justcalculus
Multivariable calculus notes, slideshows, and explorations
Blog
Visualizing Volume of Solids with Desmos 3D
Interactive Desmos 3D widgets for computing volumes using washers, shells, and cross sections.
Can You Bake the Optimal Cake Using Calculus?
Solving FiveThirtyEight's Riddler: maximize the volume of a three-tiered cake that fits inside a cone using multivariable calculus.
Does a Lampshade Cast a Hyperbolic Shadow?
Using parametric plotting and Mathematica to prove that the shadow a lampshade casts on a wall is a pair of hyperbolas.
Modeling the Rolling Shutter Effect
Using Mathematica to simulate how a rolling shutter distorts a spinning propeller, from polar plots to contour plots to animated distortion.
The Riemann Sphere as a Stereographic Projection
Visualizing stereographic projection and the extended complex plane with an interactive Wolfram Demonstration.
Parameterized Families of Elliptic Curves with Large Rational Torsion Subgroups
Exploring one-parameter families of elliptic curves with rational torsion points of order 4 through 12, with an interactive Wolfram Demonstration.
Lecture Notes
13 lessons from parametric plotting through Stokes' Theorem, each available as an interactive slideshow, downloadable PDF, or video lecture.
Lesson 1
Parametric Plotting
Curves, surfaces, solids
Lesson 2
Vectors
Dot products, projection
Lesson 3
Perpendicularity
Planes, cross product
Lesson 3b
Linearization
Tangent planes, mapping
Lesson 4
Gradient Vectors
Level curves, optimization
Lesson 4b
Lagrange Multipliers
Constrained extrema
Lesson 5
Double Integrals
Area, volume, Gauss-Green
Lesson 6
Vector Fields
Flow along and across curves
Lesson 7
Flow Measurements
Path integrals, flux
Lesson 8
Sources, Sinks, Singularities
Green's Theorem, div, curl
Lesson 9
Change of Variables (2D)
Jacobian, polar coordinates
Lesson 10
Change of Variables (3D)
Triple integrals, 3D Jacobian
Lesson 11
Spherical & Cylindrical
Coordinate systems
Lesson 12
Surface Integrals
Flux, Divergence Theorem
Lesson 13
Stokes' Theorem
Curl, 3D path integrals