<p>I'm considering a major in [applied] math, and I'd like to hear some experiences from math majors. Please provide me with your basic info (outline below). Feel free to ignore inapplicable categories or add your own.</p>
<p>Undergrad Institution:
Graduate Institution (if applicable):
Description of courses you took (grad or undergrad):
Current Job Title:
Current Job Description:
Are you satisfied with your choice to become a math major and your career?</p>
<p>I’m also interested in hearing about this.</p>
<p>Don’t major in math until you have taken a 100% proof based class and see if you really like math. The lower-division math are just cake stuff. And math in high school is nothing like math in college.</p>
<p>^ Would an advanced self-study be sufficient? I’m planning to study from Spivak or a comparable text next year…</p>
<p>You shouldn’t worry. I say just have fun dis summer and worry about it later. Calculus is fairly simple. But if you want a head start, you can watch lectures from MIT on youtube and see how class is really like.</p>
<p>Second the MIT recommendation. I took took an online calc class this summer and taught myself with this stuff supplementing the textbook.
The MIT videos: [MIT</a> OpenCourseWare | Mathematics | 18.01 Single Variable Calculus, Fall 2006 | Video Lectures](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-01Fall-2006/VideoLectures/index.htm]MIT”>http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/18-01Fall-2006/VideoLectures/index.htm)
These from Princeton cover more material: [Banner</a>, A.: The Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus.](<a href=“http://press.princeton.edu/video/banner/]Banner”>http://press.princeton.edu/video/banner/)</p>
<p>The textbook was Varberg, which I found to be very easy to understand. You can pick up the 8th edition used for practically nothing.
[Amazon.com:</a> Calculus, 8th Edition (9780130811370): Dale Varberg, Edwin J. Purcell, Steven E. Rigdon: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-8th-Dale-Varberg/dp/0130811378]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-8th-Dale-Varberg/dp/0130811378)</p>
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I am already doing Calc BC this year in school, and I self-studied most of the material from Gilbert Strang’s text. My post was in response to iTransfer, who recommended a proof-heavy class. The AP curriculum certainly isn’t, but I will run out of math at my HS next year and I am going to try to self-study :)</p>
<p>A math major friend of mine has told me that math majors, along with poli. sci. majors, generally have the lowest GPA and it’s because Abstract Mathematics courses that are unbelievably hard.</p>
<p>Why political science? That doesn’t make any sense.</p>
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<p>Regurgitating formulas and algorithms only works through about DiffE. If you want a good proof based class, take Real Analysis, or learn Calc III, and then do Analysis.</p>
<p>^ I am looking to do Lay and then Pugh next year - does that sound like a good start on analysis? Spivak just covers too much calculus that I already know…</p>
<p>Spivak is great. I love him. His style of writing is truly great. He’s not really analysis, though. He’s too elementary for analysis, but too advanced for regular Calculus. He really has no place in Math Education, I suppose. lol. </p>
<p>Honestly, I’m gonna start self-studying analysis using Apostol’s “Mathematical Analysis”. I’ll let you know how that goes. xD</p>
<p>^ Good luck. I’m hoping to maybe cram in both some analysis and linear algebra. We’ll see…</p>
<p>I know a few places offer a course titled “introduction to advanced mathematics”, or “discrete mathematics”, or something along those lines. It’s meant as a transition from the get-the-answer math classes to do-actual-math math classes. Those usually have rather lenient requirements, and would be an excellent indication of whether or not you want to be a math major.</p>
<p>For now, I would just read up and do some light self-study… one I can recommend, but which might be a little advanced for you, is “A Problem Course in Mathematical Logic”. It’s freely available online, doesn’t really require much a-priori knowledge of mathematics, and hopefully would introduce you to ideas in proof, logic, etc. that apply universally within mathematics.</p>
<p>It’s freely available online… google it?</p>
<p>^ Discrete math is normally associated with number theory, combinatorics, logic, set theory, and algorithms (as opposed to analysis). But maybe those places don’t use the normal definition…?</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion. I found it :)</p>
<p>@Noimagination:</p>
<p>Why not try Apostol’s “Calculus” Vol. 1 and 2? You’d get a rigorous intro. to Single and Multivariable Calc plus some strong Linear Algebra. I haven’t tried themselves, but I heard they are good.</p>
<p>@Auburn:
I’ve yet to see the use of logical connectives. The only place I see them sorta come up is in induction, or when we do proof by contradiction, both of which don’t really require truth tables by any extent of the imagination. But I don’t know, that’s all we’ve been learning in my intro. to proofs class so far. I’m very disappointed. : /</p>
<p>^ Apostol is really expensive…</p>
<p>How I love college libraries. <3</p>
<p>I second apostol vol 1 (I have read it). International edition is cheap, get it online. bigwords is a good site</p>
<p>“^ Discrete math is normally associated with number theory, combinatorics, logic, set theory, and algorithms (as opposed to analysis). But maybe those places don’t use the normal definition…?”
<p>"I’ve yet to see the use of logical connectives. The only place I see them sorta come up is in induction, or when we do proof by contradiction, both of which don’t really require truth tables by any extent of the imagination. But I don’t know, that’s all we’ve been learning in my intro. to proofs class so far. I’m very disappointed. : / "