Tuesday, December 14, 2010

idle bits (teaching).

odd. most of my students dislike spherical coordinates. it surprised me that everyone did one particular homework problem using them, though it was avoidable.

Let $\mathcal{S}$ be the part of the sphere $x^2+y^2+z^2=4$, $y \geq 0$, oriented in the direction of the positive $y$-axis. Compute $\iint_\mathcal{S} \vec{F} \cdot d\vec{S}$, where $\vec{F}$ is ..

[thinks]
[sighs]
[gives up]

.. some vector field that has nice derivatives. (i forget.)

when i wrote the solutions, i used a parametrization with coordinates $x$, $z$. out of 100+ homeworks, only 1-2 students did the problem the same way that i did it.


on a related note, i have a soft heart. since it's finals week, i'm letting my undergrad graders off and grading the last homework and quiz myself.

no good deed goes unpunished. i thought that this week would be mathematically luxurious: spend all day with research and other matters. instead, even though classes are over, i am still working on teaching things ..!

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