Pre-requisites for Differential Equations

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>So I was planning to take the Differential Equations course offered at my school, but I only have small traces of knowledge available to me from the Calculus III curriculum. I've heard many things about whether knowledge of Calc III is required to take the DiffEq course, so I decided to come ask you guys what you think. Can DiffEq be taken without first having taken Calc III? And if not, how much time does it take to learn the required Calc III knowledge from an out-of-school source (like a tutor)?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help.</p>

2

<p>You need to know basic partial differentiation and the multivariable chain rule for things like exact equations. Besides that, I don’t remember any overlap between MVC and elementary ODEs.</p>

3

<p>Thank you, that’s good new…heh, I know I’m pushing your memory here but do you remember if there was anything related to vector analysis in the course?</p>

4

<p>I don’t think there is. DiffEQ was by far the easiest math class I’ve ever had though. One of the easiest classes in general, even.</p>

5

<p>yeah if it is anything like the class i took, it will be a pretty crummy course. it’ll require no brains & lots of calculation. OP, you’ll prob. be fine.</p>

6

<p>At your school, aren’t there prerequisites to different courses?? If you have taken those, then you are expected to have the background to be able to handle the course.</p>

7

<p>Haha, thanks for the help guys the replies have been rather encouraging.
Doc yes there are courses but you see my schedule is rather weird. It’d be a waste of your time to read the long explanation lol, so I won’t bother writing one.</p>

<p>Again, thanks everyone, you’ve been a great help.</p>

8

<p>I just took DE over summer and got an A and I haven’t taken calc III yet, so you should be fine.</p>

9

<p>is Calculus III = Multivariable?</p>

10

<p>Usually, yes.</p>

<p>Differential Equations requires at least Cal I and Cal II. You need to know how to differentiate and integrate, and have seen techniques for it. That is a major prerequisite. You’ll also need techniques of integration and sequences/series, most likely.</p>

<p>I recall using notions from Cal III and Linear Algebra in my DiffEq class. That being said, it wasn’t so in-depth that you couldn’t learn it all in DiffEq and then go back and get the other classes later. Plus, only a few selected topics from those classes are included.</p>

11

<p>In addition to Calc, Linear Algebra, and Vector Analysis (maybe) you also need a good healthy dose of insanity, none else survive.</p>

12

<p>At my school you need calc1 for linear algebra and calc1+calc2 for multivariable, diff eq. so lin alg / calc3 / diff eq can be taken in any order</p>