The Pennsylvania State University
MATH 230 - Multivariable Calculus and Vector Analysis
Section 001V Syllabus
Instructor: Nicholas Stepanik
Email: nxs371@psu.edu
Office: 421 McAllister Building
Office Hours (Zoom)
• Mondays 12-1 PM (Active)
• Tuesdays 3-4 PM
• Thursdays 10-11 AM (Active)
• Fridays 10-11 AM
Zoom Link: https://psu.zoom.us/j/98731405209
My Zoom Link: http://psu.zoom.us/my/nick.stepanik (for appointments)
Required Materials
Calculus: Early Transcendentals by Jon Rogawski, Colin Adams, and Robert Franzosa, 4th ed, along with
an activated Achieve account. This means you will need to purchase the online system that accompanies
the textbook. You do not need a hard copy of the textbook as the eText comes with purchase of Achieve.
You should check first if you have a still-active version of Achieve from when you took MATH 140/141 as
we typically instruct you to purchase the multiple-semester access.
Achieve Instructions
When activating your Achieve account, be sure to use your PSU email address and the same name that is
on the official Canvas roster. Achieve Course Code: rwyub4
Email Policy
The mathematics department has guidelines in place so that emails from students must receive a reply within
24 to 48 hours, excluding weekends. I ask that you wait no longer than 48 hours before sending a follow-up
email. Generally, I do not respond to emails as much in the evening (after 6 PM), and so a response may
not come until the following day. Homework questions generally are difficult to answer in great detail via
email. To this end, I ask that you attend office hours if you have extensive homework questions.
Calculator Policy
In an online asynchronous course, calculators are a difficult tool to regulate. A scientific (non-graphing)
calculator is permitted, but please know that in order to receive any and all credit for assignments, all
relevant work needs to be on the page. An answer alone based on a calculator result does not warrant full
credit on any assignment.
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Lectures and Videos
Class structure in this course is definitely going to be different than a typical mathematics course. Each
week you can expect there to be videos that cover the topics you are expected to work on for that week.
Lectures will be recorded weekly live on Zoom at 2 PM on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Any student
wishing to attend and participate in the live lecture is welcome to do so at that time. Friday classes will
consist of any content I need to finish for the week or worked examples. It depends on the week (see course
schedule). I will do my best to keep things engaging for you. While I will be presenting material, my goal
as your instructor is to provide you with the tools you need to succeed in this course. Part of that is to help
you in your mathematical thinking and problem-solving abilities. My hope is that we can work together so
that you can succeed in this course.
Office Hours
Office hours are a useful resource in any course. If you have questions about course content or progress in
the course, please do not hesitate to attend office hours. Office hours are not, however, a time and place
for me to re-lecture content that you may have missed in class. While I can answer questions and give a
very general and brief overview of what you may have missed, I cannot devote an entire office hour to the
re-lecturing of material. I may have many students that attend office hours at the same time, and I need to
be mindful of the questions that each student has and the time they are taking out of their day to attend
office hours. I ask that you please come prepared to office hours with your questions. You will see listed at
the top of the syllabus the times and days for each office hour to be held. Two office hours are labeled as
“active learning” office hours, and two are going to be the usual format office hours. Active learning office
hours are going to be a place for you to join remotely and work on homework with others. I will create
breakout rooms and cycle through those as you are working.
Homework
• Achieve homework will be due on Wednesdays at 11:59 PM (usually). Extensions are granted, as long
as I have ample notification and the excuse is legitimate. Achieve homework will allow five (5) attempts
at answering a question. Additionally, you will have up to three (3) days past the due date to submit
the assignment with a flat penalty of 2%.
• Written homework will have a soft deadline of Thursdays at 11:59 PM and hard deadline of Fridays at
11:59 PM. In GradeScope, you will see this as a “due date” and a ”late due date” but please know that
these correspond to those deadlines. There is not a penalty for turning it in on Friday, but anything
submitted beyond that will have a 5% late penalty applied to it. Late assignments must be submitted
to the Late Assignment Dropbox on Canvas.
Achieve homework grades will be regularly updated at the times of each of the exams on Canvas so that you
have a snapshot of your grade at various points throughout the academic term.
Mastery Assignments
A typical class would call these “quizzes” but, because we are online, these assignments are going to take a
different form and structure. Every two weeks you will have mastery assignments that assess your under-
standing an application of the concepts we have learned within the past two weeks. These will be graded by
me and are to be uploaded on GradeScope using the provided document template. Late submissions get a
5% penalty like the written homework. These also get uploaded to the Late Assignment Dropbox on Canvas.
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Calculus Review Assignments
There will be two review assignments due in the first two weeks of class. These are short assignments meant
to check your preparedness to take multivariable calculus and vector analysis. Both assignments will count
towards your mastery assignment part of the grade. The concepts addressed that you should review while
completing these assignments include the following:
• Limits
• Differentiation and Implicit Differentiation
• Integration and Integration Techniques
• Optimization
Please note that you are responsible for the material on these assignments as these topics are not going to
be covered in the material that is a part of this course.
Participation
I will assess participation through Canvas each week with “check-in” quizzes. These quizzes are short and
fairly easy to complete quizzes on Canvas consisting of 2-3 questions about the content of the lecture videos
of the week. They will count at 5% of your final grade.
