Calculus

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

<p>In anticipation of registering for fall classes, looked under the myBama academics link and was able to peruse the classes for Fall 2009.</p>

<p>Hoping to get some input from current students or parents as to which Calculus I son should enroll in.</p>

<p>Some sections are marked as For Incoming Engineering Freshmen Only, and have about 80 students in them.</p>

<p>Then there are some Honors Calculus classes with about 30 students in them.</p>

<p>Son will be in the Honors College and will double major in mechanical engineering and biology.</p>

<p>Can I get some input on which section, teachers, times, would be good for this class?</p>

<p>Son is an early bird, and math is not his best subject. He is in Calculus AB now, and even if he does get credit for the calculus, he should definitely retake it in college.</p>

2

<p>Honors Cal is a good choice if possible. Right now, we don’t know who’s teaching it.</p>

<p>Some math profs my kids have liked…</p>

<p>Trace
Gibson
Zhao
Liem
Cecilia Laurie</p>

<p>There may be more, but I can’t remember their names right now. I’ll have to wait and ask them.</p>

<p>Dr. Hadji is smart and a good teacher, but some think his tests are too hard.</p>

<p>*He is in Calculus AB now, and even if he does get credit for the calculus, he should definitely retake it in college. *</p>

<p>Is he in AP Cal AB? Do you feel that his teacher isn’t very strong?</p>

3

<p>Correction…</p>

<p>not Vo Liem </p>

<hr>

<p>another liked prof…</p>

<p>Martin Evans (Cal II)</p>

<p>Additional info…</p>

<p>Cecilia Laurie - Cal III
Shan Zhao - Dif Eq
Bruce Trace - Real Analysis
Gibson - History of Math (Writing designation)
Martin Evans - Honors Cal II</p>

<p>Re: honors math…if it fits in the schedule, then take it. If it doesn’t…</p>

4

<p>ooops…</p>

<p>I don’t know why I mix up this guy’s name…</p>

<p>It’s Gleason, not Gibson.</p>

5

<p>To expand on what my mom wrote above, I’ve had the following professors. I’ve also listed the classes for which I’ve had them, for the benefit of any other math student who is signing up for classes.</p>

<p>Martin Evans (MATH 146, Honors Calculus II): Hilarious, eccentric, and just an overall interesting guy. If I remember correctly, his tests are 10 questions, but you only have to do 7, so just pick the ones you can do and you’ll be fine. Highly recommend.</p>

<p>Cecelia Laurie (MATH 227, Calculus III): Nice and exceptionally talented at teaching. Her explanations are crystal clear, and her tests are very reasonable. (Watch out for the final though; it’s considerably harder than the tests.) Highly recommend.</p>

<p>Vo Liem (MATH 237, Applied Matrix Theory): Awful. I got a very good grade in the class, but I feel like I learned nothing. He spent most of his time making mistakes on the board and then reworking a problem 30 times trying to figure out where he went wrong. His accent is also rather difficult to understand. Do not recommend.</p>

<p>Shan Zhao (MATH 238, Applied Differential Equations I): Loved him. His accent is a little difficult at first, but you get used to it fast. Very fair tests and his frequent quizzes (of which he drops several) reflect the homework and keep you fresh on the material. He is also the only math professor I’ve had at the university who put bonus questions on his tests, another plus. Highly recommend.</p>

<p>Jim Gleason (MATH 402, History of Mathematics): He’s definitely a guy who likes to understand the WHY and not the how (and that’s also how he teaches), but I feel like I’ve learned A LOT in this class. He seems really concerned with making sure students understand the fundamentals and don’t get into the habit of just plugging into a formula to get an answer. Nevertheless, it’s really easy to do well in his class if you try. Sidenote about this class: This inappropriately-named class is actually way more math than history, but nevertheless, it’s a fun class with a useful Writing designation. It’s also really easy to do well in this class. Almost every student ended up with an A or B. Highly recommend.</p>

<p>Layachi Hadji (MATH 411, Introduction to Numerical Analysis): He’s a good lecturer, but I actually found him to be arrogant and rather condescending. It seems like he expects you to read his mind when doing his homework assignments “his way” for this class. His tests were no cakewalk either. Nevertheless, he seems to scale the class so that the people who fared the best still ended up with a good grade. Recommend, with reservations.</p>

<p>Bruce Trace (MATH 486, Introduction to Real Analysis I): HARD CLASS, but Trace is an excellent lecturer and a brilliant guy. He explains calculus beautifully, and he’s also really nice. His grading policy (which from what I understand is the same for every course he teaches) is pretty interesting. The final can either be 40% of your grade in the course – with the other 60% coming from tests – or 100% of your grade (yeah, you read that right). The latter option I used myself to scrape out a good grade in the course. Highly recommend.</p>

<p>I haven’t had the following professors, but I’d still watch out for them.
Alexander Frenkel: His reputation precedes him as the most ridiculously difficult math professor at the university.
Joseph Neggers: The fact that he doesn’t let his students take notes during his lectures (yes, I’m serious) automatically earns him a thumbs down in my book.
Stavros Belbas: I’ve heard he teaches a pretty dang difficult Calculus III class.</p>

