MATH 32A

Calculus of Several Variables

Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 31A with grade of C- or better. Introduction to differential calculus of several variables, vector field theory. P/NP or letter grading.

Units: 4.0
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Overall Rating 3.4
Easiness 2.9/ 5
Clarity 2.6/ 5
Workload 4.0/ 5
Helpfulness 3.6/ 5
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Majority positive comments for Prof. Hood so I'll provide a different perspective: - Lectures: lectures were unclear and Hood does not use slides. He lectures with notes from ripped notebook paper reminiscent of high school days. He does post handwritten notes on Canvas a few days later but they are in condensed form and don't very much match with lecture notes. - Homework/textbook: homework problems are pulled from the textbook. Although time consuming, they are doable and can reinforce content understanding. Odd numbered answers are available in the back. However, Hood's lecture content and the textbook content often differ (one annoying thing was that the mathematical symbols used were different and it was easy to get confused). Hood includes content on his exams that the textbooks do not cover. - Exams and practice exams: Hood posts practice exams several days leading up to the exam. The real exams are basically a complete replica of question type with practice exams with the numbers changed. However, the real exams are an incredible time crunch and involve many tedious calculations. You might get stuck on the algebra part of a problem instead of the calculus concept. While partial credit is given, there is no mercy for minor calculation errors and typos. On one midterm I wrote dxy as dyy for one sub question and had -10 points cause of it, entire letter grade gone. Straight raw scores are used for exams - no curve. At heart Hood is a friendly professor and easy to talk to. He's tolerant and wants to help. However, from an objective standpoint his lectures/lecture notes are difficult to understand and exams are toughly graded. Textbook will help but about 1/4 of the content will not be included. He will not be teaching Winter 2022 but will teach again for Spring 2022. Some students are definitely going to do well for the class but for others/majority this class wont be easy.
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