Newcomer Seeks Information

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
21

<p>
[quote]
It seems quite easy for a mediocre student to copy off the solutions off an advanced student for the homework problems.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This would be a violation of the honor code. Getting help and ideas and then later understanding and writing down is okay; copying answers gets you kicked out of school.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Besides, I can do some of the exam problems even though i'm not in Caltech and that means something.

[/quote]
These are meant to be doable, and of course if you've seen the proofs you can do them (differentiability ==> continuity is a particularly standard little game.) But the tests are still quite hard -- the time constraints are nontrivial. Math 1 gives Caltech frosh a run for their money. Come and we'll show you ;-)</p>

22

<p>Freshman year course load depends on the person. Some people take an incredible number (70-ish) of units. Average is mid 40's, a "heavy" course load is one above 48 units. A standard class is 9 units, some labs are 6 units, and some classes have weird numbers of units. Extra-curriculars are generally 3 units. Taking fewer than 36 units or more than 54 units (51 if the person is a freshman) requires a petition to UASH, the Undergraduate Academic Standards and Honors committee. Sophomore year is a little heavier, with classes in one's major and a few core classes left. Junior year varies by major. Senior year can be light or heavy; if one has fulfilled all his requirements and taken more units than necessary in previous years, the course load might be light. With research or a struggle to get 3 PEs and some extra humanities/social science classes, there could be a heavier course load. </p>

<p>I provide my schedule for review. Sports take up far more than 3 units of time (it's more like 10-16 for track, I don't know about other sports). I'd say my course load is only slightly heavier than normal. First and third term freshman year were left light intentionally: first term I did it to let myself adjust to college life more easily, third term I did it to adjust to being on grades. </p>

<p>Ma = math, Ph = physics, APh = Applied Physics (my major), PS = political science, Ec = Economics, Bi = biology</p>

<p>1st term I took:
(units are in front)
9 Ph 1a (Classical Mechanics)
9 Ma 1a (Single-Variable Calculus)
6 Ch 1a (General Chemistry)
6 APh 9a (Solid-State Electronics for Integrated Circuits Lab)
9 Hum/H 3a (Medieval European History)
3 PE 23 (track and field class)
2 Ph 10 frontiers in physics
1 E 2 frontiers in Engineering & Applied Sciences</p>

<p>2nd term:
9 Ph 1b (analytical track) (Special Relativity, Electricity and Magnetism)
9 Ma 1b (analytical track) (Linear Algebra)
9 Ch 1b (General Chemistry)
6 Ch 3 (Fundamental Techniques of Experimental Chemistry)
6 APh 9b (Solid-State Electronics for Integrated Circuits Lab)
3 PE 85 (intercollegiate track and field team)
9 Hum/Pl 8 (Right and Wrong)</p>

<p>3rd term:
9 Ph 1c (analytical track) (Electricity and Magnetism)<br>
9 Ma 1c (analytical track) (Multivariable Calculus)
9 Bi 1 (Drugs and the Brain)<br>
9 Ec 11 (intro. to economics)<br>
3 PE 85 (intercollegiate track and field team)
3 PE 50 (Badminton; I took two PEs because track only went 3 weeks into third term,)</p>

<p>Now (Soph. year, 1st term) I am taking
9 Ph 12a (Waves, Quantum Physics, and Statistical Mechanics)
9 Ma 2a (Analytical Track) (Differential Equations)
9 PS 12 (Introduction to Political Science)
9 PS/Ec 172 (Non-Cooperative Games in the Social Sciences)
6 Ph 3 ("Physics Lab" That's not a very descriptive name. This is the freshman physics lab, and serves as an introduction to experimental technique. Lots of error analysis. Get to play with a Maxwell Top, AC and DC circuits, and an inverted pendulum. Pretty tame stuff, except that I've never had a lab with AC circuits before.)
9 APh 17 (Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics)</p>

