in
his/her class. In cases where there is convincing evidence of academic dishonesty, plagiarism, or
falsification, the instructor should take appropriate action. Before taking such action, however,
the instructor should discuss the matter with the student involved.”
Academic dishonesty includes, but it not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, falsifying
academic records, misrepresenting facts, and any act designed to give unfair academic advantage
to the student (such as, but not limited to, submission of essentially the same written assignment
for two courses without the prior permission of the instructor) or the attempt to commit such an
act.
Examinations are to assess what you know individually; cheating on an exam will result in a score of
0 (zero) for the test. Avoid plagiarism on formal writing assignments by making liberal use of citing
references. Plagiarism will result in a score of 0 (zero) for the assignment.
Cases of academic dishonesty will be reported to the SSE Dean’s Office. Students with serious or
multiple violations may be referred to the Student Disciplinary Committee for further discipline.
Civility in the Classroom
In this course, you are expected to act in a manner consistent with the behavior expected in the
professional workplace. Respect each other, come to class prepared, be supportive of others, be
attentive, contribute when appropriate, and be engaged in your learning. Civility is expected and
assumed.
In order for everyone to have the opportunity to maximize learning, inappropriate or disruptive
behavior is prohibited and may result in a request to leave the classroom at a minimum. Examples
include, but are not limited to, excessive tardiness or late arrivals, demanding special treatment,
challenges to the instructor’s authority, leaving class early, shuffling backpacks and book bags, using
offensive language or remarks, wearing caps, prolonged side discussions, playing games in class,
sleeping, overt inattentiveness, and using a laptop or any other electronic device during class unless
instructed to do so.
TIME REQUIREMENT: According to the catalog, it is expected that a student spends an absolute
minimum of six hours a week outside of class on watching course-related videos, solving homework
problems, reading the textbook, taking online quizzes and reviewing class notes. This means that you
should be prepared to spend at least 9 hours a week on this course (including classtime).
DERIVATIVE WORKS: As a result of class projects and assignments, students may decide to
submit derivative work as papers to conferences or academic journals or to compete in national or
international competitions. Any submission or participation in competitions has no bearing on the
course grade and should be done only after the course grades have been posted. In some cases,
students may apply for student mobility grants through Student Affairs to help offset a portion of the
expenses associated with derivative works.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: Class attendance, preparation, note-taking and
participation are a crucial part of this course. It is the student's responsibility to attend every class as
stated in the general AUI regulations and policies. Any student exceeding five (TR class) or seven
(MWF) unauthorized absences may be dropped from the class with a WF grade. The instructor will
not hesitate to ask for ‘W’, ‘WP’ and ‘WF’ grades even near the end of the semester.
Students are expected to read the book and watch the assigned videos before class. There will be inclass exercises in which you are required to participate. Failure to do so will lower your participation
grade.
How is “virtual attendance” measured in this online class? You are expected to be present in the
online class meetings. Your attendance will be recorded. If you cannot attend (for example, because
of a technical issue), please watch the recording. If you have a serious issue that prevents you from
attending class regularly, please talk to me or to the DSA, to avoid being dropped from the class.
AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY
School of Science and Engineering (SSE)
Attendance is measured not just in terms of answering the call on MS Teams, but more importantly,
by actively participating in the sessions, including the small groups discussion sessions. You can also
participate asynchronously, by using the discussions on the LMS or on MS Teams to interact with
your classmates and instructor. Use the Ask a Question section to ask and answer questions. This
section is separate from the general discussion section, which is used to answer more focused
questions, and which counts towards your grade (10%).
If you do not participate for a total of 2.5 weeks, consecutively or not consecutively, you may be
withdrawn from the course.
Making inappropriate comments or using disruptive or abusive language in class, on the chat, or in the
discussion forum, will affect your grade negatively.
