[messianic]

I thought I'd give this forum a try. I'm currently taking a multivariable calculus course and am struggling big time. The topics I'm struggling with are: line integrals, conservative fields, greenes theorem, surface integrals, divergence and stokes theorem.

Does anyone know any online tutorials/videos that would be helpful? Perhaps a professor at your university has some good tutorials that covers these topics in a simplified and logical manner?

Thanks a lot.

[Felidae]

Try searching at TED.com and Open Yale Courses (
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---------- Post added 12-05-2009 at 03:06 AM ----------

You can also try
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---------- Post added 12-05-2009 at 03:08 AM ----------

Here, the Math Courses @ MIT open course ware


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Many have video lectures

[Ben1220]

I would be a little cautious of watching MIT lectures in order to understand something that you didn't get form your own lectures. Sure, give it a try but I have heard that MIT undergrads compare the coursework to drinking from a fire hose.

Is this the first time you have ever done multivariable calculus? Is this a freshman calculus 2 type class? Or a more advanced class? It looks like its a more advanced course because you seem to have skipped all the basics of multivariable calculus like partial derivatives, grad... ect...

[nacht]

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Feel free to ask specific questions. It has been a while since I have worked with that part of multivariate, but someone may be able to help.

You can also check out the iTunes University classes. They have a few lectures that are free and cover multivariate (including MITs OCW class, among others).

Ben:

I wouldn't be at all cautious about watching such lectures. My guess is this is an a priori criticism that doesn't come from actually looking at them?

They are (with some exceptions) well constructed, frequently have PDFs of the lecture material that are easy to reference and go back over, and have good practice problems attached. They can be dense, but that is frequently because of the subject matter, and it almost certainly can't hurt. I would have no "hesitancy" in approaching them and using them as a supplementary resource.

[Latro]

	Originally Posted by Ben1220 To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Is this the first time you have ever done multivariable calculus? Is this a freshman calculus 2 type class? Or a more advanced class? It looks like its a more advanced course because you seem to have skipped all the basics of multivariable calculus like partial derivatives, grad... ect...

This is December. People taking a 3rd semester calculus course in the fall semester will be hitting this material now after having hit partials etc.

[Sinequanon]

If I can give a book recommendation, there's a light read called "How to Ace the Rest of Calculus" that covers, in big picture scope, a lot of the topics in multivariable calculus. It's not a very rigorous book but it definitely gives you a great overview of what you're doing and why, which may help you (as an N) focus on the details of the material a bit more.

(I have not read the book in probably 5 or 6 years but I recall it helping me out a lot and I did spectacularly at MV calculus.
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[Zos]

Try this:

WolframAlpha.com

It eats integrals for breakfast.

[nacht]

	Originally Posted by Zos To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Try this: WolframAlpha.com It eats integrals for breakfast.

Three points:

1) The individual in question probably has access to Mathematica (if they are a student at a university) or an equivalent solver, which is far more powerful at this kind of thing than Wolfram Alpha is.

2) Wolfram Alpha, last I checked, had no mechanism of doing line integrals (e.g., what is the line integral over the closed positive contour x^2+y^2 = 2 of sin(z)/(z-(.5+.5i))dz where z = x+yi). So you still have to do the hard part of recognizing the form of the problem and transforming it with Green's Theorem, Stoke's Theorem, etc to bring it into a form we are already more comfortable with solving.

3) These tools are only so useful. They frequently don't show you the steps of the integration when they can even perform it, can't help you if you don't understand, and won't help beyond checking your answer since frequently homework assignments will require you to show your work. They also cannot be brought into the test with you.

This isn't to say that Wolfram Alpha (or, more broadly, Mathematica) doesn't have some use here, but its use has to be kept in the context of that the ultimate goal is to learn the material, not solve the problems.

[Ben1220]

	Originally Posted by Latro To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	This is December. People taking a 3rd semester calculus course in the fall semester will be hitting this material now after having hit partials etc.

I see... I wouldn't know because I live in Australia and our academic year is completely different :P

Originally Posted by nacht To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[url=http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-02Fall-2007/LectureNotes/index.htm] I wouldn't be at all cautious about watching such lectures. My guess is this is an a priori criticism that doesn't come from actually looking at them? They are (with some exceptions) well constructed, frequently have PDFs of the lecture material that are easy to reference and go back over, and have good practice problems attached. They can be dense, but that is frequently because of the subject matter, and it almost certainly can't hurt. I would have no "hesitancy" in approaching them and using them as a supplementary resource.

Your right in that it definently won't hurt to try. Unless you count the potential of time wasted. I have watched a few lectures from MIT online, but it was all on content I was already comfortable with, and so it didn't seem difficult at all. I would not be surprised if it would be a different story if it was the first time I was exposed to the material though.

I guess the nature of going through a lot of advanced content at a fast pace is that although it might make intuitive sense, and you might be able to follow the arguments and the proofs, there may be subtleties that you don't notice until you actually sit down and try to work through questions.

I've personally found that theres no area of mathematics that can't be understood without enough time, effort, motivation and perserverance, and pain tolerance. Maybe this is just because I haven't been exposed to the really tricky stuff yet, but Mathematical proofs don't just work only some of the time... There is an almost infinite resource on many of these topics, I'm sure you could find electronic lecture recordings, pdfs and ebooks of textbooks (some professors even provide them for free on their webpages), discussion forums, blogs for academics, researchers or professors, academic papers (although these will generally go over your head.) Even wikipedia is fairly decent on most maths areas these days, often has links to external sites and is generally improving. Terrence Tao mentioned this
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when he gave a speech at my uni a few months ago. I haven't really looked at it much yet, and I think its still in its infancy, but its a great concept.

If you are still having trouble, why not start a study group with other people from the same class? If the others are motivated to learn and are intellectually able enough to bring stuff to the table without just trying to get others to do their work for them, then it might work.

[Zodd]

The videos of Edward Burger I find really easy, even a baby could learn complex math by watching him. I have not watched the stuff you seek to know nor do I know what it actually is but he must be really good with that to.

This one is a bit extreme but gives you a good idea:

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