Math...

<p>Ya, I used the evals site and was only able to find evaluations of one or two of the professors (based on very few reviews, mind you). The reason why I posted here was mainly to get some more feedback and just find out if there was anyone to steer clear of. I have third registration window, so I'm afraid the best sections are going to be full and I'll get stuck in a class with a grad student or something.</p>

<p>I heard that the econ dept is no longer requiring Math 103 for the major and will require a new course that combines aspects of the 103 + linear algebra - a math for economists course. Does anyone know anything about this?</p>

<p>The Econ department has an awesome website for all things Econ Major called "EcoTeach." New major requirements - including showing the MTH 102 course for people matriculating this Fall - are at <a href="http://www.econ.duke.edu/ecoteach/undergrad/reqs.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.econ.duke.edu/ecoteach/undergrad/reqs.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I had Clark Bray for 103 this Spring semester. He's defintely an EXCELLENT professor...but his class made my brain hurt. If you're looking for more of an in depth discussion of 103 HE'S YOUR GUY. His lectures were full of proofs...very interesting for someone as interested in math as I am. BUT it was pretty difficult. His tests were obscenely hard...I don't think the average every broke 60. However, my class did pretty well on the block final, so even if you bomb all the tests you can still do decent. For example (ok, I sucked at math 103, please don't laugh at me), I got roughly a 38% in the class, ranked probably in the bottom 6 or 7 of his 40ish students, and still somehow managed a C. Needless to say I'm sure you can all do better. Anyway, Bray is definitely a professor I'd recommend.</p>

<p>Does anyone have opinions about Dan Lee, so far his class for 103 is the only one that nicely fits my schedule, and I checked out ratemyprofessors.com and there were only 3 comments that basically said he was okay. Also, is he asian?...and no offense, but, if he is, can you understand him?</p>

<p>OK - I just had a chuckle that someone with a handle of "wannabazn88 " would ask that question about Dr. Lee :-D</p>

<p>I had Bray for Math 103 and agree with whatever loveduke22 says..</p>

<p>Jafari is supposed to be excellent and Ive heard good things about Katz as well..</p>

<p>well, Dr. G...I'm not exactly asian, it's just a long running joke between me and some of my friends b/c I am on (was on...) my high school's math team, and thus I was "a wanna be asian".</p>

<p>well, I found out one of jafari's classes fits into my schedule, but he has a limited numer of seats left...hopefully I'll get him, but if not, it looks like I'll have Lee, unless his classes become full too...</p>

<p>keep in mind that the difference between <em>good</em> and <em>bad</em> teachers for math 103 is pretty small. every professor covers the same material and I believe they all assign the same homework. All of the professors know the material inside and out, and every professor has some students that do really well and some that do .. well the opposite.</p>

<p>If I'm planning on being a bio major, should I take 32 or 32L? I read the document about the differences between the two classes, but I really have no idea. I'm also thinking about taking Chem 21L first semester and Chem 22L second semester, so the prospect of having both chem and calc labs is really frightening. I took AP Calc AB this past year and did fairly well in it; expecting a 5 on the exam. Any suggestions/advice?</p>

<p>If I were to use my AP Calcs for credit, do I also get credit for the "Quantitative Studies"?</p>

<p>I took both AP Calc tests, and got a 5 on AB, but I'm not sure what I got on BC yet. If I did well enough that both AP's would give me credit for different classes, can I use both AP's to get credit for classes? Thus giving me 2 math/quantitaitve studies? credits, essentially ;) And thus never having to take math.</p>

<p>The credit page says a 5 on Math BC will give credit for "Math 31, 32". Does that it mean it gives credit for 2 classes? Or you can get credit for either one? If it gives credit for both classes, am I still allowed to use yet a 2nd AP for credit?</p>

<p>Nope - AP credits don't count towards the T-Reqs (sorry!)</p>

<p>Yup, you can only use AP credit for up to two electives, i.e. courses not counting towards a distribution requirement.</p>

<p>You don't have to take math to get your QS requirement. You can take intro comp sci and/or stat instead.</p>

<p>What is a distribution requirement? I'm in Pratt, so T-reqs don't apply to me.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.aas.duke.edu/trinity/t-reqs/curriculum/generalstudies.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.aas.duke.edu/trinity/t-reqs/curriculum/generalstudies.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>For math 103, is anyone strongly against taking a section of it that only meets twice a week? Sure it looks great on the schedule, but it seems to me only meeting twice a week for what's supposed to be a pretty hard class doesn't seem like such a good idea, even if the class periods are longer than the sections that meet for 50 minutes 3 days per week. Thoughts anyone?</p>

<p>Frisbee - <a href="http://www.pratt.duke.edu/academics/undergrad_reqs.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pratt.duke.edu/academics/undergrad_reqs.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>biomed - I don't think it makes a difference. If you can focus for the longer class period, then go for it. I personally would have trouble staying awake.</p>

<p>You cover the same material in the same time, just you need to have a longer attention span. The time spent in class is more important than the frequency of meeting each week. Indeed, if you can pay attention for that added time, then the less frequent and longer classes might be better because you lose some of the overhead involved in starting a class up and discussing administrative topics every day.</p>

<p>As someone who did 3 math 103 classes per week, I would recommend that format. There is already so much information in each class period that any extra would be difficult to comprehend, especially since the professors go very fast and you need to keep up. </p>

<p>Also, my professor used an extra 10-15 minutes before each class to go over homework, so if the other professors are like that, the 2 classes per week would be way too long.</p>