<p>Does earning a 5 in Calculus AB really enable an entering freshman to take Math 51 in the fall quarter and be adequately prepared?</p>
<p>Doesn't Math 42 contain a lot of Calculus BC topics that a student who has only taken Calculus AB would not have seen?</p>
<p>I took 42 after only taking AB and the first half of the class is the second half of AB: integrals and volumes. I didn’t take BC so I don’t know if the second half of 42 covered BC topics but it was new to me. However, it wasn’t very challenging and I easily received the grade I wanted in the class. This was also true because many of the students in the class haven’t taken much calculus before so I found the curve pretty easy. The first midterm it was harder because most of the class had taken 41 which I hadn’t so I had some catching up to do but the second midterm and final I easily beat the curve.<br>
I don’t know anything about 51 other than that I won’t have to take it :)</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Anyone else?</p>
<p>I’d jump straight to 51. I was in your position, took Calc AB and got a 5, and found that the only thing I did not know in 51 was taylor polynomial expansions and I found it to be a cinch to learn. Since 51 is linear algebra and baby multivariable calculus you will find that there isn’t a huge intersection with Calc BC or even AB. In fact, I ended up earning a top grade for 51 and it wasn’t freakishly tough or anything. Frankly, I even think it says on the Math 42 website to jump straight to 51 because you really don’t need the info from Calc BC for the 50 series if you had a rigorous AB education.</p>
<p>Yeah…</p>
<p>You’re probably right.</p>
<p>So did Math 51 actually teach (or review) Taylor series, or were you expected to already know it?</p>
<p>You should be fine. The math 50 series is a very popular series, and as such, the math department has it down to an art. They know what you’ll be prepared for and what you won’t. A 5 on AB should be fine, as there isn’t tons of overlap between 51 and calculus (BC).</p>
<p>Though I’d recommend taking 51, I would actually say you should spend some time reading the topics for BC which aren’t included in AB on your own. They’re also important to know about and be familiar with. Math 51 covers basic linear algebra and multivariable differential calculus, unless it’s changed since I last remember. Linear algebra may easily be developed <em>entirely</em> independent of calculus, aside from that derivations are important examples of linear operators, which are the central object of study, but it’s not like you don’t know what those are. Multivariable mainly depends on knowledge of basic integration and differentiation – it’s more the physical ideas behind calculus that you’d probably need to be familiar with. The infinite series material very likely will not show up here. Probably most likely to be helpful for multivariable are comfort with polar/parametric functions, and of course a few of those techniques of integration traditionally a BC, not AB, topic. </p>
<p>Hope this somewhat helps you plan what to read up on. I’d say though, spending some of this summer filling in all the holes to your knowledge should be good – after all, you can proceed linearly and just go from where you are unto the end of the BC topics. You <em>will</em> need very good familiarity with polar/parametric functions and their calculus once you get to Math 52, for one thing, and probably even a lot of those integration techniques. You might squeeze through the Math 51 calculus unit without needing those, but why not go in without holes and confident?</p>