<p>Next term I plan on taking
9 Ph 12b (Waves, Quantum Mechanics, and Statistical Physics)
9 Ma 2b (Probability and Statistics)
9 APh 17b (Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics)
6 APh 23 (Demonstration Lectures in Optics, prerequisite for APh 24, "Introductory Modern Optics Laboratory" where I think I'll be able to make a hologram. I've wanted to do that since I was a little kid :) )
9 Ph 6 ("Physics Laboratory" is the official title. Course catalog says, "Experiments in electromagnetic phenomena such as electromagnetic induction, properties of magnetic materials, and high-frequency circuits. Mobility of ions in gases; precise measurement of the value of e/m of the electron." I thought it sounded cool.)
9 Law 33 (Introduction to the Law)</p>

<p>If any frosh have any questions about the classes I've taken, I'd be happy to answer them.</p>

23

<p>Re: the math being doable
There are definitely people who can come in doing just fine, but the purpose of Math 1 seems to be to get all the frosh "on the same page", which makes sense since we'd do both ourselves and a few brilliant people in the world a major disservice by only admitting students with a strong math background. </p>

<p>That's not to say that these classes teach <em>only</em> how to do the math involved. I had taken multivariable calculus, but had very little experience with linear algebra in high school. This being the case, Math 1c was still quite valuable to me; there were concepts and proofs I enjoyed learning about that really put calculus into context. Almost everyone had taken single variable calculus, but the purpose of that class is to teach students how to make rigorous formal proofs. I was certainly more comfortable learning how to prove stuff by starting on things I was already familiar with, and I'd bet this is probably the case for most students.</p>

24

<p>Darn! Learner.org doesn't allow IPs from places other than the US or Canada! I guess I'll go through the OCW series, they seem interesting and I definitely love the demos.</p>

25

<p>"Jars, I know someone who knows you (his SN has Liar on the end of it). Did you only have one year of high school calculus, without prior experience in proofs?"</p>

<p>I had one year of hs calculus. It was a great class. My teacher would not necessarily rigorously prove the theorems, but we'd go through some form of a proof. Being a hs class, he couldn't really put the whole class through a rigorous proof when the goal was to train for the AP test. But regardless, I felt like he showed me very creative things in math and I guess in a way taught me to how to think more creatively. At least after a few months of his class I found the AIME and AMC and CAMLs a lot more doable and within reach. But that's irrelevant. So to answer your question, I had like proofs in geometry and some proofs in calculus.</p>

26

<p>"jars, are you taking 5 courses per quarter? Do Caltech people take more or
less courses per quarter as they move up in academic status?"</p>

<p>Depends on who you are I think...? I get the feeling that some people take a lot of unnecessary classes and stock up on units while others just take as many as they need to graduate (we only need to average 40.5 units per term, but people, at least from my perspective, seem to all take 48+). I've heard that after core, there is a lot more freedom and possibility of taking it easy though while before you're really stuck taking like 48+ units (I think I agree with this).</p>

<p>As for me, I took 7 courses first quarter, but two were PE's (48 units). This term I'm taking 6 academic courses and a PE (51 units). Spring term I'll probably take 6 academic courses and a PE for 54 units. Then fall I'll probably take 49 units, 6 academic, one PE. I think someone mentioned this also, but depending on your PE, it could be much more than 3 units. I'm doing tennis and it is decidedly not 3 units. It's probably going to be 2.5 hours M-F and maybe saturday, not including the rest I like to take afterwards.</p>

27

<p>"Besides, I can do some of the exam problems even though i'm not in Caltech and that means something. "</p>

<p>I personally find the exam problems to be like two levels below the hw problems. In the exams you're on the whole mostly expected to regurgitate and apply concepts. On the hw, you're expected to synthesize.</p>

<p>"It seems quite easy for a mediocre student to copy off the solutions off an advanced student for the homework problems. "</p>

