Multivariable Calculus, Spring 2021
Course Content

Here is where you can find the details about what is happening inside and outside of class each day of the semester. You'll find the key topics that are covered that day, the homework assignments and assessments that need to be completed, links to videos, and lecture notes for downloading.

"This is the plan, until it is no longer the plan"!
       Words to live by in the time of Corona.

Homework 0:
By Sunday, January 31:
  • Very important: Make sure you know how to sign into Zoom using your @login.cuny.edu account. Check your email or our Campuswire community for the link to join the class Zoom Room on Monday morning.
  • Sign on to our Campuswire Community. Join using your QC email account and sign up using code 1193. Reminder: Your QC Email will look something like Alicia.Lastname42@qmail.cuny.edu.
  • Explore Campuswire. The "Class Feed" is where you can should ask questions and where announcements will be posted. In the Class Feed there is a post asking you to say hi and share a fun link. Please contribute.
  • Visit our Flipgrid page and record a 1-minute introductory video about yourself. Click on "Join with Microsoft" and use your Queens College email account to log in.
  • Follow the instructions on the Course Syllabus page to get access to Mathematica online and install Mathematica on your home computer. Again, Remember to use your QC account when you sign up!
  • Get pumped to join us on Zoom at 8:45am on Monday, February 1!
Vector Basics • 10.1–10.4 • 2.5 classes
Monday, February 1
In class:
  • Introductions and getting to know each other
  • Syllabus Discussion
  • Group discussion: What is calculus?
  • Material from Sections 10.1 and 10.2
    • Three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates
    • Vectors
  • Using Mathematica to visualize 3D coordinates
Additional Resources:
Wednesday, February 3
Before class:
  • Thoroughly read through the class web page including the syllabus. This should answer all the questions that you may have about the class. Next, take the syllabus quiz. Retake the quiz as many times as necessary to earn a score of 100%.
  • Complete this Doodle to let me know when you would be available for office hours during a normal Monday–Friday week.
  • Make sure you are able to log on to Webwork. Create and Download a PDF of your first homework assignment there on Monday's material. Your user name is your CAMS username in all lower case, like alastname100 for Alicia Lastname. Your password is your CAMS password. You can check that you have the correct username and password by logging into CAMS. If you try and are unable to login, send me an email to let me know!!!
  • Watch the following video lectures on material from Sections 10.2–10.3. Ask one question on the "Daily Question for February 3" post on our Campuswire Community about something that was confusing or for which you'd like additional information. I will use your questions to start off class.
    • Vector Basics (20 minutes) (Part of Section 10.2)
    • The Dot Product (21 minutes) (Part of Section 10.3)
    • Projections (10 minutes) (Part of Section 10.3)
    • We are going to discuss Vectors in Physics in class (Parts of Sections 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4). You can preview our discussion here: Vectors in Physics (20 minutes)
  • Complete the book problems from Chapter 10.1 and start working on your first WebWork assignment. If you are unsure of how to complete any of the problems, post a question to the Campuswire Class Feed and ask! (Choose the tag "Vector Basics" to help organize the feed.) Your fellow classmates will surely have some helpful words of advice or will be able to share thoughts about how to proceed.
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions from Campuswire
  • Groupwork on Vector Products
  • Groupwork on Applications of Vector Products
  • Using Mathematica to Calculate Vector Products
  • Debriefing
Vector Functions • 9.1, 10.7, 10.5 • 2 classes
Monday, February 8
Before class:
  • Work on calculus for one hour with at least one classmate. For example, you may want to talk about course content or work on the Webwork assignments together. Type up one paragraph (5–7 sentences) about something that you learned or experienced that you would not have if you had worked alone. Submit your paragraph and the name of the person you met with. This is the first of a set of group work paragraphs that will contribute to your Standard 4 score.
  • Complete the Webwork assignments for Standards 1–3. Complete the book problems from Chapters 10.1-10.3. If you are unsure of any of the problems, post a question to the Campuswire Class Feed and ask!
  • Create an account on Gradescope using your QC email address and using the code ZR3PKD. This is where you will submit your written assessments. Assessments for Standards 1 and 2 will be posted soon and are due by the end of the week. If you can't log in, send Prof. Hanusa a DM or email.
  • Skim through Sections 10.4 and 9.1 of the book.
  • Watch the following video lectures on material from Sections 10.4, 9.1, and 10.7. Ask one question on the "Daily Question for February 8" post on our Campuswire Community about something that was confusing or for which you'd like additional information. I will use your questions to start off class.
  • Here is a link to the Mathematica notebook from the videos.
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions from Campuswire
  • Groupwork on Vector Functions
  • Using Mathematica to plot vector functions
  • Debriefing
Wednesday, February 10
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions from Campuswire
  • Groupwork
  • Debriefing
No class Monday, February 15.
Vector Function Calculus • 9.2, 10.7–10.9 • 2.5 classes
