Mathematics 241 -- Multivariable Calculus

Review Sheet for Exam 3

November 16, 2007

General Information

The third exam for the course will be given Friday, November 30, as announced in the course syllabus. It will cover the material we have discussed in class (including the lab on the geometry of Lagrange multipliers) through and including the material on the change of variables formula for double and triple integrals from class on November 19 and 20. The topics are covered in sections 3.4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5. of the text. (But note that there is quite a bit more in the text than we have discussed in class. You are only responsible for things we have done in class.) Here's a breakdown by topic:

  1. Gradient, divergence, curl, and the del operator (a ``left-over'' topic from Exam 2).
  2. The first and second order Taylor polynomials of f(x,y) at a point (a,b) and how they can be used to understand the shape of a graph z = f(x,y) for (x,y) near (a,b).
  3. Extrema of functions -- finding critical points, using the Hessian Criterion (Second Derivative Test) to classify them as local maxima, local minima, or neither. (We only did these calculations for functions of 2 and 3 variables. Know what how to apply the second derivative test in these cases.)
  4. Constrained optimization and Lagrange multipliers. (We only discussed the case of a single constraint equation; the text also has an extensive discussion of such problems involving several constraints -- see general comment above.) Also know how to combine the previous item and Lagrange multipliers to determine the absolute maximum or minimum of a function on a compact region in R2 (e.g. the region on and inside a simple closed curve).
  5. Double integrals over rectangles and more general regions.
  6. Interchanging order of integration.
  7. Triple integrals over rectangular boxes and more general regions.
  8. The change of variables formula in double and triple integrals. Concentrate here on how to set up and evaluate integrals over regions that are complicated to describe in rectangular coordinates, but are simplified by going to polar coordinates in the plane, or cylindrical or spherical coordinates in space.

There will be 3 or 4 problems, each with several parts. Some may ask for a graph or how to set up an integral (if the problem does not say ``evaluate'' the integral, it is not necessary to do that). Other questions may ask for a description or explanation of some phenomenon (similar to some questions from labs).

Review Session

Scheduling a review session before the exam this time is going to be tricky again: I have off-campus commitments Tuesday and Friday evenings, and an exam for another class starting at 6:00pm on Wednesday. Earlier in the afternoon on Wednesday, or Thursday evening are possible.

Suggested Review Problems

For practice, it would be a very good idea to try a few problems from all sections we have covered. Here are some good ones.

Sample Exam Questions

Note: the actual exam will not be this long. Also, the actual exam questions may ask things in different ways and may involve examples with different properties.

I. Let F(x,y,z) = (x + yz , y + xz , z + xy) be a vector field on R3.

II. All parts of this question refer to the function f(x,y) = xe-x2cos(y).

III. Let f(x,y) = (x - 1)2 + y2 and g(x,y) = x2/4 + y2.

IV. All parts of this question refer to the region R in the plane inside the circle x2 + y2 = 5, below the parabola y = x2 + 1, and above the x-axis.

V.

VI. Find the volume of the solid bounded above by the cone z = (x2 + y2)1/2, below by z = 0, and by 0 ≤ x2 + y2 ≤ 4. You may use any convenient coordinate system to carry out the necessary computations.