HOMEWORK: Homework problems are posted on the LMS, but the homework will not be graded
for correctness. However, students are urged to solve all homework problems. Please contact the
CLE or see me during office hours if you have any questions on the homework problems. You are
encouraged to work with other students on solving homework problems. You should keep all your
homework organized in one folder or notebook, which you should have ready to class. Your
homework portfolio should include your original work, as well as any corrections you made to it. You
should also use it to collect all the exercises you have done to prepare for class. Stay organized!
Your future self will thank you for it when taking the oral exams.
ASSIGNMENTS ON WEBWORK: There will be online assignments on WeBWorK, which you
will do outside classtime. There will be no make-up opportunities. These assignments count for 20%
towards your course grade. The assignments are open-book and open-notes, and test whether you
have acquired the skills. You should solve the assignment without the help of the internet or of other
people. Start working on the assignments on time, to give yourself a chance to get a full mark, for
example by asking questions to me.
DISCUSSION BOARD: You will have to post regularly on the discussion board. Your responses
will be graded based on participation (did you answer?), as well as thoroughness and clarity of your
response.
EXAMS: There will be one midterm and one final exam. Both will be short oral exams, possibly with
some written part. Exams are open-book and open-notes, but you cannot use the internet or
communicate with other people.
GROUPWORK: You will have to work in groups on applications of the material and on concept
questions. At regular times in the semester, you will be asked to present your work for the rest of the
class. Your group will use MS Teams for meetings. Make sure to record your meetings to document
your work.
EXTRA CREDIT: can be earned in two ways. First, if you are the first one to email me about a
mathematical mistake in one of the Youtube videos, you earn 0.5% extra credit. There is no limit on
this kind of extra credit. Secondly, you can prepare a video where you explain one (1) concept from
class for your classmates. The content of the video should be good enough to share with future
students of the class and should not just repeat an example from the internet or something from a
book. 1% extra credit per video, 4-5 minutes per video, maximum one video per chapter and
maximum 3% total extra credit with this activity. Deadline for submitting videos: 31 December,
midnight. Videos can be shared on Youtube (save as unlisted), or Sharepoint, or …
FLIPPED LEARNING: Before each session, you will watch videos that explain the topic of the
session. Try to be an active learner while watching these sessions: keep pencil and paper handy and
think with me through the problems. Oftentimes, I will ask you to pause the video and try something
out on your own, or I will ask you to prepare a short problem before class. Take note of any questions
that you still have after watching the videos and share those with me before or at the start of class.
AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY
School of Science and Engineering (SSE)
Class sessions will then be dedicated to further deepening your understanding of the concepts, by
doing more examples and in-depth problems. If you don’t watch the videos before class, our live
session will be lost on you. Last semester, students indicated that they found the Youtube videos one
of the most helpful tools in this class. Make sure to watch them.
IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES: A typical class will consist of checking in with the students, answering
students’ questions, and solving problems, either together as a class or in small groups. We will
regularly use polls, short online quizzes (not for credit), or exit-papers to gauge your understanding
and preparation for the class. And again, if you don’t prepare for class, you will probably not benefit
from the live session. There will be four class sessions (or probably a bit more) devoted to group
presentations. Try to be an active participant in class, not just to earn a good participation grade, but to
get the most out of class.
OFFICE HOURS: It is the student’s responsibility to keep up with the course pace and to seek help
if needed. Students are strongly encouraged to use the office hours. During office hours, you can ask
questions about the material or about exercises, review graded work or get suggestions for further
reading. Students are advised to do the following: come to the office hours with specific questions,
written down on a sheet of paper or in your book. Bring your textbook and your notebook to show the
problems you have tried. You will learn more if we discuss or correct your solution together, than if I
just give you the right answer. When discussing exams, be prepared to argue answers, not grades.
Students who miss a class are responsible for the material covered during that class.
COURSE POLICIES:
No make-ups for exams will be arranged except for extenuating circumstances. A written explanation,
including supporting documentation, must be communicated to the instructor before the exam. Please
contact the DSA’s office to have your absence excused. If the explanation is acceptable, an alternative
for the exam will be arranged. Make-up arrangements must be made in advance whenever possible.
