General information about Math 291, fall 2006

Here is the catalog description of this course.

01:640:291. Honors Calculus III (4)
Prerequisites: 01:640:191-192 or permission of department.
Covers the same material as 01:640:251 in a more thorough and demanding fashion.
Of course this evades the question of the content of the course. The description for Math 251 is
Analytic geometry of three dimensions, partial derivatives, optimization techniques, multiple integrals, vectors in Euclidean space, and vector analysis.
The material in this course is basic calculus of several variables. In this style of mathematical communication, "several" means any integer greater than 1. The methods and ideas in the course grew out of the problems of classical European mathematical physics in the 1700's and 1800's. Acquaintance with the course material immediately brings a host of questions to mind concerning subjects now called analysis and topology.

A math department page has the following discussion which may be useful to students:

251 vs. 251H vs. 291
Math 251 continues the sequence begun with Math 151-152, usually with the same textbook and at the same level of rigor. The honors sections labeled 251H of Math 251 are (in general) intended for honors students in disciplines other than mathematics and are "more demanding versions of the same course." By contrast, Math 291 is deliberately intended as a course in honors mathematics for students whose primary interest in the course is the mathematics it contains. The textbook may not be that used in other calculus courses, and the choice of course material is at the instructor's discretion to a greater extent than in other lower-division courses. Theorems may be proved in class and required on examinations, and "many variables" may mean n variables, not just 2 or 3.
Instructor
S. Greenfield, e-mail: greenfie@math.rutgers.edu.

Meeting time(s) and place(s)
The course meets three times a week: on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5:00 to 6:20 (Busch sixth period) in SEC 205, Busch Campus. Students are expected to attend all classes.

Text
We will use the text for Math 251: Calculus (Early Transcendentals), by James Stewart, 5th edition, Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1999. Additional material may be handed out or available on the web.
There are many texts covering the material in this course. One text at an appropriate level covering the climactic (!) ideas is Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus by Harry M. Schey, a paperback costing $33 published by W.W. Norton, 4th edition, 2005.

Syllabus
Here is the Math 251 syllabus and the Math 251 problem list which students should print out.
Students should consider all the problems listed and write out answers as possible when the related sections in the book are covered. Students will be required to some problems to be graded.

Grading
There will be two exams in class and a three-hour cumulative final. There will be graded homework, both workshop writeups and standard problems. There may be short unannounced quizzes in class. All of this will be blended to create a number to be translated into a term grade. The likely weight of these components is now (before the semester begins -- things might change!) 100 points for each in-class exam, 200 points for the final, and 200 points for other work.
This is an honors course. Students who attend class and are diligent and reasonably successful will get grades of B or above. There is no fixed percentage of grades at any level, so students are not competing for grades.

Office hour(s)
To be announced.

Maintained by greenfie@math.rutgers.edu and last modified 9/4/2006.