Course Information

MATH224: Multivariable calculus, including partial derivatives, multiple integration, and vector calculus.

Instructor Information

Section A

Instructor : Gus Greivel

Office : Stratton Hall 202

Office Phone : 303.273.3840

email : ggreivel@mines.edu

Section B

Instructor : Scott Strong

Office : Stratton Hall 205 and CASA 122

Office Phone : 303.384.2446 (@ Stratton Hall)

email : sstrong@mines.edu

Office Hours: MWF @ 4:00pm in SH205 (drop in), MWF 10am-2:50pm (by appointment)

Onenote shared notebook: Onenote Notebook

Lecture Boards: Pictures

Syllabi

• Section A Syllabus
• Section B Syllabus

Laboratory Notebook Information

• Lab notebook: Format and expectations(pdf)

• Lab notebook: Format and expectations(docx)

Textbook Information

• Thomas Text

• Chapter 10(Conics) - Thomas: Notes and suggested problems

• Chapter 12(quadric surfaces) - Thomas: Notes and suggested problems

• Chapter 14(limits and differentiation) - Thomas: Notes and suggested problems

Mathematica Information

CSM has a site license for Mathematica which can be used for instruction and academic research. It can be installed on personal computers and the following links will take you to the relevant information. Big thanks to Prof. Eklund for spearheading this acquisition.

• Old blog post about how to get Mathematica

• Mines CCIT page about Mathematica site license

Studio Materials

Studio 1

• An introduction to Mathematica through a review of parabola, lines and planes

Studio 2

• Lab 2 - Pretest

• Conics and Quadric Surfaces.nb

• What do you know about Mathematica that you think other students don't know but would want to know? (pdf) and Word Doc Source

• What would you like to see in future studios?(pdf) and Word Doc Source

• I am comfortable with simple plotting in Mathematica

 Strongly Agree: 12%
 Agree: 60%
 Neutral: 23%
 Disagree: 4%
 Strongly Disagree: 0%

• Mathematica plotting commands are helping me understand functions of several variables

 Strongly Agree: 30%
 Agree: 50%
 Neutral: 16%
 Disagree: 3%
 Strongly Disagree: 0%

Results

• Conics and Quadric Surfaces - Shared Dropbox Folder

  Notes from the TAs
   The following reports were quite good: 37, 29, and 12.

Studio 3

• Quadric Surfaces Take Again Please

• Limits and Partial Derivatives (pdf) for those interested here is the .doc file source.

• 03.Derivatives and Differential Equations.nb

Studio 4

• Quadric surfaces quiz results.

  Question x: Attempt 1 - Percent Correct | Attempt 2 - Percent Correct
  Question 1: 77% | 94%
  Question 2: 79% | 76%
  Question 3: 69% | 84%
  Question 4: 67% | 93%
  Question 5: 86% | 98%
  Averages:   76% | 89%

The drop in the second question may be due to the fact that a circular cone was presented just before attempt 1. However, it still seems that cones are problematic.

• Linearizations and Propagation of Error(pdf) and the WordDoc for those interested in editing Linearizations and Propagation of Error(docx)

• 04.TangentPlanesForDifferntiableFunctions.nb

Studio 5

It is clear that more can be accomplished with team-work than without. However, there is a latent assumption that a team is functioning, which is not always the case. Team development takes time and goes through phases as described by Tuckman. If we barrow a bit from management theory then we can use the Belbin team roles to demystify some of the impediments of team development. Many of us naturally fall into specific roles and often it is useful to adopt a role, which may not be natural to us, in order to further the group cause. We would like everyone to take a bit of time to look through these two pieces of information. On the next group submission you will be asked some questions about role identification and group function. Some more resource links are below.

