<p>I am just about finished with my second semester as an undergraduate student. I have not declared a major yet, but I decided this semester that I would lean towards pure mathematics. I have already taken calculus 1, 2, and 3 along with linear algebra. The content in those courses were pretty intuitive. However, I am currently taking a course called mathematical reasoning and proofs. This course has been ... insane. It is by far the most difficult class I have ever taken. This course is considered to be just an introduction to higher-level math. We have done deduction/induction, functions, set theory, number theory, combinatorics, and modular arithmetic. The proofs are so hard to approach; the solutions are never obvious to me. I am certain that I will fail this course. </p>
<p>I really enjoy doing math. Figuring out how to prove a theorem is very rewarding. If I'm doing this poorly with the basics, should I even be doing math? To be honest, I don't even know what I would do with a math degree.</p>
<p>At this point, I'm thinking that the pre-med path would be easier.
<em>Sigh</em>
What should I do?</p>
<p>You’re not the only one who has had this experience. “Real” math (as in, the proof-based stuff, not necessarily things about the real line) is quite a surprise for many. If you have a really hard time, pure math is probably not for you (to a number of people, it’s still “obvious”, or at the very least, natural and engaging, not tedious and somewhat of a hurdle toward a more meaningful goal). However, if you can pass that course and still see the usefulness and “fun” of bothering with proofs, applied math or statistics are very viable alternatives as zapfino mentions. A strong theoretical base is still important in those, but you can focus on other issues than simply proving theorems (though one can still stick to that in both cases, such as proving existence theorems in applied and doing asymptotics in statistics).</p>
<p>Thread is kind of old (four days? Is that old?) but I agree completely Blobof. Applied math still has a heavy theoretical base. </p>
<p>I think I’m in a similar boat. I’m taking four upper level math courses this semester (number theory, fourier analysis, adv calc II, and intro to prob) and I can’t say I haven’t questioned the practicality of my major, especially since grad school seems unlikely. All of these courses start off “interesting,” but I completely lose momentum with them after week 3 or 4 of the semester.</p>
<p>I’m told most undergrad math majors work for the census, NSA (but I think they are most likely looking for grad students…), become actuaries, or some other federal government stuff. I’m also majoring in comp sci, so I’ll probably fall back on that. I have a lot of engineering friends, so I get the Engineering > Liberal Arts thing a lot, but Math is really a liberal art. It (proof based math) is hard to apply to real life w/o applying it to something (commonly programming or EE imo).</p>
<p>Also, 50% of math majors double major at my school. I am starting to think that math degrees are just things to slap on another degree to make yourself seem more impressive these days; it doesn’t really stand on its own.</p>
<p>It can stand on its own if you know how to adapt (which is not a skill that they teach you). I had a minor in computer science, with the bare minimum of courses in CS. Problem solving skills you get from your math degree. The social/communication skills you have to figure out on your own, but they go a long way in getting jobs.</p>