<p>So who else is going to take Math 55 if they get into Harvard?</p>
<p><em>raises hand</em></p>
<ul>
<li>reads line ’ fairly fluent in the writing of proofs ’ * </li>
</ul>
<p><em>mumbles about how crappy his public school is</em></p>
<p>Nope.</p>
<p>I sat in on Math 55 when I visited and loved that a math discussion in a classroom could be so rigorous and elegant and fun. Count me in. (Now I just have to get through the rest of high school 0_o)</p>
<p>yea. and now i just need to get into harvard.</p>
<p>eh… probably.
I heard over 50% of the class drops out by the end of each year.</p>
<p>Most of the “class” drops out by the end of the first week. It is more then just ability, a friend of mine took Calc BC as a Freshman in HS and ended up taking 23 this year. It is time commitment. You have to be somewhere near IMO ability AND want to do math homework for 40 to 60 hours some weeks. At least that is my impression.</p>
<p>what kind of stuff they teach in math 55?</p>
<p>Basically all four years of the undergraduate math carriculum. I think the offical title is Honors Advanced Calculus and Linear Algebra or something like that. Google it for some articles.</p>
<p>i heard about someone who takes math 55. they say he literally carries his homework everywhere with him, and does it whenever he has a free second. </p>
<p>…so i think the fact that you’re wasting time on the internet right now and not doing math homework has already disqualified you. sorry.</p>
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<p>I imagine that we don’t get many posts on CC from students currently enrolled in Harvard’s Math 55. A few alumni of the course have posted here before.</p>
<p>Today we spent calc class reading about Math 55. Lol- what a blast we had.</p>
<p>The textbook is described as a “book forged in the fires of hell”. Multiple students have given accounts on the first homework assignment- which is 14 or so questions each with individual steps. Students took anywhere from 40-70ish hours to complete it. One assignment. For the life of me- I can’t even sit and do math homework for 2 hours straight let alone 40.</p>
<p>That course is insane.</p>
<p>It all sounds like a blast to me.</p>
<p>not me…if i do somehow even get into harvard, i will see y’all in math 21, maybe 23 if im feeling ambitious</p>
<p>Less than 1% of Harvard freshmen take Math 55 (although more than that sometimes start it). That represents about 0.05% of applicants – about 1 in 2,000. Applying that to the CC population, and making generous allowance for the better-than-average math skills of posters here, that yields a projected Math 55 headcount of 0. Maybe as many as 1.</p>
<p>^ I don’t think those student that take Math 55 are necessarily more intelligent/able/determined than another mathematics student, it just seems to me that if you’ve gone to a school that taught math rigorously and had more educational opportunities, you’re already that farther ahead.</p>
<p>It would be silly to expect a student just out of BC calc to succeed in a course that demands a solid grasp of multivariable/linear alg/formal proofs.</p>
<p>(Not that JHS made a statement saying that, of course)</p>
<p>The Math 55 course keeps getting harder in recent years because Harvard keeps admitting better and better prepared freshmen. A former IMO participant and some other kinds of student might find 55 more enjoyable than 25, although 25 has become more challenging in recent years too.</p>
<p>Many serious math students whose high schools do not offer a course beyond BC calc look for other learning opportunities and study at local or community colleges or online ([EPGY</a> Mathematics Department](<a href=“http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/]EPGY”>http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/)).</p>
<p>^ That’s what I’m doing. But (Assuming, of course, that I even get in. lol) I’ll only be done with Linear Algebra/Multivariable by the end of this semester. There’s no way I’ll be able to take (and succeed) in Math 55.
Sigh…I guess I’ll just have to take a boring old Real Analysis class. Dedekind, here I come!</p>
<p>Well, for what it’s worth I know professors at my school who took Math 55 as undergrads at Harvard, and at least one professor here who didn’t take Math 55. It is certainly an insane course, and a great way to spend freshman year, but it is important for people to take what they’re prepared for. In the end, no course teaches you how to be a researcher, and that professor who didn’t take it at Harvard is now an absolute star researcher, who thinks about some of the most abstract topics imaginable. It’s more important not to burn out than to take 55. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, if you like that kind of “slaughter yourself for a year” experience idea, then really, it’s a great way to bond with fellow talented majors!</p>
<p>What types of courses do people take while taking Math 55? I would hope no other maths/hard science.</p>