Is Calculus C necessary for doing well in Linear Algebra?

[Anonymous]

Thought I'd ask this here as there seem to always been mathematicians (or parents of the same) on the college forum.

My kid is going from Calculus AB to Linear Algebra on the rec of his high school math department (insistence of the math department, actually.)
The schools' policy is not to allow calculus BC after AB. End of story--we've tried to push against that but they're not budging.
They feel he can do it and succeed. He wants to take it. I have very little say in the matter (both with the school and my son).

Background aside---my question: is the material in linear algebra unique to itself or does it build up the concepts in Calculus C (which is college calculus 2)?
I have a tutor who can spend a few hours (or more than a few) with my kid this summer if needed and he agrees (TBD). Would it be best to spend time on Calculus 2 or on Linear Algebra concepts?

He's not going to go to college as a true STEM major (will likely be a history major--with some possibility (if I guess) that he'll end up studying economics).

[Anonymous]

Linear algebra does not depend directly on calculus—but this seems very weird as a rec anyway? I’d have to hope it’s a pretty low level linear algebra course.

If Discrete is an option it’d probably be more fun for a future non-STEM person.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. No, it's full on linear algebra-many of these kids will go to be math majors in top programs. It is what it is.
Discrete is not an option.

[Anonymous]

My kid’s high school linear algebra class had little to no calculus in it. If the school is encouraging your child to take it, he will be fine.

[Anonymous]

They're correct he could have taken linear with no calc at all. The material is distinct, and useful in many contexts. Do you remember solving a system of two linear equations in algebra 1? Finding the point where two lines intersect (or knowing when that's not the case). Linear Algebra is the generalization. These are the *easy* problems in math, but more than two constraints requires abstraction and bookkeeping. The approach to hard problems is often figuring out how to apply linear methods. That's a reason why it comes up later, but this class is just learning those methods. It's largely a return to arithmetic, for better or worse. Anyway, I've been in many settings that started with a crash course in linear algebra for people who don't know it, and having it in the back pocket is nice.

[Anonymous]

DP. I am confused. I've read a lot of advice on here about repeating Calc BC in college to "get the right foundation". If subsequent classes are not really dependent on BC, why bother with the repeat?

DC did AB in 11th grade (AP:5) and BC in 12th. Assuming an AP score of 3 in BC, should they repeat Calc 2 in college? This will be a STEM program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. I am confused. I've read a lot of advice on here about repeating Calc BC in college to "get the right foundation". If subsequent classes are not really dependent on BC, why bother with the repeat?

DC did AB in 11th grade (AP:5) and BC in 12th. Assuming an AP score of 3 in BC, should they repeat Calc 2 in college? This will be a STEM program.

Many subsequent classes require calc, but linear algebra is not one of them.

Does the college have advice on repeating? I would follow that. There should be still more depth in the college version.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s high school linear algebra class had little to no calculus in it. If the school is encouraging your child to take it, he will be fine.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. I am confused. I've read a lot of advice on here about repeating Calc BC in college to "get the right foundation". If subsequent classes are not really dependent on BC, why bother with the repeat?

DC did AB in 11th grade (AP:5) and BC in 12th. Assuming an AP score of 3 in BC, should they repeat Calc 2 in college? This will be a STEM program.

If the school gives credit for a 3, don’t repeat. If it doesn’t, talk with the faculty/advisors there and see what they suggest. I work at a school that doesn’t give credit for 3’s (the 5 on AB would get credit for calc 1), and I’d probably give different advice depending on major: bio is different from physics, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I am confused. I've read a lot of advice on here about repeating Calc BC in college to "get the right foundation". If subsequent classes are not really dependent on BC, why bother with the repeat?

DC did AB in 11th grade (AP:5) and BC in 12th. Assuming an AP score of 3 in BC, should they repeat Calc 2 in college? This will be a STEM program.

If the school gives credit for a 3, don’t repeat. If it doesn’t, talk with the faculty/advisors there and see what they suggest. I work at a school that doesn’t give credit for 3’s (the 5 on AB would get credit for calc 1), and I’d probably give different advice depending on major: bio is different from physics, etc.

Anything in Engineering or Physics consider Calc BC like you would Algebra. They say that if you get an MS in almost any Engineering or Physics it's the same amount of math as a BS in Math.

Computer Science is different you can get away without doing any Calculus BC even though its a requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I am confused. I've read a lot of advice on here about repeating Calc BC in college to "get the right foundation". If subsequent classes are not really dependent on BC, why bother with the repeat?

DC did AB in 11th grade (AP:5) and BC in 12th. Assuming an AP score of 3 in BC, should they repeat Calc 2 in college? This will be a STEM program.

If the school gives credit for a 3, don’t repeat. If it doesn’t, talk with the faculty/advisors there and see what they suggest. I work at a school that doesn’t give credit for 3’s (the 5 on AB would get credit for calc 1), and I’d probably give different advice depending on major: bio is different from physics, etc.

PP. Sorry I should have said 'assuming an AP score of 4'. This school required a 4 or 5 to get credit for Calc 2. The question is should DC repeat Calc 3 for a CS or Data Science program.

[Anonymous]

I’m confused: if the kid gets a 4, they should NOT repeat Calc 2 for a cs/data science major. And they should follow the school’s advice on ordering of Calc III (probably optional but… ) and Linear Algebra…

[Anonymous]

I did not need it when I took Linear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused: if the kid gets a 4, they should NOT repeat Calc 2 for a cs/data science major. And they should follow the school’s advice on ordering of Calc III (probably optional but… ) and Linear Algebra…

Don't disagree but the general advice on multiple threads seems to be to repeat calc 2 because it 'goes deeper', 'lays the foundation', etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. I am confused. I've read a lot of advice on here about repeating Calc BC in college to "get the right foundation". If subsequent classes are not really dependent on BC, why bother with the repeat?

DC did AB in 11th grade (AP:5) and BC in 12th. Assuming an AP score of 3 in BC, should they repeat Calc 2 in college? This will be a STEM program.

Think of it this way. When they were in elementary school, they were introduced to addition in kindergarten. There was practice in addition every year after that. It was “the same” addition but more practice and going deeper. This is what further years of calculus does. In many ways calculus is learning a new set of operations that needs to be practiced over and again to become comfortable and adept at using. If you don’t quite get something (even if you do fine on the test), it is helpful to do more practice.

Linear algebra is not building on calculus. It’s building on algebra as a previous poster said. So this student should be fine. If they were taking multi variable calc, not having a string foundation in calc will tie your hands.