<p>Is Math 53 a continuation of Math 1b or is it "new stuff"?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Both. It's a continuation of calculus, but "new stuff" in the sense that it deals with topics of three or more variables.</p>
<p>From the web site: "Parametric equations and polar coordinates. Vectors in 2- and 3-dimensional Euclidean spaces. Partial derivatives. Multiple integrals. Vector calculus. Theorems of Green, Gauss, and Stokes."</p>
<p>I don't really see it as a continuation as much as an "expansion" of algebra/calculus into 3-dimensions, pretty much what Going The Distance described. It's "new" in that you've never done partial derivatives, double/triple integrals, but it's really just derivatives and integrals except with more variables, i.e. x, y, z in 3 dimensions.</p>
<p>to Going The Distance & vicissitudes:</p>
<p>If one's taken 2 semesters of community college calc.... would it equate to math 1a/1b? After passing AP Calc AB with 5, that's what I did because my school did not offer Calc BC. I've passed both semesters with a A, but I'm undecided whether I should skip Math 1a/1b and go for 53/54...</p>
<p>Thank you!!</p>
<p>Son did that. Had 5 on Calc AB and took BC at a Community College since HS didnt have it. He skipped 1a/1b and took 53 and 54 freshman yr.He was glad he did.</p>
<p>I went straight into Math 53/54 my freshman year, and am also glad that I skipped Math 1a/1b. Apparently the consensus is that Math 1b is hard, really hard. Especially if you didn't take Math 1a at Cal. I've heard stories of people taking Math 1a even if they got a 5 on the Calc AB exam, just so they wouldn't die in 1b. That being, said, I'm sure its not hell (almost everything that I've heard about college in general has been an exaggeration), but you'd probably want to skip 1b if you could. You'll be fine in 53/54 if you didn't take 1b at Cal.</p>
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[quote]
to Going The Distance & vicissitudes:</p>
<p>If one's taken 2 semesters of community college calc.... would it equate to math 1a/1b? After passing AP Calc AB with 5, that's what I did because my school did not offer Calc BC. I've passed both semesters with a A, but I'm undecided whether I should skip Math 1a/1b and go for 53/54...</p>
<p>Thank you!!
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</p>
<p>Hmm, one CC I know of offers 3 semesters of calculus. The first 2 semesters of calculus generally cover what Math 1A/1B cover, and in order to skip the first 2 semesters you need a 5 on the Calc BC exam, just like how in order to skip Math 1A/1B you need a 5 on the Calc BC exam, so I'd say they're pretty similar. Also, to be honest, Math 1B is a weeder that people try to avoid, and you don't really need much of Math 1B for Math 53, and Math 54 isn't even calculus.</p>
<p>Two semesters of calculus at a community college should roughly correspond to Math 1A and 1B. However, as many will tell you, math at a community college can be very different from math at Berkeley. Only you really know how much knowledge you have, so I would recommend looking at actual Math 1B and Math 53 material to decide which class would be better for you.</p>
<p>A quick search brought up these links. There are plenty of others.</p>
<p><a href="http://math.berkeley.edu/%7Ezworski/1B/1B.html%5B/url%5D">http://math.berkeley.edu/~zworski/1B/1B.html</a>
<a href="http://math.berkeley.edu/%7Etegan/53SP07/%5B/url%5D">http://math.berkeley.edu/~tegan/53SP07/</a></p>