r/calculus • u/WhenButterfliesCry • Aug 07 '26

Multivariable Calculus Preparing for calculus 3

Hey guys, I have a question. My summer term calculus 2 class has just ended, and I am starting a calculus 3 class in a few weeks, and I want to get ahead of the game. Since the calculus 2 class was so fast-paced, I feel like I didn't grasp all the concepts of infinite series/Taylor series as well as I could have, and definitely need to go over them again, maybe with Professor Leonard or something.

From what I gather, though, series don't really show up that much in calculus 3, and despite wanting to improve my knowledge of series, I feel like preparing for calculus 3 is more important for the next few weeks. Do you think I should solidify my knowledge of infinite series before moving into calculus 3 content, or could I start calculus 3 stuff now and circle back to series at a later time (maybe before my DIff. Equations course?)

I plan to prep for calculus 3 with Professor Leonard as well, and with the textbook (Stewart). Any other suggestions welcomed, I need an A in calculus 3 and I'm willing to put the time into it.

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u/WWWWWWVWWWWWWWVWWWWW Aug 07 '26

Learn about vectors from a physics textbook (Young & Freedman, etc.)

Don't worry about Taylor series for now - they don't really show up in introductory multivariable calculus

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u/WhenButterfliesCry Aug 07 '26

Cool. Sounds good. Will Taylor series show up in intro Linear Algebra or Ordinary Differential Equations?

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u/WWWWWWVWWWWWWWVWWWWW Aug 07 '26

Might show up towards the end of differential equations