Math 53 Fall 2024

Location and Times

Valley Life Sciences Building 2050 1-2pm Monday Wednesday Friday

Office hours: Evans 971 2-3pm Monday Wednesday

Email: norman.sheu@berkeley.edu

Due to the large amount of emails I receive, I do not respond to questions that are already explained clearly in this document, in particular topics related to enrollment, make-up exams, exam drops, how to calculate final grades, and grade distributions.

Course Description 

Parametric equations and polar coordinates. Vectors in 2- and 3-dimensional Euclidean spaces. Partial derivatives. Multiple integrals. Vector calculus. Theorems of Green, Gauss, and Stokes.

Prerequisites

Math 1A-1B or an equivalent course.

Textbook

Multivariable Calculus, by Stewart, 8th UC custom edition.

Enrollment

The enrollment is entirely done online. I have no control of the enrollment process. If you have any question about enrollment, first check the website:

https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/enrollment/enrollment-scheduling 

For other enrollment questions, please email:

enrollment@math.berkeley.edu

Grading policy  

Homework: 15%

Quizzes: 15%

Midterm 1: 20%

Midterm 2: 20%

Final: 30%

There is also extra credit for discussion attendance. Please read the Extra Credit section for more details. 

The class grade distribution will be based on what is recommended by the math department.  

Homework

Homework will be due on gradescope on Friday at 11:59pm. If you miss this deadline, you can still submit homework up to Sunday at 11:59pm the same week, but a 50% penalty will be applied. Late homework will not be accepted after Sunday for any credit. Do not email your homework assignments to your GSI. 

Working with others is encouraged, but you must write your solutions on your own and write the names of your collaborators at the top of the assignment. 

50% of each homework assignment's score is based on completion. The other 50% will be based on the the accuracy of your solutions to one or two problems chosen at random by the GSIs. 

The lowest three homework scores are dropped. 

Quizzes

The following Wednesdays will have a quiz: September 4, 11, 18, 25 ; October 16, 23 ; November 13, 20 ; December 4. 

Quizzes will be held during the first 25 minutes of discussion and based on material from the previous week. You must take the quiz in the disucssion you are enrolled in. There are no make-up quizzes. No calculators, notes, or cheat sheets are allowed in quizzes. 

There are no make-up quizzes, but the lowest two quiz scores are dropped. The point of the dropping policy is not to help your grade. The quiz drops -- 2 for everybody no matter what -- are themselves an equitable accommodation for occasionally missing a quiz.

Exams

The midterms will be held in lecture during regular class hours. The midterms and final will not be conducted remotely under any circumstances. There are no make-up midterms or final. 

The first midterm will be held on 10/4. 

The second midterm will be held on 11/1. 

The time and location of the final exam can be found on CalCentral. The final time and location is determined by the school and cannot be changed, so if you have a time conflict with this course's final exam, please do not ask for an alternative exam time. 

Exams are cumulative. 

No calculators, notes, or cheat sheets are allowed in exams. 

There is only one regrade request per question on Gradescope. The course staff will review your request and determine if there is a clear error on the part of the grader, such as adding up marks incorrectly or forgetting to grade a question. Please note that if you write a correct answer for a problem but your reasoning is illegible, incorrect, or nonexistent then you will not get credit for it. Please note that an exam score can go up or down if a regrade request is made. Further grade requests will result in a penalty from your exam score. 

Extra Credit

If you attend all discussions in a week that has three discussion sections, you will receive extra credit that will add 0.375% to your final grade. A maximum of 3% can be added this way, which is equivalent to attending all the discussions in any eight weeks that have three discussion sections. How attendance is taken is up to the discretion of your GSI, which can range from simply checking in to participating in some way in disucssion. Extra credit is applied after a grade distribution is determined. 

Grading Details

We are aware that a number of students will miss a midterm exam, quiz, or homework assignment due to a variety of reasons. This is why we have implemented generous replacement or dropping rules. The purpose of these rules is precisely to alleviate the impact of such absences. 

The homework assignments and quizzes to be dropped and exam replacement policy are not intended as a back-up for slacking off, lagging behind the material, or catching up due to unsatisfactory academic performance on previous exams. 

