Jeanne Boursier

The grade weighing were: 0.2(Homeworks)+0.3(Midterm)+0.5(Final), or you could drop the midterm, and have the final be worth 80% of your grade. There were 7 Psets in total, which shouldn't in theory take long if you have any idea of what is going on in the course.

A total of 9 problem sets throughout the semester. Most of them take around 20 hours to finish if you are doing most of the problems on your own, though many students (if not most) do not. She usually includes a very long bonus question (related to the material but will not be on the test) on each problem set. Two lowest assignments are dropped. Final grade = 0.2HW + max (0.3M + 0.5 F, 0.8F).

covered typical calc iii concepts listed on the syllabus (vectors, differentiation, derivatives, etc)

A lot of my friends said that the ODE class wasn't that bad and that they enjoyed it. This was most definitely not my experience in the class. For starters, Jeanne Boursier has a pretty strong accent, which would be fine if she went slowly and made sure everyone was understanding the material. She doesn't, she just rushed through everything, and even when she asked a question and saw that no one could answer, she just brushed it off, and didn't go back to review the material. Also, she has almost no resources on the courseworks page, it is almost completely blank. Also, for the homeworks, she would not post the full solutions, and there were only some of the questions posted, which isn't great, but is especially bad considering she did not grade the last two homeworks before the test, and since she didn't post the answers for them, I had no idea if what i was doing was right, or had no way to study really. She also posted a review problem set for the finals, but didn't post the answers for it. The book for the course was okay, except some of what she taught wasn't on the book, and since she doesn't give notes/materials and you can't understand what she teaches, you have to search half of the course up online to try to learn anything.

Honors Math B is significantly more challenging than Honors Math A, as it covers various topics including analysis, topology, differential manifolds, and multivariable calculus. Professor Boursier explained most of the materials clearly and accessibly. She also provides strong and clear insights when omitting complete proofs of some theorems after the midterm. She is also very supportive during her office hours and after class. The exams are quite fair and manageable if you do most homeworks by yourself and pay attention during lectures. The exams are also curved very generously, with the medium of at least 80. The (only major) concern for her classes is that sometimes the proof she provided is different from those in textbooks, so it’s important to attend lectures and some of her office hours if you want to know what is going on.

Theories and Application of functions, limit, continuity, partial differentiation, gradient, min, max, lagrange multipliers

PSETs are interesting but can take up to 10 hours a week. The grading is heavily, but necessarily curved.

- vectors in 3d space, partial deriatives

First order ODE, Second order ODE, The system of ODE, Qualitative study of ODE, Stability

Boursier is certainly better than her reviews would suggest. Her pace is quick and her accent can be difficult to understand sometimes, but she is highly knowledgeable and cares about her students. The course itself is extremely ambitious, covering the material of real analysis, topology, calculus 3 and 4, and introduction to differential manifolds, but ultimately with decent depth and clarity.