6

<p>Wow, son, thanks! Some of these teachers sound a lot like the teachers my son has had already, especially the ten questions and the reading their mind part.</p>

<p>My goodness, you’ve taken all this math? What is your major? </p>

<p>Anybody else have any thoughts?</p>

7

<p>Also, what about class size? For Calc I and II, did you take the larger sections or did you take the smaller, honors class?</p>

8

<p>*My goodness, you’ve taken all this math? What is your major? *</p>

<p>lol…yes, he’s a math major. </p>

<p>The funny thing is…I know someone else who had Dr. Hadji this fall (for Cal II), and while we make jokes about his arrogance (he’s foreign, so it may be a cultural thing), that other student liked him.</p>

9

<p>I’ll remember this thread. Course instructors for the calculus classes were finally posted and I think I’ll do well with Bruce Trace for MATH 126 (Calc II). It’s a smaller section, but the maximum class size has changed twice.</p>

10

<p>Any recommendations for Calc I (especially since DD didn’t take calc in HS?) She went up to pre-calc/trig & then jumped to AP Statistics.</p>

11

<p>I love Dr. Hadji. I had him for Cal III. His tests are not hard if you actually do the homework on time (in other words, not the two days before the test) and ask questions about them in class.</p>

<p>I’ve also had Frenkel (for Cal II) and everything you’ve heard about him is true. He is a rough lecturer and his tests are not simple retreads of the homework. He’ll throw something completely out of left field at you - you really have to know the material since you working with something unfamiliar. And that’s fine for upperclassmen with experience, but it’s very difficult for freshman and sophomores.</p>

12

<p>The other student I know had Hadji for Cal II and also liked him. However, this student does tell a funny story about him - imagine the following being said slowly with a middle-eastern accent after a student answered a question incorrectly in class…“I’ll give you a minute to realize how wrong you are.” (I still laugh when I think about some prof saying that in class…it’s got to be a cultural thing) </p>

<p>My son’s dislike for Hadji may be because of the subject matter. Dr. Hadji doesn’t assign homework for Math 411, and my son isn’t the type to wait til the last minute for his academics. Thankfully, in the end it worked out, and he got an A in the class. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>This can be an issue with various profs…sometimes they’re great with certain courses, but maybe not with others. I guess that’s to be expected. Everyone probably has their favorite classes to teach, and their lesser favorite classes. (Which is why ratemyprofessors.com can be misleading if you don’t look at WHICH class the prof taught.)</p>

13

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<p>That’s actually an important point I should have made. I’m quite certain he teaches 200 level math courses differently than 400 level math courses, so unless CC parents here are thinking that that their children are going to major in math, you should probably consider feenotype’s opinion about Hadji regarding lower level math classes.</p>

14

<p>Also, not everybody going to react to a professor’s personality the same way. I actually don’t disagree with DS1’s assessment of Dr. Hadji. He can appear to some as if he’s angry all the time, but I think that’s due to cultural differences. I’ve talked to him outside of class and found him to be quite pleasant.</p>

15

<p>So what are the best recommendations for Calc III? I see that a Dr. Hadji is mentioned…any others?</p>

16

<p>^^^</p>

<p>In post #5, Cecelia Laurie is praised for her teaching of Cal III. She may be on sabbatical for spring semester, because I don’t see her on the listing (but maybe I missed her name.) She’s a full professor. (I hope she didn’t retire.)</p>

17

<p>I also recommend Dr. Tan-Yu Lee.</p>

18

<p>Dr.Paul J. Allen gave my daughter an A- this fall. She said he had a reputation as being one of the best honors calculus I teachers at UA. She has a shaky foundation, having taken calculus in high school but getting a C, and wishing she could just start over and retake algebra II and trig! So with that attitude and regret, it was with trepidation that I watched her take this calculus class, but it worked out in the end. She wasn’t doing so well mid-semester, then really pulled it together at the end, apparently, which is par for the course with her --procrastination is her downfall. My family is thinking he may have waited to curve the grades until the end of the semester. At any rate, my d liked him a lot and said he explained well.</p>

19

<p>:)</p>

<p>I just read the above to my son (math major) and he said that Dr. Allen is very good, but can be tough.</p>

<p>So, it sounds like your D did very well in his class by pulling out an A- when Calc isn’t her strong point. </p>

<p>She has a shaky foundation, having taken calculus in high school but getting a C, and wishing she could just start over and retake algebra II and trig!</p>

<p>Hey, some kids do that even if they score high enough to take the harder classes. I’ve known kids to take “pre-cal” in college, just because it’s been a couple of years since they’ve had high school calc, and they aren’t sure how they’d do in college calc without some “refresher.” A student doesn’t have to start in the class that they’re qualified for. They can start lower. :)</p>

<p>Also, kids who are struggling need to avail themselves of the free tutoring that UA offers at its Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in Osband Hall.</p>