AP Calculus BC Review Thread

<p>I think that would be a good idea. But maybe not csc^2 and sec^2. Also rem. to memorize the power series for common trig functions too.</p>

<p>I don't think I've ever actually used any of those inverse trig ones, but it wouldn't hurt to learn them.</p>

<p>I have another question:</p>

<p>can you find the power series of tanx by dividing the power series of sinx by cosx (tanx=sinx/cosx)?? </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Atomicbomb22: I think you can.</p>

<p>yes, and it works for all the other trig functions too</p>

<p>so sec x is just 1/cos x</p>

<p>in order to get a score of 5 on the Calc exam (tomorrow yay!!), we need to get like 60%, right?</p>

<p>i think i read that somewhere last year but now i cant find that anywhere</p>

<p>does anyone know wat percentage you need to get right for a 3?</p>

<p>I know that the curve is awsum and all, but how hard is it to actually get that ~65% correct?</p>

<p>is newton's method tested on the exam</p>

<p>I bought a copy of the released exam from the collegeboard store, and I noticed that the no calculator questions were way easier than the calculator questions. (I thought so anyways. Of course the concept of 'easy' will vary from person to person.)
There are also more no calculator questions than there are calculator questions.
Therefore, it shouldn't be that hard to do well.</p>

<p>
[quote]
is newton's method tested on the exam

[/quote]

I don't think so.
What even is Newton's method?
Is that the one where you divide an interval into an infinite number of parts in order to find roots and stuff?</p>

<p>Goodusername - What types of problems are on the no calculator section? Calculator?</p>

<p>Yes Newton's method is on the Exam. Look at some 2005 FR questions.</p>

<p>basically newton's method is simple</p>

<p>dy/dx = f '(x) </p>

<p>which implies</p>

<p>dy = f '(x) dx</p>

<p>now I'll let that soak in. You will be given a differential equation like, dy/dx = y - x</p>

<p>y - x = f '(x)</p>

<p>then they will give you an initial condition eg. y = 0 when x = 1, and a step to increase your x values by, generally, .2 or .1 or .5 something like that, this is the dx</p>

<p>they will ask for the y value at a given x value. </p>

<p>You find the change in the y values on each step from your initial condition by plugging into the formula above.</p>

<p>Easy to do, but difficult to initially grasp.</p>

<p>GoodUsername, you are thinking of Reimann Sums</p>

<p>Choas Theory, some questions will require a calc and some won't, they are generally easy to distinguish. They tend to want exact values for some rediculous graph.</p>

<p>Mike, that is euler's method, not newtons.</p>

<p>You can use Riemann sums to find roots?</p>

<p>
[quote]
Yes Newton's method is on the Exam. Look at some 2005 FR questions.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That was Euler's method.</p>

<p>If I remember correctly, Newton's method is used for approximating roots.</p>

<p>
[quote]
If I remember correctly, Newton's method is used for approximating roots.

[/quote]
Can you give an example of that? I never did any problems like that. Thanks.</p>

<p>Don't worry ysk1, there are no Newton's method problems on the AP exam.</p>

<p>What about problems involving work? Will I have to do anything like: A wheelbarrow with a volume of 28 gallons is being pushed, but it leaks so that the change in height of the water as a function of time is given by dh/dt = 3h. Given that the density of water is <em>whatever</em>, how much work does it take to push the wheelbarrow 536.2277 meters?</p>

<p>Are the sample problems at the collegeboard site harder than the real test? I just did them and got 12 wrong. Out of 24.</p>

<p>
[quote]
What about problems involving work? Will I have to do anything like: A wheelbarrow with a volume of 28 gallons is being pushed, but it leaks so that the change in height of the water as a function of time is given by dh/dt = 3h. Given that the density of water is <em>whatever</em>, how much work does it take to push the wheelbarrow 536.2277 meters?

[/quote]

I'm pretty sure Barron's said that work won't be on the exam.</p>

<p>Also, be careful about units guys. Remember to put units on every question that requires units. Also remember that the collegeboard usually uses imperial units for some reason.</p>