How many people actually take multivariable calc in high school?

halcyonheather
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 20:42:11 +0000

I don’t even understand the difference between Calc A, AB, B, BC, linear, MVC, DE.



I’ve never heard of Calculus A or Calculus B. There’s AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC.

AP Calculus AB = Calculus I = single-variable calculus
AP Calculus BC = Calculus I and II = Calculus AB material with additional stuff, still single-variable. Since BC covers AB material, you generally don’t need to take AB before BC.
Calculus III - multivariable calculus

After AP Calculus BC or the equivalent, you can take multivariable, linear algebra, or differential equations in any order you want or at the same time. It’s very uncommon for high schools to offer the last three courses. I think it’s common for college students to take multivariable before the others, but usually there’s no specific progression you have to follow like with high school math.