Expect a make-up exam to be harder than the original exam.
The final exam will NOT be comprehensive.
The instructor will use email, Teams, and the AUI learning management system for announcements, and
for posting homework problems and handouts. Students are expected to check these daily.
You are expected to be familiar with the basic rules of email etiquette and to send emails in a
professional manner: choose a relevant subject line, include a salutation and closing, and use proper
spelling and grammar.
ADVICE FOR YOU:
In order to make the most out of the class sessions, please bring your textbook, notebook, pens and
calculator to every lecture. Turn off any distractions on your computer. Remove any distractors from
your desk. Even though your camera and screensharing may be off, pretend they are on. Feel free to get
comfortable with a coffee and snack, but don’t get so comfortable that you would doze off.
If you have a special circumstance that causes you to be absent multiple times, please talk to me about
it.
You may want to use the private chat on MS Teams to discuss a question with me in writing (rather than
starting a long email thread).
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM ME:
I will record each live class on Stream (I tend to get forgetful about this, reminders at the start of class
are always welcome). I also record the oral exams.
In class, I generally use slides on which I write to explain things. I normally save the annotated slides
and post them on the LMS (remind me as well at the end of class).
I try to respond to email or messages within 24 hours during the regular workweek.
I care about your learning. I am available to help you get the most out of this class. Please don’t hesitate
to contact me if you have questions.
Constructive feedback is always welcome.
AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY
School of Science and Engineering (SSE)
IMPORTANT NOTE: Any videos, documents, or other materials for this course, have been designed
for use within this class only. As such, they become the property of the School of Science and
Engineering. If you want to share any of these materials in part or in whole on other media (private or
public), you should first get permission from the Dean of the School of Science and Engineering.
TOPICAL OUTLINE
Week
1
Dates
21-25 September
Sections
11.1-11.4
2
11.5, 11.7
3
28 September –
2 October
5- 9 October
4
12-16 October
5
6
19-23 October
26-30 October
12.4-12.5,
13.1
13.1-13.4
13.5
7
2-6 November
13.6-13.7
8
9-13 November
13.8-13.10
9
16-20 November
13.9, 14.1
10
23-27 November
14.2-14.4
11
14.6-14.7
12
30 November –
4 December
7-12 December
13
14-18 December
15.3, 15.4
14
15
21-25 December
28-31 December
15.5-15.6
15.7-15.8
11.6, 12.112.3
15.1, 15.2
Topic
Discussion of syllabus; vectors in the plane and in space;
space coordinates; the dot product of two vectors; the
cross product of two vectors in space
Lines and planes in space; cylindrical and spherical
coordinates
Surface in space (group presentations); vector-valued
functions and derivatives, integrals; velocity and
acceleration.
Tangent and normal vectors; arc length;
Introduction to functions of several variables
Contour plots, partial derivatives, differentials
Chain rule, group presentations on functions of several
variables.
Directional derivatives and gradients; tangent planes and
normal lines
Relative extrema of functions of two variables, with and
without constraints
Group presentations on applied optimization:
Double integrals
Double integrals in rectangular and polar coordinates;
applications (mass, volume, average value)
Triple integrals in rectangular, cylindrical and spherical
coordinates
Group presentations on double and triple integrals;
Vector fields and line integrals
Conservative vector fields and independence of path;
Green’s theorem
Parametric surfaces and surface integrals
Divergence theorem and Stokes’ theorem
Comments
Add/drop ends on 24 September
29/30 October off
6 November off, start midterm
End midterm
Midterm grades due on 16 November;
19 November deadline for W;
18 November off
Thursday 31 December last day of class
This schedule is subject to changes by the instructor: we aim to follow it, but circumstances may lead
to modifications to the schedule to help your learning.
“Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.” Albert Einstein