What do i need to review / study in advance for Calc 3?

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1

I’ll be taking Calc 3 this semester and i’ve found some really good calc 3 lectures online. would you recommend that i watch it, or do I just review old topics from Calc 1 and 2 instead? what specifically from calc 1 and 2 will be used most in 3? i may be part of the minority but i actually enjoyed calc 2 MUCH more than calc 1. i’m pretty confident with all these integration techniques but i dread having to do epsilon-delta proofs again. i also dont really remember much from calc 1 other than taking limits, derivatives, and riemann sum. i did struggle, however, in polar coordinates and parametric equations in calc 2 since we went over that really fast.

some people say calc 3 is “easier” but the concept of doing all these calc 1 and 2 stuff in 3D really intimidates me. i have just 2 weeks left until the semester starts so what could i do to prepare for calc 3? thank you

2

http://www.math.buffalo.edu/rur/rurciii7.cgi is a quiz that can help you figure out which topics from calculus 1 and 2 you may need to review before taking calculus 3.

3

I can tell you what won’t be in Calc 3 that was probably in your Calc 2 - Taylor series and differential equations won’t be there. At least that’s what one of the profs for the MV Calc class said where my kid is going to school.

4

How about going online and looking at the syllabus? Many post it online or last year’s online. Or better yet email the professor and ask and get some brownie points?

5

Practice vectors! Khan academy has good resources. You really won’t need any Calc 1 or 2 beyond knowing how to differentiate and do integration. But knowing vectors like the back of your hand will help tremendously in Calc 3.