Exams
Exam 1 Monday, June 5, 2023
Exam 2 Monday, June 26, 2023
Exam 3 Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Comprehenisve Final Exam Friday, August 11, 2023
Exams are administered remotely through Honorlock. Each exam will open for 24 hours on the day that it
is assigned. You must scan and upload your exam to GradeScope. I am permitting a scientific calculator
on the exams, however, you must show all relevant work in order to receive credit. Problem solutions with
little or no work will receive little or no credit. Each of Exams 1-3 is 90 minutes in duration (75 minutes to
complete, 15 minutes to upload) and the Final Exam is 135 minutes in duration (120 mintues to complete,
15 minutes to upload). The Final Exam is COMPREHENSIVE.
Makeup Exams
If you have a conflict with any of the exam times listed above, you must contact me in advance of the exam
to let me know if you need either a conflict or makeup exam. However, such circumstances must be extensive
and warrant the moving of an exam to a different time. Illness and family emergencies typically are the
cases where a makeup is granted. Vacation or forgetting an exam was scheduled are not valid excuses and
will not be granted a makeup or extension.
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Makeup Work Policy
In order to have the opportunity to make up any graded assignments, you must notify me by email
prior to any due date for an assignment. In unexpected or unforeseen circumstances, I ask that you
contact me as soon as possible or within 24 hours of a missed assignment. Extensions are only granted
for legitimate reasons (e.g. illness, family emergency, etc.). I will be rigorously enforcing this
policy. Forgetting an assignment is due is not a legitimate excuse. If a legitimate reason is presented, I may
acknowledge it and give the extension, however, you must notify me either in advance or as soon as the
circumstance presents itself.
Grades and Grading Policy
The final grade for the course will be determined according to the following distribution:
Participation 5%
Achieve Homework 10%
Written Homework 15%
Mastery Assignments 10%
Exams 1-3 35%
Final Exam 25%
Total 100%
Grades and Grading Policy (Continued)
Letter grades for this course are set according to the following cutoffs:
A 92.50%-100%
A- 89.50%-92.49%
B+ 86.50%-89.49%
B 82.50%-86.49%
B- 79.50%-82.49%
C+ 76.50%-79.49%
C 69.50%-76.49%
D 59.50%-69.49%
F ≤59.49%
Deferred Grades (DF)
If a student is passing a course but, because of illness or emergency, needs to complete the course material at
a later time can opt for a deferred grade (‘DF’). The completion of course materials must be done so within
the first couple of weeks following the end of the term. Please note that deferred grades are only provided
when the circumstances are extenuating that prevent a student from taking a final exam.
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
To have academic integrity means that one must be open, honest, and responsible with the work they conduct
in their courses. I ask that you conduct yourself in this course in the exact same way that any instructor
of an in-person course would ask of those students. To this end, the following exemplifies and describes the
basic ideas of academic integrity.
• THE WORK YOU SUBMIT IN THIS COURSE MUST BE YOUR OWN.
• COPYING WORK OF ANOTHER STUDENT, SUBMITTING PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENTS
OF ANOTHER COURSE, OR ANY FORM OF INAUTHENTIC OR DISHONEST PRODUCTION OF
WORK IS A FLAGRANT VIOLATION OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.
• PASSING OFF WORK OF ANOTHER PERSON AS YOUR OWN IS A VIOLATION OF
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.
• WILLINGLY PROVIDING WORK FOR ANOTHER STUDENT TO COPY IS A VIOLATION OF
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.
• HAVING UNAUTHORIZED POSSESSION OF EXAMS OR QUIZZES, USING NON-APPROVED
DEVICES OR AIDS IS A VIOLATION OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.
In short, if it feels wrong to do, it probably is wrong to do, so do not do it.
Link to Academic Integrity Policy: 49-20 Academic Integrity
Disability and Accommodations
If you have accommodations, please be sure to contact me as soon as possible with details of your
accommodation. Any student with a documented disability should contact me as soon as possible so that
we can discuss arrangements to fit your needs. For more information, please see the Penn State Educational
Equity site: Penn State Educational Equity
Educational Equity
Penn State is a community that fosters both a diverse and inclusive environment for the entire campus com-
munity. Acts of intolerance, discrimination, or harassment due to age, ancestry, color, disability, gender, gen-
der identity, national origin, race, religious belief, sexual orientation, or veteran status are not tolerated and
can be reported through the Educational Equity on the Report Bias webpage: PSU Report Bias Webpage.
Counseling and Psychological Services
Penn State offers a variety of helpful services on campus that support the mental health of students. Coun-
seling and Psychological Services offers such services as group and individual counseling, psychiatric services
as well as virtual chats. For more information you can visit the CAPS website.
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Important Dates
Regular Drop Deadline Friday, May 19, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Regular Add Deadline Saturday May 20, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Late Drop Start Saturday, May 20, 2023
Late Registration Start Sunday, May 21, 2023
Memorial Day Holiday Monday, May 29, 2023
Juneteenth Holiday Monday, June 19, 2023
Independence Day Holiday Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Late Registration Deadline Friday, July 21, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Late Add Deadline Friday, July 21, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Late Drop Deadline Friday, July 21, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Withdrawal Deadline Wedensday, August 9, 2023 at 5:00 PM
Note: The instructor reserves the right to modify this syllabus as the academic term progresses.
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Learning Objectives for MATH 230
Upon completion of each section of the course, you should be able...
Chapter 12: Vectors and 3D Geometry
Chapter 13: Vectors Functions and Calculus
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Chapter 14: Multivariable Functions and Differentiation
Chapter 15: Integration of Multivariable Scalar Functions
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Chapter 16: Vector Fields and Vector Calculus
Chapter 17: Fundamental Theorems of Calculus