<p>^except freakishly harder</p>
<p>Don't take 55 unless you consider yourself one of the best 100 math students in the nation.</p>
<p>Stupidkid: are you taking 55 now? Or did you sit in? Any insights? How do you like H?</p>
<p>The Math 55 teacher got a Fields Medal!</p>
<p>^ Christ....</p>
<p>Does he happen to have an Erdos number of 1 as well?</p>
<p>Ya, that tends to happen here. My professor and section leader for a course this term won the Pulitzer. But who knows how much longer math 55 will be taught by that professor. I think that they switch every few years, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>p.s here is the second semester website if you want it.</p>
<p>Homework is 30-40%? That seems like a lot. I take it the homework is graded on accuracy rather than just completion.</p>
<p>Homework is really a misleading term for that class...</p>
<p>
[quote]
^except freakishly harder
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sure, I imagine they make the workload especially difficult, because that's what it's meant to be like -- it's Math 55 after all! I was commenting on the actual material, which, based on the homeworks, is basically intro upper division math taught at a very thorough level, as in honors courses. Though, honestly some Russian professors will make such honors courses utterly insane.</p>
<p>Both 55 and 25 switch professors every year.</p>
<p>"Homework is 30-40%? That seems like a lot. I take it the homework is graded on accuracy rather than just completion. "</p>
<p>Why is that a lot? Most math courses only have a midterm and final. That leaves just about 30% for homework.</p>
<p>Completion?!? How about if you don't do that HW and understand it, you will be totally annihilated on the midterm and final?</p>
<p>One of S's math classes had two problem sets (about 40 proofs each) and a final. The other had a mix of quizzes, midterm, and final, with HW counting for 25-30% of the grade.</p>
<p>It is very common for upper division courses to have homework be weighted as 30-40% in almost any school, actually. The 55 grading standard is not off. </p>
<p>Actually, the farther one goes up, the less math classes have exams. I honestly myself would support a class like 55 not even having exams, unless they're take-home in nature -- no point rushing people into thinking about hard problems. However, I think 55 might already be doing this, given the link someone posted said that the final is take-home.</p>
<p>And obviously accuracy. Professors think of interesting problems to give you, which in fact there'd be almost no point giving on an exam, and you toy with them for hours at times. The "homework for completion" thing is probably a high school or lower division college affair, and 55, as I said, teaches material akin to intro honors courses at other schools [a few smashed into one course title], and given the homework is especially hard, there's no sense in having it be for completion.</p>
<p>You're not necessarily just "toying" with them on your own. A lot of work on the 55 psets is done collaboratively in study groups.</p>
<p>Hi! I got into Harvard and I will definitely take Math 55 in the fall. I hope to finish it, though. Is there anyone else on CC taking it in the fall?</p>
<p>I just wanted to re-emphasize that you should only take Math 55 if you REALLY LOVE (and I mean really) spending a couple dozen hours minimum per week writing proofs outside of class. Don’t forget all the thinking, office hours, and study grouping that go into putting the proofs together…it may actually be fun for you (who knows?), but it all adds up to a lot of time. It’s an intense class. I shopped it but quickly decided to take 25a. In the spring, I switched to 23b. If I could do it over again, I would have just taken 21. And I had a pretty solid foundation in abstract math before I got to Harvard. I think abstract math is fun when there isn’t so much pressure involved, but honestly, freshman year sucked a lot of the fun out of math for me.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I know a lot of people who took Math 55 and loved it. But they loved spending that much time on math. It was a passion for them. Turns out it wasn’t mine. So, if you’re interested, shop it, but I don’t recommend marrying yourself to the idea now. A lot of people end up dropping down at least a notch.</p>
<p>So guys, it’s that time of the year again. If you get in, do you want to take math 55?</p>
<p>I’m in for sure.</p>
<p>Erdos-Bacon numbers are more important.</p>