# Calculus 2 for summer?

1. May 29, 2013

### Dan350

Calculus 2 for summer??

Hello users!,,
What do you think about taking calculus 2 on summer???

Any of you have taken that course in summer? What can you say about it?
Is it hard??

Also veryy important,,
i got an A- in calc 1
I like math
Im taking the course on july 11, it ends at august 19,, which is like 6 weeks!
Im teaching myself and I want to know which topics should i focus to do very well in class..
Integration by parts?? Trig Sub?

Thank you very much,, hope you ca help me

Cheers!

2. May 29, 2013

### verty

Learn these: $\frac{d}{dx} sin^{-1}x$, $\frac{d}{dx} cos^{-1}x$, etc. This will come in handy.

3. May 29, 2013

### Staff: Mentor

It will probably be tougher than if taken during the regular school terms, because presumably the same material is being compressed into a shorter term.

Make sure you really understand the chain rule of differentiation, since that is at the heart of the ordinary substitution technique of integration. Also, be sure you understand the product rule, since that is what's behind integration by parts. For trig substitution, be sure you understand the derivatives of the six trig functions and how all six can be defined in terms of either sin(x) or cos(x).

4. May 29, 2013

### Lebombo

At one school, I took Trig as a summer course and the professor told us up front that if we are taking trig for a short summer semester, then either we already know the material or are not math majors who are interested in really learning the material, so it's not really necessary to delve as deep into the topic as he would normally do during a regular semester. We memorized a few formulas w/o understanding how they were derived, plugged in numbers to those few memorized formulas, and most everyone passed. Didn't learn how to use trig I had to go back to the trig book during Calc 1 semester (which was a constant pain to have to do). Wish I would have taken it during a regular semester.

At my current university, my professor doesn't teach calc 1 or 2 during summer exactly for the reason Mark44 stated. He is not willing to sacrifice content due to the semester timeframe, thus ensures all his students are held to the appropriate standard.

So taking a summer math semester probably depends on how much of calc 2 you already know and/or are comfortable just barely covering in class.

Last edited: May 29, 2013