# What does one full year of calculus mean?

If a masters program (Fordham in math education) requires "at least one full year of calculus" does that mean just calc one or more than that?

• It seems like you're asking "does A mean B?," where A is perfectly unambiguous, while B is ambiguous. "Calc one" could mean first-semester calc or first-year calc. What is unambiguous about "one full year of calculus?" – Ben Crowell Feb 7 at 17:31

In the US, the stereotypical "one year of calculus", means "calculus one" and "calculus two" (semester system). It would rather approximate what is in AP Calculus BC, except perhaps without graphing calculator use.

It would include basic differentiation and applications of differentiation (max/min, rel. rates), integrals, special techniques of integration (parts, partial fractions, substitutions, applications like volumes. Usually there will be a small section on series tacked on at the end. And very often a small section on simple ODEs (but not all the content in the semester ODE course, just a quick chapter). It WILL NOT (stereotypically) include multivariable calculus (from the Nick C answer).

From the Fordham course catalog, this is their standard "full year" (not a year and half!) of calculus:

MATH 1206. Calculus I. (4 Credits)

Calculus for science and math majors. Functions, limits, continuity, Intermediate Value Theorem. The derivative and applications, antiderivatives, Riemann sums, definite integrals, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ENVS, MCR, NEUR.

MATH 1207. Calculus II. (4 Credits)

A continuation of MATH 1206. The definite integral, area, volumes, work. Logarithm, inverse functions, techniques of integration, Taylor polynomials. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Prerequisites: MATH 1206 or MATH 12AB or MATH 12BC.

[So yes, Fordham is a good example of the stereotype. Also, note that Math 2004, multivariable calc, is a 2-level course (implicitly the 2 means second year). So would not be part of a "full year", would be part of a year and a half.]

Fordham University Math Course Overview

• Who upvoted me? ;-) – guest Feb 7 at 2:34

Asking random math educators about the policies of a specific graduate school makes absolutely no sense at all.

The page you were looking at has this contact information at the bottom. Use it!

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