Course Trivium
for Multivariable Calculus
Enumerated here are the calculations and tasks
that should become routine to students in this course.
Each is stated to have a clear goal to suggest an exercise to perform.
It is worth a student’s time to become proficient at doing these tasks
so as to not be impeded thinking about more interesting mathematics.
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Determine the rectangular, cylindrical, or spherical coordinates of a point
given the coordinates of the point in any one of those systems.
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For two points in space,
calculate the distance between those points and their midpoint,
and determine a parameterization or vector equation
of the line that contains those points.
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Given two vectors in space, calculate:
any linear combination of those vectors,
the measure of the angle formed between those vectors,
the area of the triangle framed by those vectors,
the vector resulting from projecting one vector onto the other,
and a vector that is orthogonal to both of of those vectors.
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Determine an equation for the plane
that contains three non-colinear points
given their coordinates
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Determine the line along which two planes intersect.
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Determine the point at which a line intersects a plane.
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Compute the distance to a plane from a point.
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Compute the distance to a line from a point.
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Compute the distance between two skew lines.
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Determine the line tangent to a curve at a given point.
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Calculate the unit tangent, unit normal,
and unit binormal vectors
to a parameterization of a curve at a point.
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Calculate the curvature and the torsion
of a parameterization of a curve at a point.
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Sketch a contour plot and graph
for a multivariable function.
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Prove that the limit of a multivariable function
\( \lim_{(x,y)\to(a,b)} f(x,y) \)
either exists or doesn’t exist,
and if it exists compute its value.
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Compute the partial derivatives of a multivariable function.
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Given a surface defined either parametrically
or as the graph \(z = f(x,y)\) of a multivariable function,
determine an equation of the plane tangent to the surface at a point .
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Given an equation involving the multiple variables,
compute the partial derivative of any of them
with respect to one of the others,
both in the case that those symbols represent independent variables
and in the case that they represent functions of other independent variables.
If possible, be able to solve this implicit partial derivative
to express the partial derivative explicitly.
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Compute the gradient vector of a multivariable function,
and the directional derivative of that function
in a given direction.
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Determine the extreme values of
a multivariable function \(f\colon \mathbf{R}^2 \to \mathbf{R}\)
on an open subset of the interior of its domain
and on a closed subset of the boundary of its domain.
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Given a region \(R\) in \(\mathbf{R}^2\)
with a boundary that can be described analytically
either in rectangular or polar coordinates,
and a function \(f\colon R \to \mathbf{R},\)
compute the value of
\( \iint_R f \,\mathrm{d}A\,. \)
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Given an expanse \(E\) in \(\mathbf{R}^3\)
with a boundary that can be described analytically
either in rectangular, cylindrical, or spherical coordinates,
and a function \(f\colon E \to \mathbf{R},\)
compute the value of
\( \iiint_E f \,\mathrm{d}V\,. \)
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Determine whether or not a vector field
over either \(\mathbf{R}^2\) or \(\mathbf{R}^3,\)
is conservative, and if so determine its potential function.
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Compute the divergence and curl of a vector field
over either \(\mathbf{R}^2\) or \(\mathbf{R}^3.\)
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Evaluate a line integral
over a piecewise-smooth curve in a vector field.
If the curve is closed, compute its value either directly
or as an integral over its interior.
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Evaluate a surface integral
over a piecewise-smooth surface in a vector field.
If the surface is closed, compute its value either directly
or as an integral over its interior.