View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Pharaoh ManSailor Joined: 31 Oct 2011
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:07 pm Post subject: Needed: Calc 2 tutor |
|
|
|
Hey guys. I am in moderately desperate need of someone who is very comfortable with Calculus 2 concepts. I don't really feel comfortable with the material. My final is next week and I need a pretty good grade to not wreck my GPA.
Ideally we'd be working together on a whiteboard program (Google docs maybe? I've never used it.) and in Mumble. I'm looking for any free time someone might have this weekend. I know there are lots of comp sci and math types here and I'm hoping someone could donate some time to help me.
My problem is not the Calculus concepts for the most part, but my algebra, trig and geometry skills are very bad, so I just need someone to help walk me through a few problems and tell me what to do when I get stuck. I have a practice exam with problems, I just need someone to help.
Thanks in advance,
P
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
2shoes1337 CT badass bow Joined: 15 Mar 2005 Location: back in florida FTW
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
i think nugget teaches math _________________
Sparrow wrote: |
...if pirates stays on bf1942 i'd hate to see the community grow even smaller, but i know i'll always be around and i hope the rest of you will too! |
Special Jimmy wrote: | This mod is rightfully ours, and fuck everyone that stands in our way. |
fair winds and following seas, lil shoes 8/3/94-6/23/09
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Erwin RommelElite Joined: 02 Aug 2005
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
I'm teaching calc 2 this term, actually.
I wouldn't mind helping, but free time this weekend might be a little hard through. It would have to be in the evening for me (say, after 6 pm pacific - maybe I could do it a little earlier)
(Also, what topics are we talking about here? Integral stuff I assume ... but u-substitution, volumes, integration by parts?) _________________ -=|CT|=-Descartes
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Pharaoh ManSailor Joined: 31 Oct 2011
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
Let's see, we have:
- power series
- all kinds of convergence/divergence tests
- all kinds of integration techniques
- including substitution and parts, as well as some trig substitutions
- volumes of objects and areas of shapes
And I am bad at all of them.
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Erwin RommelElite Joined: 02 Aug 2005
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 4:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
Some of that is what we call Calc III here. You probably are on semesters, and that explains the confusion. Regardless, I'd still be willing to help, though I would need to review how some of the series stuff works. _________________ -=|CT|=-Descartes
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Wang ChungElite Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Location: Virginia Tech
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 4:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
Damn man I would be happy to help you out but I'm pretty weak at those myself, I got an A in Calc 2 but I got extremely lucky, the grades were curved a lot and the test system was kind of a joke. Power series and convergence/divergence are put in Calc 3 at Virginia Tech and I got a B in that class... somehow. I'm positive I failed that final.... That shit ain't easy.
Here is the difference between the good kids I tutor and the bad kids I tutor: the good kids put in a lot of work outside of the tutoring and practice a lot. The bad kids don't. I strongly urge that if you're serious, you start studying right away and try to narrow in on exactly what you don't understand. Find what you DO understand and reinforce the hell out of it: if you have a final exam and fuck up the stuff you think you know you're in deep shit. Reinforcing what you know will probably make learning the new shit easier and give you some confidence.
If you narrow in on SPECIFICALLY what you don't understand, it makes asking questions and getting help a whole lot easier. The kids who come in and just say "I don't get any of it" aren't really stupid but they don't try and gave up a while ago. If I have to start from the beginning then there's no hope. The kids who succeed are the ones who figure out the exact problems they are having trouble with and the steps where they fuck up.
Practice is especially crucial if you fuck up on the fundamentals. I'm sloppy and careless and completely checked out of math from grades 5 to 11 and thus have awful fundamentals, so I have to take some time to practice that shit if I'm serious about my PhD. So spend time reviewing that stuff and practicing it, even if it is simple trig/algebra, it will speed things up for you.
I'm sure we can help you out though. _________________ is now -=|CT|=- Frothy Mixture
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Messy RecipeEl Gran CapitánJoined: 13 Mar 2005 Location: Inter Veritates
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 7:12 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
So, I did pretty well in Calc II, but totally don't have the time to do any kind of tutoring. But I can give some advice I usually give people:
First and foremost, do as many practice problems as you possibly can. Get a small whiteboard to do them on instead of paper (11"x11" is good); when you're learning new stuff you're going to fuck up a lot and its a ton quicker and cleaner to wipe stuff out and start anew on one of those, and it gives you more freedom to do side calculations or see if such-and-such type of problem works in some way.
Get a solutions manual for your textbook. Not just something that has the answers, but something that actually shows some of the steps or even better, gives explanations -- if yours doesn't, get a different/better one. We used this book and this manual.... it's not a terribly great book but it's not bad either, and the student solutions manual is good enough to help understand every little trick to solving different types of problems.
