A GUIDE FOR YOU TO
CHOOSE YOUR MATH COURSES

Most beginning students will take Math 9, 10, 17 or 19.

Here is a guide:

If you returned the math placement card with your registration, placement into a fall math course was made for you and is listed on your registration notification in this envelope. Occasionally this placement is different from the one you chose. If you have not taken an AP exam, this placement can be regarded as tentative. However,

• If you have had little or no calculus but your secondary school preparation is firm, take Math 9. Don't take a placement test. Otherwise, consider Math 5-6.
• If you have had two semesters of calculus, with good grades, take Math 10 (or Math 17 or Math 19). You should not take Math 9 except with permission of the Mathematics Placement Advisor.
• If you have some questions about your placement, before or after the start of classes, please consult the Mathematics Placement Advisor.

When should you take a Math Placement Test?

• If you have had one semester of calculus, take the Calculus Placement Test to help decide between Math 9 and Math 10.
• If you have had two semesters of calculus, have not taken the AP tests and wish to be placed in a course more advanced than Math 10, take the Calculus Placement Test.
• If you have taken the AP test and wish placement more advanced than that assigned to you, take the Calculus Placement Test.

The Calculus Placement test is a self-grading, multiple-choice exam. The exam is completely optional. Your score will not be known to anyone but yourself. In particular, it will not be recorded or used for any official purpose. We shall offer course recommendations based on your exam score. Clearly, those recommendations will be more reliable if you have already reviewed calculus.

Students who qualify for a third-semester (sophomore-level) course on the basis of AP scores or the Calculus Placement Test should consult the information below. For higher-level courses, please consult the Mathematics Placement Advisor (Professor Cole) or the instructor for the course.

If you are having trouble deciding between two possibilities, it is strongly advised that you choose the higher-level class. It is relatively easy to drop down to the lower one within the first weeks of the course.
If you have studied third-semester calculus and/or linear algebra, please consult the Math Placement Advisor. If you have decided to take math, but didn't return the placement card, use the guidelines above.

Math 10 is the second semester of the introductory calculus sequence. It covers techniques of integration and applications of integration, sequences and series including Taylor series and power series, parametric curves, polar coordinates and first order differential equations.

Math 17 is for students who have the equivalent of a one-year AB calculus AP course. It treats in more detail the topics of Math 10, assuming that students already have studied integration and its applications.

Math 19 is a version of Math 17 especially suited for students of engineering and physics. It has an additional weekly problem session devoted to applied problems.

There are three distinct third-semester calculus courses at Brown: Math 18, 20 and 35.

All three courses include the topics of functions of two variables, partial derivatives, maxim and minim, gradients, space curves, constrained maxim and minim, multiple integrals, calculation of volumes, cylindrical and spherical coordinates, functions of three or more variables, line integrals and Green's Theorem
(and Stokes' Theorem).

Math 18 ordinarily assumes that students have had the equivalent of Math 17 or 10 (or an honor grade in the Advanced Placement BC calculus exam).

Math 20 is a version of Math 18 specially adapted for concentrators in Engineering or Physics with an additional weekly problem session devoted to applications.

Math 35 is the honors version of third-semester calculus. Students with high motivation and interest in mathematics, with high achievement in Math 9-10 or a 4 or 5 in the Advanced Placement BC calculus test,
are especially encouraged to take on the extra work involved in such a course.

Linear Algebra and Calculus form the foundations of the mathematics used in applications, as well as of most higher-level mathematics. Linear Algebra is taught in Math 52, and in an honors version, Math 54. For the latter, remarks analogous to those on Math 35 apply.

Three semesters of calculus and a semester of linear algebra are the ordinary prerequisites for any 100-level mathematics course (except for Math 126, which does not require linear algebra).