When I graduate this May, I will have completed AP Calculus BC, which is the highest math that my school offers. My school doesn’t have anything else to offer because I am the first person to take BC as a Junior. I really don’t want to not take a math Senior year, so I will probably have to go to some local college and enroll in a college course.
I don’t know much about the maths beyond Calc BC, so I don’t know which course I should enroll my self in. I’m thinking about Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, or Differential Equations. Which one is usually taken after BC? Which one would be the best in preparation for college?
I am not worried about a course being too challenging.
Check is your college specifies prerequisites for any of them other than calc; typically, those three are the next “layer” of mathematics and can be taken in any order. I took Linear Algebra first semester and am in Multivariable for the whole year at my high school, and taking them concurrently was fine-- occasionally they talked to each other a bit, but there definitely wasn’t a progression. Multivariable Calculus is an extension of all of the ideas of Calculus to more dimensions, and if you’re taking a computation-based course, it will feel like another semester of Calculus. I found Linear more fun, because even if it’s a computation-based class it has to cover at least some theory and proofs, and so is a little more than just matrix manipulation. I can’t speak for DiffEq, though.
Moral: Linear, MVC, and DiffEq are the right places to be looking. I’d certainly take MVC, and then pick one of Linear and DiffEq for the other semester (most people go with Linear here, I think).
All will be good preparation for college.
If you’re looking for more than just computation, look for an intro to proofs class or a discrete mathematics class.
Great that you are continuing in math. This country is very behind others in what the public schools offer. We ought to be taking competent kids into actual math and out of arithmetic far earlier than we do. Then we ought to ensure that out kids can go as high as kids in places like Styvie. Why aren’t all schools routinely offering Linear and Diff eq?
Good for you that you are pursuing math even when it is a hassle to access it and it is not “required”.
Multivariable calculus is most commonly taken after AP Calculus BC. Linear algebra and differential equations may or may not have multivariable as a prereq.
Most colleges will allow you to take multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations in any order. For example, I took multivariable calculus after taking linear algebra and differential equations together. (I think the most “logical” order is linear algebra, multivariable calculus, differential equations. This is because multivariable calculus uses linear algebra, and differential equations uses linear algebra and multivariable calculus. However, you can take these classes in any order because you can learn what you need as you go.)