We will not be able to offer further accommodations like make-up exams or further drops or replacements. If you think that these rules did not fully cover your absences, then you can email us at the end of the semester and we will review your case. The only exception to the above is if you have an official Letter of Accommodation issues by the DSP office and that requests accommodation for missed exams or if your absence is related to your DSP accommodations (your DSP specialist will need to verify this with us). In this case, please contact us and we will try to find an arrangement. 

Please do not share doctor's notes with us or any other documents containing private information. For privacy reasons, we cannot ask for doctor's notes. Therefore, we also cannot accept them for equity reasons. Otherwise, your classmates would be forced to release private information in order to receive the same accommodations. The only document that we accept is your official Letter of Accommodation issued by the DSP office. 

Your lowest three homework assignment scores and lowest two quiz scores will not be used when calculating your final grade. 

If your final percentage score is higher than one of your midterm percentage scores, then the midterm with a lower percentage score will be replaced by the final percentage score, i.e. at most one midterm can be replaced by the final. 

If you miss a midterm, your final exam percentage score will replace the missed midterm's percentage score. Your final exam score CANNOT replace both midterm scores, regardless if you took both exams or if you took one and missed the other. If you miss both midterms or the final, you will fail the class. This is regardless of the performance for your other items for this course. 

Please note that the midterms and final are cumulative, so the general difficulty for exams is Midterm 1 <= Midterm 2 <= Final. There is no point to “strategically” miss any exam.

Academic Integrity

Cheating is unacceptable. Students found cheating on a quiz or midterm will receive a score of 0 on that quiz or midterm. If you are caught cheating on the midterm, a penalty will be applied to your final grade. Final exam scores will not replace midterm scores given a 0 as a result of cheating. Students found cheating on the final exam will receive an automatic F in the course. Any student caught cheating will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct and Student Community Standards, and if found responsible for academic misconduct may receive sanctions ranging up to suspension or dismissal from the university. 

DSP

Students with disabilities requiring accomodations for exams must submit a letter of accomodation from the Disabled Students Program and contact course staff at least two weeks in advance of any exam so that we can make the necessary arrangements. Requests may not be accomodated if this deadline is not met. 

Incomplete Grades

Grades of Incomplete will be granted only for direct medical or personal emergencies that cause you to miss the final, and only if you have completed the majority of the coursework and your work up to that point is of passing quality.

Information for incomplete grades can be found here. 

Discussions and GSI Office Hours

You may go to any GSI's office hours. 

GSI Contact Information and Office Hours

Carl Sun, carlsxh@berkeley.edu, TBD

Theo Keller, thekeller03@berkeley.edu, Evans 868, Thursday 1pm-3pm

Galen Liang, ypliang@berkeley.edu, Evans 1068, Monday, Wednesday 10am-11am

Yuji Okitani, yuji_okitani@berkeley.edu, Evans 789, Thursday 4pm-6pm

Peter Rowley, prowley@berkeley.edu, Evans 1043, Monday, Tuesday 12pm-1pm

Zack Stier, zstier@berkeley.edu, Evans 1087, Wednesday 4pm-6pm

Jason Zhao, zhao.j@berkeley.edu, Evans 1062, Monday 10am-12pm

Weekly Lecture Schedule

This is a rough outline of when and what topics will be covered. It is highly recommended that you read the section that will be covered in lecture before lecture. Note that this schedule is subject to change based on the pace material is covered in class. 

50 minutes of lecture 3 times a week is not enough to cover all the material this course intends to cover. Lecture is only one part of this course. It is expected that you learn from discussion, your fellow classmates, the book, and on your own to fill in other aspects of the material. 

8/28, 8/30: 10.1, 10.2

9/4, 9/6: 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

9/9, 9/11, 9/13: 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4 , 12.5, 12.6

9/16, 9/18, 9/20: 13.1, 13.2, 13.3

9/23, 9/25, 9/27: 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4

 9/30: 14.5

10/2, 10/4: Review, Midterm

10/7, 10/9, 10/11: 14.6, 14.7, 14.8

10/14, 10/16, 10/18: 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.5

10/21, 10/23, 10/25: 15.6, 15.7, 15.8

10/28: 15.8, 15.9 

10/30, 11/1: Review, Midterm

11/4, 11/6, 11/8: 15.9, 16.1, 16.2

11/13, 11/15: 16.3, 16.4, 16.5

11/18, 11/20, 11/22: 16.5, 16.6, 16.7

11/25: 16.7

12/2, 12/4, 12/6: 16.8, 16.9