I’m referring to the course.
Thanks!
I found it to be pretty hard when I took it online with JHU’s CTY program, but the concepts aren’t too bad and would be easier in a traditional classroom format. You’re probably fine.
If you did well in Calc ab/bc, you will do fine, so my son says…
Qualitatively, it’s similar to Calculus BC. It’s computational and deals with the same topics, but you’ll be working in three dimensions rather than two, and that makes everything more complicated and harder to visualize. It helps if you already know about vectors and three-dimensional geometry.
Multivariable is really just BC in 3D. Everything you love and everything you hate…
XY Cartesian > XYZ Cartesian
Polar > cylindrical/spherical
Area > volume
Flat surfaces > curved survaces
and so on.
My greatest struggle in multivariable was the trig (and that I disliked having so many application problems. I found them rather “messy” but I dislike physics for a similar reason, so if you like physics / application questions in BC you’ll probably like multivariable). The concepts themselves just extend from BC.
Multivariable Calculus isn’t too bad when you start to understand the big picture of its theorems and principles. One thing that you should remember is that multivariable calculus is quite literally calculus in several dimensions, not just only 3rd dimension. Teachers use 3rd dimension just to help their students to understand how functions of several variables work in higher dimensions. That’s why it’s crucial to understand the BIG PICTURE of the theorems and principles.
Oh, and if I were you I would be more worried about differential equations and linear algebra, although it depends on what college you’re in. 