Aaron Lauda

I have to disagree with the people who thought the class was "ridiculously easy" or for "stupid people." The class is very diverse with many people that are econ majors or might not be pros at math. That said, I think Lauda is best at communicating the concepts in a way most everybody can understand. He covers the material in the textbook thoroughly and if you can read the book and follow his lectures you should be able to earn at least a B. As a person that was not much of a math person, I think I can safely say this class expanded my knowledge in calculus and made me more of a "math person." Very comprehensive, some of the problem set questions will challenge you and so will probably one question on each midterm and final.

Good professor. Goes into more detail than the textbook and does a good job explaining why the material Calculus II (which a lot of people skip) is important and useful. Stresses and does a good job explaining Taylor/Maclaurin series, which actually end up being very important in higher level math (esp. ODE, PDE).

Lauda is quite adorable. He makes frequent errors with simple mathematic calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. However, a student is usually quick to correct him on this. His humor is upbeat and oftentimes geeky, which makes the class more like a highschool class in which you feel free yelling out a question without being gawked at. He has a strong understanding of the topics but the lectures flow slowly. Sometimes he will leave gaps in the material and you will need to consult either him or the book outside of class. The Webworks is always several days ahead of the lectures, so in order to complete them you will need to review the text a little bit. Students with previous Calculus experience dominate the class, and beginners tend to be much slower with comprehension.

Lauda's class was extremely easy and the curve was extremely generous. I have many friends who received A and A+ marks. His problems for the midterms and even final were straight from the textbook and fairly straightforward. Nevertheless, Calculus III is a difficult subject to make interesting. I attended perhaps 3 lectures all semester and fell asleep during most of them. However, his review sessions before a midterm/final are rather useful, as he outlines pretty much as much of what is going to be on the midterm/final without actually giving out the test ahead of time. I would definitely say that Lauda is the best available Calculus III teacher. He really makes an attempt to connect with his students, speaks clear English, and attempts to convey the theory behind the mathematics rather than rote memorization and hand exercises. Unfortunately, Calculus III is not particularly challenging nor intriguing.

It's calc 2, but he manages to make it fun and interesting. His teaching style is a little strange at first, as he writes out every step he does in words as well as math on the board, and he makes a decent amount of mistakes in class. He also gets distracted pretty easily, but he is very knowledgeable and really enjoys math and teaching it. He is a great professor as far as math professors go.

this man is wonderful, truly wonderful. he makes math bearable and he will make you a better math student. you have to hand in weekly homework assignments. they're not very difficult or intensive, and they help in that you actually have to learn the material instead of just cramming for the final. also, your midterms and final come straight from your homework assignments (literally - he lifts problems from the homework), so it's definitely worth your while to do them. make sure to attend class - the textbook is rather useless and he simplifies concepts in his teaching. all in all, i'd say lauda makes an introductory math class as bearable as possible.

I disagree with the previous reviewer. This class was not extremely easy. I suspect that the class is easy for people who are math wizzes, but so would any calc 3 class. I don't care about Jacobian Maps - they don't fulfill my science requirement. Lauda is a good professor. Do not worry if you have him. His lectures are understandable, and he is very approachable after class. I like his argument that to truly understand calc a student must understand how to derive the concepts himself. I skipped a few lectures will no detriment. As long as you understand the homework the midterms and final are doable.

He was the shiiiizzz. He made sure everyone had the oppurtunity to get an A.

The class is ridiculously boring and easy. Basically, he thinks that all of the students in his Calc 3 class are stupid and teaches as if he were teaching stupid people. The first half of the semester was basically review of vectors and complex numbers. Don't take this class if you want to learn any of the Calc 3 material; he didn't even teach Jacobian Maps. Basically after the second midterm for 3 weeks, all he taught was 2 sections of the book. (Lagrange Multipliers and Optimization) The tests are extremely easy and reward people who don't make careless mistakes. Basically, you don't need to analyze any of the questions. It basically just memorizing formulas and knowing how to use them.

While Calculus II is really just as hard as everyone says it is, and if you don't have to take it, I wouldn't, Aaron Lauda is the professor to have. He is a genuinely nice guy, and has a perfectly normal accent. The lectures got long and boring sometimes, but if you need help he always willing. do the suggested problems, he takes his midterm and final questions strictly from that pool of questions. advice: make flashcards of the questions, then when you can do a question quickly (because time is short during exams) put it away, and keep working on the remaining problems until you can do them quickly.