<p>Anyone just taking regular ol' Calc I? I wanna start over my calculus in college, in part because I don't care enough about math to take any advanced classes in it, and also because I don't think I have a strong foundation on calculus.</p>
<p>Considering most people take at least AP Calc AB/BC by 12th grade... how many people take Calc I as a freshmen?</p>
<p>And, if I end up being a Physics or Chemistry concentrator... will doing this make me fall behind? (Not enough math courses to take certain classes, etc).</p>
<p>I think you misunderstood me. I'm going to try and take the bare minimum math required for my field... (most likely a science, physics or chem).</p>
<p>I graduated from Harvard in 1993 with a degree in Physics and Astro.</p>
<p>A few points:</p>
<p>(1) The very first physics course for physics majors is Physics 15a (Mechanics). It REQUIRES that you be AT LEAST be concurrently enrolled in Math 1b (the second semester of first-year calculus), but RECOMMENDS that you actually don't even start physics until you have finished all of first year calculus, and are concurrently enrolled in Math 21a (Multivariable calculus). I STRONGLY agree... Physics 15a uses vector calculus from the jump... and you should absolutely, most definitely should be taking multivariable calculus (Math 21a) at the SAME time, or you will suffer.</p>
<p>(2) The vast, vast majority of Physics concentrators at Harvard skip Math 1ab... you will definitely be way behind your peers if you take calculus over again and delay taking physics courses for a year. It makes it harder to form or join study groups... which are crucial to your survival in physics.</p>
<p>(3) In general, the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM math for physics majors is:
Math 1ab (most skip this), Math 21a (multivariable), Math 21b (linear algebra/basic ordinary differential equations). However, they STRONGLY advise you to take two more math classes on top of this, usually Applied Math 105a/105b (applied math for scientists, covering complex variable analysis, probability theory, fourier analysis, ordinary differential equations, partial differential equations, advanced vector analysis, etc).</p>
<p>(4) If you don't care that much about math, you might want to reconsider majoring in physics. All your upper division courses rely HEAVILY on advanced calculus... think about it: Calculus was invented by Isacc Newton in order to solve physics problems...you cannot get away from math if you major in physics.</p>
<p>(5) I recommend you take the summer to review BC calc...
Here's my story: my high school only offered Calc AB... the summer before Harvard, I was looking through the course catalogue and realized I would be behind... so I literally taught myself BC calc that summer, and aced the placement exam... it was well worth the effort... plus, that way, I wasn't rusty with my math when I finally started in the fall...</p>
<p>If you are really worried about your Calc BC skills, then use the summer to prepare!!! Because if that is too much to handle, then you shouldn't even bother with physics in the first place.</p>
<p><a href="4">quote=jab93</a> If you don't care that much about math, you might want to reconsider majoring in physics. All your upper division courses rely HEAVILY on advanced calculus... think about it: Calculus was invented by Isacc Newton in order to solve physics problems...you cannot get away from math if you major in physics.
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<p>Think about what the alumnus is saying here. There isn't any bare minimum of math for physics: in physics, the more math you know, the better you learn your subject. Have you read Roger Penrose's new book The Road to Reality yet? It's all about current physics, which of course means that the first sixteen chapters are all about mathematics. </p>
<p>In general, the more math you know, the better for almost any subject you study, from economics to political science (consider game theory) to biology (which is going to become MUCH more mathematical than it used to be in the next generation) to sociology to psychology to pretty much anything that is the tiniest bit scientific. Harvard should offer some good math courses, and it is a good idea to take advantage of them.</p>
<p>Which book did you use to self-teach BC? I took an AB course in school and took the BC test. I'm afraid I bombed the AP test on Tuesday. Actually, I know for sure that I did because I went in not knowing polar, taylor, or euler stuff. And do you think one month will be enough to teach myself this? I'll be away in July. Btw: It's not that I found the BC material too hard for me; I just didn't have time to look at any of that stuff before the test.</p>
<p>Honestly, that was over a decade ago! So I don't recall which book I used... all I know is it was the same book I used in high school... </p>
<p>I started at the beginning of the summer by making a scedule of which chapters and sections I wanted to cover. I would typically cover one or two sections per day... reading the chapter, working through the examples, and then assigning myself nightly homework... I was surprisingly disciplined... working about 2 hours per evening.</p>
<p>The important additional topics are: integration tricks (integration by parts, trig substitutions, etc), Taylor series, and simple first order differential equations.</p>