math department

<p>Are there any math major out there that could tell me a bit about the quality fo the math department at harvard. I'm looking to major in econ and math.</p>

<p>There are some math majors who hang out on the artofproblemsolving.com. You could post your query there.</p>

<p>I'm not a math major but if you are asking if Harvard's math department is any good, the answer is OF COURSE!!! </p>

<p>Harvard has been home to some of the most distinguished mathematicians in this country and has led in Fields medalists. The only departments in the country that could be considered Harvard's peers in math research are Princeton, Berkeley, and MIT. </p>

<p>If you are talking about undergraduate math, Harvard attracts the very best student mathematicians in the country, including many of those who placed high in U.S. Math Olympiad and International Math Olympiad. Although only about 20 student per class major in math (1/5 that of MIT), Harvard undergraduates have won the Putnam Mathematical Competition 25 out of 66 times (the second is Caltech with 9 times), and placed in the top five 51 out of 66 times (the second is MIT with 36 times). Harvard math majors often write senior theses that are publishable. Many Harvard math majors have gone on to become math professors themselves.</p>

<p>If you are not setting your sights so high, there's still something for everyone. The quality of teaching at lower levels (nonmajors) is excellent. These are usually taught by teaching faculty who do not do research. There are 5 different Multivariable Calculus courses you can choose from based on your ability (Math 20, Math 21, Math 23, Math 25, and Math 55). Most math majors go for Math 55 or Math 25. Math 55 is a very demanding course and was probably the hardest course I took in my college career. I took more advanced math and physics classes after Math 55 but somehow I did not find them more difficult or time-consuming. I also derive some satisfaction from the fact that I got a better grade than Bill Gates in Math 55, although it's possible that they graded more harshly 30 years ago when Gates took it.</p>

<p>If you are not so interested in pure math as in mathematical techniques used in physics or engineering or economics and such, Harvard also has a separate department of applied math and computer science so you can major in applied math instead of math. I believe Bill Gates majored in applied math.</p>

<p>Harvard's math department is top notch - perhaps not as good as MIT, simply because of the volume difference - but it's very strong nonetheless.</p>

<p>I've related before that there is a young professor who used to say on this Web page that the very best way to study math is to do as he did and do math undergrad at Harvard and in graduate school at MIT. He no longer has that statement on his Web page, as he is now teaching at another fine university.</p>

<p>Only 20 students per class? That really scares me. Because ALL of them are probably exceptionally bright students who have placed well in a Math Olympiad. There has to be more than 20 out of 2000...hmm...</p>

<p>bill gates took math 55? Wow!</p>

<p>Fields Medalists (institution at time of award)</p>

<p>Princeton University 5
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton 5
Harvard University 4
University of Cambridge, UK 4
UC Berkeley 2
MIT 2
University of Oxford, UK 2
Moscow State University 2
Stanford University 1</p>

<p>Harvard's medalists include Lars Ahlfors, Heisuke Hironaka, David Mumford, and Curtis McMullen. Shing-Tung Yau won the medal while at the Institute for Advanced Study but subsequently moved to Harvard about 15 years ago. Ed Witten was a physics professor at Harvard but did not get tenured and moved to Institute for Advanced Study, where he became a huge star and also won the Fields medal. There are probably other winners who were at Harvard at various stages of their math careers.</p>

<p>ok, I have just another doubt...are the classes taught by professors on a regular basis or should prospective students expect mostly TAs?</p>

<p>The math classes for math majors are definitely taught by professors. You should look around </p>

<p><a href="http://www.math.harvard.edu/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.math.harvard.edu/index.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>to get answers to more of your questions.</p>

<p>I always think of this</a> thread on [url=<a href="http://www.artofproblemsolving.com%5DAoPS%5B/url"&gt;http://www.artofproblemsolving.com]AoPS[/url&lt;/a&gt;], when Harvard math is mentioned.</p>

<p>According to mit's website (<a href="http://math.mit.edu/undergraduate/major.html#how-good%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://math.mit.edu/undergraduate/major.html#how-good&lt;/a&gt;) University of Chicago is also one of Harvard's "peers" in math (reference to a previous post).</p>

<p>But, yeah, Harvard math is amazing. What makes studying math there even better is, if you want, you could cross-register to take classes at MIT (or vice versa) and both schools work together to foster better programs than each could provide alone.</p>

<p>I'm going to take Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus as a senior in high school, what math would I then take as a freshmen at Harvard?</p>

<p>cheesemaster: You can take the proof-based courses of Math 23 or 25. You could try Math 55, but again, if you really wanted a social life, I would not suggest it (of course, unless you were a genius). It will be unlike anything you've encountered in high school math, although I find it very impressive your school offers Calc III/IV when most high schools don't even offer AP Calculus (mine only offered up to AP Calculus AB). </p>

<p>You will take a placement exam - seriously follow those. You will be much better off for it. I personally took AP Calc AB (highest offered and I enjoyed it and got a 5 on the AP), but the Math placement test placed me in the lowest level of math, which is Math Xa/Xb, a year-long sequence that covered pre-calculus and also the material in Math 1a and some of Math 1b. Of course, I was a bit dismayed, but in the end, I am so much happier by taking it.</p>

<p>Harvard math courses are tough. They aren't easy. In addition, if you wanted to major in the life sciences, instead of going to a higher level like Math 23/25/55, you should take Math 19a/19b, which will help you in classes like Life Sciences 1b (tons of statistics in that class) and high level courses in the life sciences. If you wanted to go into the business world, you have Math 20, which is linear algebra and MV Calc applied to the social sciences.</p>

<p>In essence, there are so many options available to you - you just have to choose which math class is best for you!</p>

<p>I looked into the number of concentrators. According to the Harvard College Student Handbook, there were 29 bachelors degrees awarded in math, 34 degrees in applied math, 3 in statistics, and 32 in computer science.</p>

<p>Wow, thanks for the information.</p>

<p>I'm not to worried about placement, my school's math program is very rigorous, but I'm amazed that there are so many options. I guess I'd probably go into Math 19a/19b or Math 20.</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>