Good vector calculus rules resource?

[datahead8888]

Hello,

All of us who took a first calculus course have seen the rules for finding derivatives of 1-D functions - the chain rule, the product rule, the quotient rule, etc.

I was interested in finding an easy to follow online listing of rules for vector calculus. ie. if want to find the derivative of a scalar wrt a vector, how do I go about finding a formula for the gradient? What if the scalar is expressed with a row vector multiplied by a column vector?

I haven't taken a vector calculus course (in my undergrad university it was Calculus III), so if there's a guide that only assumes knowledge of 1D derivatives or integrals, that is what I needed.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Deleted member 4993]

Hello,

All of us who took a first calculus course have seen the rules for finding derivatives of 1-D functions - the chain rule, the product rule, the quotient rule, etc.

I was interested in finding an easy to follow online listing of rules for vector calculus. ie. if want to find the derivative of a scalar wrt a vector, how do I go about finding a formula for the gradient? What if the scalar is expressed with a row vector multiplied by a column vector?

I haven't taken a vector calculus course (in my undergrad university it was Calculus III), so if there's a guide that only assumes knowledge of 1D derivatives or integrals, that is what I needed.

Thanks in advance.

What - I think - you are looking for is a handbook - like CRC Handbook of Mathematics.

More specifically you may look into "Vector Calculus" from Schaum Outline series.

 

[datahead8888]

Re: Good Vector Calculus Rules Resource...

Thanks, Subhotosh. Do you know of an online resource? If the book is really good, I can look into ordering it, but I'd be really interested in a quick online resource. I found a wikipedia article with rules, but they didn't seem to address some of the scenarios like a vector/matrix version of the chain rule that I was interested in.

Also, do you know of a "vector calculus for dummies" resource? I'd be interested in a quick crash course on vector calculus that has really clear explanations. I'm pretty rusty on all calculus, so easy-to-follow is good. I might work some problems as I have time, but I'd really like to find easy-to-quickly apply information so I can get rolling this next semester.