Actually, I guess all my advice is about doing lots of problems. Spend a lot of time doing lots of problems until you literally run out of things to do, then make up a few to do in your spare time -- just working through arbitrary problems you come up with on the fly is one of the best ways to memorize all those annoying trig substitutions.
It's important to understand the concepts too, but in many cases with math, being comfortable with the actual process of solving things is really helpful for learning the concepts... they feed into each other of course, so if it seems like you're just randomly following steps, it's probably time to stop practicing and start reading. Some topics that come to mind that's important to really "get" conceptually are the volume/area methods (especially the ones where you rotate a function around an axis), or how diffeqs work if you're doing any of those (we had a couple simple types in Calc II), or how/why to pick the parts in integration by parts. Whereas say, you can memorize the trig stuff and just work through it by rote (though it helps to know the stuff behind it, to cover any flaws in memory).
BTW, don't get too freaked out about sequences and series and convergence/divergence tests... if there's any kind of curve that's not gonna be an issue. Still nice to know them, but students tend to really suck at that in general. I think the average on the exam that included that when I took it was a 47.
Also, since Wang and Erwin weighed in on it: For the Calc II I took, all those topics were part of it. Volume showed up again in Calc III of course, but II covered that too with shell integration and such.
You mentioned that your trig and geometry skills need work. I actually burned that stuff in most effectively in physics class, just doing problems with free-body diagrams... I'd never really got a good handle on that stuff 'til then, and again, that was because I started doing tons of problems with it then. _________________
ABC News wrote: | Birds can disable planes, Ostrom said, by flying into the engines and shutting them down. |
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Berry PunchPony HATER Joined: 04 Sep 2011
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 9:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
I am not looking forward to College...
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
RCSIThe YARR Master Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Location: On a Ship
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
My final exam in Calc II is also a few weeks away (also have an exam tomorrow for the series portion of calculus), and as suggested, do as many problems as possible and keep reinforcing the material. Also, do every problem on the exam, even if you have only part of the problem answered. _________________ Remove the lid of this barrel, for there be Rum inside!
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Cap'n CrunchIlliterate Suicide BoyJoined: 13 Mar 2005 Location: The Nut House
|
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
I've heard good things about Paul's notes. _________________
Quote: | -≠∫ĆŤ∫≠-[=SC=]Jesus: i will take a shower
-≠∫ĆŤ∫≠-[=SC=]Jesus: and masturbate
-≠∫ĆŤ∫≠-�μ�ąҒ��: lets go snort some cock |
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Erwin RommelElite Joined: 02 Aug 2005
|
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
I've used Paul's notes before. I recall they were pretty good.
Also, it makes sense that a Calc II course might cover series. I recall seeing them in my BC calculus course, which is equivalent. However, I'd be very curious to see the list of topics left for a Calc III course afterwards. Series are the main meat of Calc III where I teach. _________________ -=|CT|=-Descartes
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
RCSIThe YARR Master Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Location: On a Ship
|
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
Where I am, the very last chapter we cover from Essential Calculus: Early Transcendentals - 1e by Stewart covers Parametric equations and polar coordinates with another calculus class covering the rest of the book which is:
Vectors and the geometry of space
Partial derivatives
Multiple integrals
Vector calculus _________________ Remove the lid of this barrel, for there be Rum inside!
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Erwin RommelElite Joined: 02 Aug 2005
|
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
We use Stewart's Single Variable Calculus: Early Transcendentals 7E.
Calc I:
2.1-2.3 - Basic limit stuff
2.5-2.8 - Basic derivative stuff
3.1-3.10 - Derivative rules and applications, including related rates
4.1-4.8 (omitting some as time requires) Advanced applications of derivatives, including optimization
Calc II:
5.1-5.5 - Basic integration including FToC and u-substitution
6.1-6.5 - Applications of integrals including areas, volumes, work, averages
7.1-7.7 Advanced techniques including trig substitution, integration by parts, and partial fractions
7.8 Improper integrals
Calc III:
8.1-8.3 - Arclength and surfaces of revolution
10.1-10.4 - Parametric and Polar stuff
11.1-11.11 - Sequences and series, including shitloads of convergence tests and function approximation
*****
While interesting, this all getting away from the original topic. How's it going, Pharaoh Man? _________________ -=|CT|=-Descartes
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Messy RecipeEl Gran CapitánJoined: 13 Mar 2005 Location: Inter Veritates
|
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
Erwin RommelElite Joined: 02 Aug 2005
|
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
Ah calc III is multivariable for you. Those undergrad math classes seem faster and sharper than ours. That actually makes sense, given the ranking of the department. Maryland is 13-38 and Oregon is 36-68.
Edit: Scratch that. You're on semesters. Therefore, Calc I, II is a year-long sequence. _________________ -=|CT|=-Descartes
Last edited by Erwin Rommel on Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|