<p>Well, straight copying is against the honor code, but the math 1a policy is that if you can reproduce the work you write, then it's fine to get help. And if you're really lazy, it's easy to just get a friend to show you the proof. The steps of proofs are never particularly hard, it's just seeing how they fit all together, and so it's not that hard once you have all the steps. So I know that a lot of frosh will just wait until the TA office hours or after their friends have finished to just learn the proofs and write them down, but I personally don't do that. And if you don't do that, the math hw can be a pain. Math 1a hw isn't necessarily long. If you're an IMO team member and you see it immediately, it's rather short. For us normal people though, it takes more than no time. However, I haven't given up on trying to learn all my hw on my own even though they warned us at frosh camp not to try it and numerous people have called me a moron.</p>

28

<p>Thanks for the honest replies, jars. On a side note, how does Caltech's Math 1abc compare to the standards of a real analysis course? I've heard people say that Apostol is around half-way between a standard calculus course and one of real analysis. Although Math 1abc is more specific on the calculus part of real analysis, which is quite a broad area. Interesting considering that the next Caltech analysis course is a grad level course (although many undergrads take grad level courses pretty soon).</p>

<p>According to <a href="http://www.math.caltech.edu/classes/ma_9/index1.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.math.caltech.edu/classes/ma_9/index1.html&lt;/a>, there really are only 5 homework problems per week. So I can see how an IMO person would be able to do them very quickly. And I like how certain Caltech courses are posting their stuff online, although it's not MIT OCW.</p>

<p>But yes, one of the things is that Math 1abc is the first time that some students have to do serious proofs on their own, so it can be quite a challenge for those to even get the starting steps of a proof.</p>

29

<p>"On a side note, how does Caltech's Math 1abc compare to the standards of a real analysis course?"</p>

<p>Never taken real analysis.</p>

<p>The website you are getting is for Math 1a Section 1, aka math 0.9. Only the bottom scorers on the math placement exam are in that class. For the standard freshmen fare, check <a href="http://math.caltech.edu/classes/ma1a/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://math.caltech.edu/classes/ma1a/index.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

30

<p>Oh yes, I went to the website you pointed out - I just somehow went to pma.caltech.edu and then clicked on the first freshman math course I saw so it turned out to be that one. ;)</p>

31

<p>I don't think any IMO person would be in Ma1a in the first place. Those geniuses all place out.</p>

<p>Putting that aside, though, what you say is true. There have been problems that I've stared at for three hours (yes, Ma1a is on pass/fail, but I'm a nerd like that and I love that stuff) that took about two minutes for my really smart friends to do.</p>

32

<p>"I don't think any IMO person would be in Ma1a in the first place. Those geniuses all place out."</p>

<p>not true... I personally know an IMO winner frosh who's in 1a. There's a good-sized disconnect between contest math and... er... class math.</p>

33

<p>Yeah, let me second that; an IMO gold medalist in addition to numerous MOP participants all take Ma1a. </p>

<p>Personally, I don't feel that one's math course is indicative of one's knowledge or ability in the subject; there are many, many freshmen who took 1a first term that I consider vastly superior to me in math, even though I took 2a.</p>

<p>The only thing a math course signifies is that you did a little bit better on one or two math placement exams on a given day than someone else, tests which are far removed from real mathematics to begin with.</p>

34

<p>Fair enough. I liked 1a anyway, in the most masochistic sense possible. ;-)</p>

35

<p>Yeah, the problems I saw on the 1a sets were much harder than the ones on the 2a homework. The midterm and final were significantly tougher also. </p>

<p>Makes me happy I wasn't in that class!</p>

36

<p>LOL, I bet you were in 2a Anal. Now that was the easiest math core class. OTOH, those sets became incredibly long in the middle of the term (easily became a 12-unit class for a few weeks).</p>

37

<p>Yes, I was in analytical. The sets during the latter half of the term took forever, but thankfully our final more than made up for that. </p>

<p>I'm guessing 2b will be much more challenging...</p>