Paul Seeburger — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:18:44 GMT

Welcome to Exploring Multivariable Calculus! This website is dedicated to exploring calculus visually using the computer. In particular, it's focused on helping you explore multivariable calculus and some three-dimensional topics within single variable calculus. (In the left panel, you will find a link to another area of my website that is focused on single variable calculus as well as a link to my instuctor home page.)

This web project is being developed with support from the National Science Foundation under the grant, DUE-CCLI 0736968.

In the left panel, you will also find a link to the main Multivariable Exploration applet and links to various focused applets in this collection.

Why use visualizations like those found here to explore multivariable calculus? As you begin to explore the Java applets found on this site, I think you will find a richer understanding of the geometric aspects of the concepts of multivariable calculus. My goal is to enhance the geometric intuition of calculus students so that they are able to visualize the concepts and actually "see" the rich visual relationships and interactions described by the calculus concepts.

As an instructor, I often found it difficult to draw the three-dimensional concepts clearly on the chalkboard, and found myself waving my hands to try to get students to see what I was seeing. Now that I have these computer visualization tools, I feel I can show students a much clearer picture of what I have been describing verbally.

The following PDF documents give more information about the goals and current state of the project.

Overview/Project Summary page
Main Applet page - current features of the Multivariable Calculus applet
Second Applet page
Student Exploration/Assessment page

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