Wednesday, February 17
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Monday, February 22
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Wednesday, February 24
Before class:
  • Today will be used as a catch-up day.
  • Make sure you have had time to watch all the videos so far.
  • Take the time to complete all the Webwork assignments through Standard 9.
  • We have covered all the material in Sections 9.1–9.2, 10.1–10.5, and 10.7–10.9; spend time with the book problems from those sections.
  • Ask a conceptual question of something that is confusing you on the Daily Question for 2/24 on Campuswire.
  • Resubmit Assessments for Standards 1–5 if you wish to improve your scores.
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Functions of Multiple Variables • 10.6, 11.1 • 2 classes
Monday, March 1
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Wednesday, March 3
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
  • We'll do some groupwork to get some practice with quadric surfaces and level curves / traces.
Limits and Partial Derivatives • 11.2, 11.3, 11.5 • 2 classes
Monday, March 8
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Wednesday, March 10
Due to family obligations, class on 3/10 will be asynchronous.
Before class:
Instead of class:
  • There will be no in-class time today.
  • During class time, please formulate a question about any of the material (lectures, webwork) and post it as a question on our Campuswire Class Feed.
  • If you have some insights, please respond to your classmates' questions. Later in the day Prof. Hanusa will answer the questions that haven't been sufficiently addressed.
  • Take the rest of the time to catch up on watching the videos, completing your Webwork assignments, and submitting your assessments and reassessments.
Applications of Partial Derivatives • 11.4, 11.6 • 2 classes
Monday, March 15
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Wednesday, March 17
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Optimization • 11.7–11.8 • 2 classes
Monday, March 22
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Wednesday, March 24
Before class:
  • Today will be used as a catch-up day.
  • Make sure you have had time to watch all the videos so far.
  • Take the time to complete all the Webwork assignments through Standard 17.
  • We have covered all the material in Sections 9.1–9.2, 10.1–10.9, and 11.1–11.7; spend time with the book problems from those sections.
  • Ask a conceptual question of something that is confusing you on the Daily Question for 3/24 on Campuswire.
  • Resubmit Assessments for earlier Standards if you wish to improve your scores.
In class:
  • Groupwork on Optimization
  • Discussion of your questions
No class Monday, March 29 and Wednesday, March 31.
Double Integrals • 12.1, 12.2, 12.4 • 3 classes
Monday, April 5
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Wednesday, April 7
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
  • Groupwork to practice changing the order of integration.
Monday, April 12
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Polar Functions • 9.3 • 1.5 classes
Wednesday, April 14
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
  • Groupwork to practice changing the order of integration.
Polar Calculus • 9.4, 12.3, 12.4 • 2.5 classes
Monday, April 19
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Wednesday, April 21
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
  • Groupwork to practice setting up double integrals over polar regions.
Monday, April 26
Before class:
  • Skim through Section 12.4.
  • Work through the questions in Section 12.4 involving double integrals with polar coordinates.
  • This is a catch-up day.
  • Work to complete your Webwork assignments for Standards 1-23.
  • The assessments for Standards 22 and 23 will be due on Friday, April 30. See the schedule of assessment dates.
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Integrating over 3D regions • 12.5 • 1 class
Wednesday, April 28
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Cylindrical and Spherical Coordinates • 12.6, 12.7 • 3 classes
Monday, May 3
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
  • Groupwork to practice cylindrical and spherical coordinates and regions.
Wednesday, May 5
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Please fill out the college-wide course evaluations. This is different from any course evaluations that happen in class. Thank you for your feedback!
Monday, May 10
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
  • Groupwork to practice cylindrical and spherical coordinates and regions.
Wednesday, May 12
Before class:
In class:
  • Discussion of your questions
Monday, May 17
Before class:
  • Finalize all your reassessments.
  • Start working on your Semester Reflection to turn in before Monday, May 24.
In class:
  • Question and Answer Day.
Monday, May 24
  • Complete and submit all your assessments, reassessments, and WebWork assignments by today.
  • Here is a link to the Semester Reflection that is taking the place of our final exam. This is your chance to reflect more broadly on your learning in this class. You should put serious thought into each of these questions. If you use less than three pages, you probably need to spend more time carefully considering one or more of the questions. I will be considering how thorough, detailed, and thoughtful your responses are when assigning a grade to your work.
  • Upload your Semester Reflection here. Your file should be a Word (.docx) file or a PDF file. No other file types are permitted.
Please fill out the college-wide course evaluations. This is different from any course evaluations that happen in class. Thank you for your feedback!