• Partial Derivatives, Directional Derivatives and the Mulivariate Chain Rule and the WordDoc for those interested in editing Studio5(docx)

• 05.SolveCommandAndExtremeValues.nb

   * Old blog post about team building
   * Pdf about team roles 
   * A blog post about Belbin team roles

Studio 6

• MATH224-Studio06.pdf and the WordDoc for those interested in editing MATH224-Studio06.docx
• 06.SolveCommandAndExtremeValues.nb. Note: This is a chilled out version of the notebook given out during studio5. Specifically, 05.SolveCommandAndExtremeValues.nb is "automated" in the sense that the output of the current command is fed into the next command. Consequently, the command structure is complicated. 06.SolveCommandAndExtremeValues.nb rips out the essentials at a cost of the "automation." Choose the notebook consistent with your comfort level.

   How are the groups doing? [Based on Studio 4 Data]
     Work Distribution: Equal (82%), Unequal (13%), EqualUnequal (5%)
     Skill/capabilities gains due to team activity: Yes (90%), No (10%)
     Team effectiveness: Effective (93.5%), Ineffective (6.5%)
     Team communication: Excellent (15%), Good (53%), Satisfactory (31%), Poor (2%)

Comment: At the heart of any function working group is an efficient and productive communication mechanism. Based on the above data, which is generally positive, we would like to see teams communication better. To support your growth in this category, let us remind you of:

• Belbin Team Roles: Remember that everyone has behaviors and that sometimes these behaviors clash. When clashes occur, strong emotions manifest. A way to keep emotions from getting out of control is by assessing where both parties are coming from. It is often easier to understand a behavior when they are depersonalized with a label from a taxonomy. The Belbin team roles can be used for exactly this. Moreover, increased awareness of these archetypes allows one to transition between them as needs of the group change. You may want to take the personal inventory given here (save your results, we may ask you to submit them in an individual survey).

  Instruction Team Dispositions 
   Gus: Executive (19%), Explorer (17%), Innovator (14%),  Team Player (11%),   Analyst (11%), Expert (8%), Chairman (8%) ,Completer (8%),Driver (3%)
   Izzy: Innovator (17%), Driver (17%), Explorer (17%), Team Player (14%), Expert (11%), Chairman (11%), Completer (8%), Analyst (6%), Executive (0%)
   Michael: Driver (19%), Explorer (17%), Analyst (11%), Expert (11%),  Chairman (11%), Innovator (8%),  Team Player (8%), Completer (8%), Executive (6%) 
   Scott: Innovator (22%), Driver (17%), Team Player    (14%),  Explorer (11%), Expert (8%),  Chairman (8%), Executive (8%), Analyst (6%), Completer (6%)

• Active Listening: Understanding yourself and your teammates does not guarantee that things will always run smoothly. Any team, even highly functional teams, succumb to strife. When this happens we must adopt practices that get us through the issues as quickly as possible. Active listening is a tactic one uses to make a conscious effort to hear not only the words that another person is saying but, more importantly, try to understand the complete message being sent. This youtube video gives a quick overview of the salient features of the tactic. Our advice is, don't wait for a breakdown to occur, start using this tactic right now and make a habit of using it daily. Everyone loves good listeners!

Studio 7

• MATH224-Studio07.pdf (Lagrange Multipliers) and the docx.

• [1]

Studio 8

The following is a summary of the data collected from individual responses to studio 6.

  Satisfaction with Group Meetings
  Very Satisfied	32.08%
  Satisfied	        35.85%
  Somewhat Satisfied	28.30%
  Not Satisfied	3.77%

  Satisfaction with Group Communication
  Very Satisfied	32.69%
  Satisfied	        36.54%
  Somewhat Satisfied	26.92%
  Not Satisfied	3.85%

  Satisfaction with Group Report Writing
  Very Satisfied	42.31%
  Satisfied	        50.00%
  Somewhat Satisfied	7.69%
  Not Satisfied	0.00%

  Satisfaction with Group's Utilization of Time
  Very Satisfied	46.15%
  Satisfied	        32.69%
  Somewhat Satisfied	21.15%
  Not Satisfied	0.00%

