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CLP-3 Multivariable Calculus

Chapter 1 Vectors and Geometry in Two and Three Dimensions

Before we get started doing calculus in two and three dimensions we need to brush up on some basic geometry, that we will use a lot. We are already familiar with the Cartesian plane 1 , but we'll start from the beginning.
René Descartes (1596–1650) was a French scientist and philosopher, who lived in the Dutch Republic for roughly twenty years after serving in the (mercenary) Dutch States Army. He is viewed as the father of analytic geometry, which uses numbers to study geometry.