Majoring in Math

I'm a current math major at a liberal arts college, and I want to know what math classes were the hardest for you whilst in college.

I sucked at differential equations. I blame it on god.

[purnell]

I have no talent for linear algebra

[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a current math major at a liberal arts college, and I want to know what math classes were the hardest for you whilst in college.

[/ QUOTE ]

Number theory and analysis were considered hardest (by a long way) by nearly everyone on the course I did.

chez

[udontknowmickey]

the things with the words "elementary" or "fundemental" have been really difficult for me.

That said, the one I struggled with the most have been dealing with modern algebra and group theory.

Wasn't a math major but Calc. III for engineers was a pain in the butt...specially since it wasn't required and I took it as a option /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

[RJT]

May I suggest you also work on losing the use of the word "whilst"?

Just kidding, bud. (Probably a pre-requisite whilst at the liberal arts college, anyway.)

Sorry, I can't help you regarding your question - calc was the last of it for me.

[kiddj]

I majored in engineering, so the math requisites were about as stringent as a math major.

Where I went (USF), ENG Calc II was widely considered the hardest and was one of the "weed-out" classes. Calc III seemed easy for their curriculum. Differential Equations was extremely difficult, but was graded leniently. All my math profs were from other countries, so that aided the difficulty a little.

The only math class I dropped was abstract mathematics. It may have even been an intro class, but I found it to be a bitch. I only needed it to get a minor in math... so I didn't get a minor.

How heavy/diffidult your class load is may affect these classes as well. If you have time to study, pay attention, and actually GO TO CLASS, you'll be fine.

I hated a second year Probability and Statistics course. With "mutually exclusive" and blah blah distribution. I took 4 or 5 different Calculus for Engineers courses and I liked them all. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Siegmund]

Hardest for me was Advanced Calculus (intro to real analysis, actually - there was no derivative or integral in sight until more than halfway through the second semester).

Calculus II and differential equations require some effort but are rewarding in the sense that you are learning bread and butter math that you will actually use on a regular basis if you are in a technical field.

Linear algebra and all the probability and statistics courses were trivially easy, compared to the proofs/analysis classes.

[jason_t]

The courses that are traditionally the most difficult for undergraduate math majors are advanced calculus (sometimes called analysis) and abstract algebra.

[lightw1thoutheat]

ditto on the abstract algebra, its quite difficult.
i found analysis to be much easier.
if you need a good site to get help http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ is one of my best friends.

btw, what liberal arts school?
-light

[MCS]

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I majored in engineering, so the math requisites were about as stringent as a math major.

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I don't think that's true in general. Engineers skip all the hard undergrad math (analysis, for example).

[kiddj]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I majored in engineering, so the math requisites were about as stringent as a math major.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think that's true in general. Engineers skip all the hard undergrad math (analysis, for example).

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You are correct with the analysis classes. However, we have to take eng calc 1, 2, and 3 (eng calc focuses a bit more on trigonometric functions than regular calc, i think). I took diff eq, which was not required of math majors at my school. I took engineering statistics, which focused much more on calculus concepts in statistical analysis and was not quite easy. In circuits, we actually used diff eq, (thank God we were allowed fancy calculators there). We also took numerical methods, which was a logic/programming class: we had to program (Matlab) higher order math functions from scratch.

There were only about 2 classes that the math majors took that I didn't. I agree that those classes were probably intense. But I took, statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, hydraulics, structures, mechanics of materials, material engineering, geotechnical engineering, and probably a couple of others I've forgotten. All of these included varying levels of mathematical application.

I don't really understand why so many people would get a mathematics degree when they could get an engineering degree with the same types of classes/course work. I'm talking about the bachelor level.

I know one person who got their bs in math, then got a masters in engineering. I think this was ingenius. He didn't have to take any of the crap classes I did.

I go to Oberlin College in Ohio

[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
There were only about 2 classes that the math majors took that I didn't. I agree that those classes were probably intense. But I took, statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, hydraulics, structures, mechanics of materials, material engineering, geotechnical engineering, and probably a couple of others I've forgotten. All of these included varying levels of mathematical application.

I don't really understand why so many people would get a mathematics degree when they could get an engineering degree with the same types of classes/course work. I'm talking about the bachelor level.

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A maths degree has a completely different type of course than the one you mention which are all applied maths.

typical pure maths degrees will include:
2 or more analysis courses (on top of calculas courses)
2 or more algebra courses
number theory
topology
set theory/logic

I doubt many of these would interest engineering students.

chez

[MCS]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't really understand why so many people would get a mathematics degree when they could get an engineering degree with the same types of classes/course work. I'm talking about the bachelor level.

[/ QUOTE ]

A maths degree has a completely different type of course than the one you mention which are all applied maths.

typical pure maths degrees will include:
2 or more analysis courses (on top of calculas courses)
2 or more algebra courses
number theory
topology
set theory/logic


[/ QUOTE ]

At my undergrad school, you didn't have to take topology or number theory as an undergrad, though a lot of people took number theory as an elective.

The reason I got a math degree instead of an engineering degree is that I wanted to do math and not engineering.

I didn't say math was easier or harder. But it certainly involves more math. /images/graemlins/smile.gif Statics, dynamics, and so on are largely applied physics, which can be hard, but it's a different kind of hard than abstract algebra.

[Siegmund]

[ QUOTE ]

There were only about 2 classes that the math majors took that I didn't. I agree that those classes were probably intense. But I took, statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, hydraulics, structures, mechanics of materials, material engineering, geotechnical engineering, and probably a couple of others I've forgotten. All of these included varying levels of mathematical application.

I don't really understand why so many people would get a mathematics degree when they could get an engineering degree with the same types of classes/course work.

[/ QUOTE ]

You have just answered your own question. See, we passed calculus and differential equations, and most of us took two semesters of calculus-based physics, so we don't want to review applied calculus in statics, review applied calculus in dynamics, review applied calculus in fluid mechanics, etc etc. (I'm not saying there is NO new material in those courses - rather, that most of the new material is about the properties of the physical objects rather than about the underlying mathematics.)

Yes, differential equations is optional for math majors, but virtually all of us take it. The numerical methods courses engineers take are also optional for math majors - and these are avoided like the plague by the ones who aren't computer science double majors. Too much number crunching feels more like being an accountant than a mathematician.

I double majored in geology and math. I had people ask me constantly why I wasn't saving time and getting a geophysics or geological engineering degree instead. The answer was simple: I had (and have) no interest in working as an engineer; I loved mineralogy and crystallography, didn't mind stratigraphy and structural geology too much... was bored to tears by applied geophysics classes where we spent day after day after day learning how to use electric and magnetic prospecting equipment but not learning how and why they worked. I cared about how rocks formed, but not how to dig them up or build roads on top of them.

I had many engineers in my lower-level courses in both geology and math. A few of them took linear algebra. I didn't see even one engineer in abstract algebra, advanced calculus, mathematical modeling (which they might have even found useful), probability, or any of my graduate classes.

So, no, I can't agree that engineering majors "take all the same classes as math majors"; they take the same core requirements (for different reasons, and give the professors headaches trying to keep both halves of the class amused), and then take utterly, totally different upper divison electives.