  Have your skills and capabilities increased through participation in your team?
  Yes: 83.6%
  No: 16.3%

  How effective is the work of your team?
  Effective: 98%
  Ineffective: 2%

  Did you read about the Belbin group roles?
  Yes: 68%
  No: 34%

  Strong Identification with:
  Analyst: 31% 
  Chairman: 14%
  Completer: 24%
  Driver: 17%
  Executive: 28%
  Expert: 24%
  Explorer: 17%
  Innovator: 20%
  Team player: 29%

  Somewhat identify with:
  Analyst: 42% 
  Chairman: 36%
  Completer: 36%
  Driver: 40%
  Executive: 30%
  Expert: 37%
  Explorer: 29%
  Innovator: 50%
  Team player: 50%
  
  Weakly identify with:
  Analyst: 22% 
  Chairman: 34%
  Completer: 24%
  Driver: 31%
  Executive: 30%
  Expert: 34%
  Explorer: 33%
  Innovator: 23%
  Team player: 15%
 
  Did not identify with:
  Analyst: 4% 
  Chairman: 16%
  Completer: 16%
  Driver: 12%
  Executive: 12%
  Expert: 5%
  Explorer: 22%
  Innovator: 7%
  Team player: 6%

  Did taking the role type test help you understand your own behaviors when working in group?
  Yes: 26.53%
  No: 24.49%
  Somewhat: 48.98%

• Mid-term exam review.pdf and the docx file

Studio 9

• Studio09.MultipleIntegration.pdf
• 09.MultipleIntegration.nb
• Hand calculations for Mathematica notebook

Studio 10

• Studio10.TripleIntegrals.pdf

Student Submission Links and Returned Work

Work submissions will occur electronically. This post from Prof. Strong's associated blog talks about the first submission and links to this old, old blog post about tools that students can use to make digital records of their work.

A note about due dates: Your instructors understand that you are involved with many other courses outside of MATH224. As such, you should consider most due dates as soft deadlines. If you are in the middle of time critical work for another class that cannot wait then please do not stress. The submission site will be open and ready to receive your work if things run long. That said, please do not fall behind. If you feel like you are falling behind then please talk to your instructor ASAP.

Submission Links

• Test Submission Form - Due Aug. 31st by 11:59pm
• Conics and Quadric Surfaces Submission form - Due by Sept. 9th at 11:59pm: Note: Please read the form completely and carefully before filling anything out.

• Limits and Derivatives Submission form - Due by Sept. 16th at 11:59pm (soft): Note: Please read the form completely and carefully before filling anything out.

• Linearizations, Propagation of Error and Graphing (group)
• Linearizations, Propagation of Error and Graphing (individual)

• Multivariate chain rule, PDE and directional derivatives (group)
• Multivariate chain rule, PDE and directional derivatives (individual)

• Critical Points and Second Derivative Testing (group)
• Critical Points and Second Derivative Testing (individual)

• Lagrange Multipliers (group)
• Lagrange Multipliers (individual)

A note about submissions: We would like only one write up per group as opposed to a conglomeration of materials from each individual's notebooks. With this write up you should think about distilling and manicuring your results/discussion/reflections. Also, the quality of scans have been lacking in some submissions. We would like to point you to Cam Scanner, which is a free app that will take pictures, straighten, grey-scale them and output a single pdf file. If you are not using this, or something equivalent, then please think about starting.

• Multiple Integration (group)
• Multiple Integration (individual)

Submission Tools

• PDF Merge: This can take multiple PDFs and compile them into a single PDF.

Returned Work

• Conics and Quadric Surfaces - Shared Dropbox Folder
• Limits and Partial Derivatives

Exam Information

 Important Dates
  October 9th - Group Problems Due
  October 16th - Studio Review Day
  October 23rd - Mid-term (In studio)
  

• MATH224: Mid-Term Exam Challenge