<p>So how are these classes? Are they not for the average IQ type of person? </p>
<p>Are exams commonly quantitative problems (like calculus) or proofs? Is the grading system going to work towards the student's favor? </p>
<p>How many students per class?</p>
<p>bump… anyone willing to comment on this? i need to know too.</p>
<p>how about mathboy98?</p>
<p>Upper div math classes are hard! And I would say 95% are proofs, nothing like calculus…</p>
<p>I’m currently taking 126, Partial Differential Equations, and I have to say I’m enjoying it much more than a class like 54. There’s proofs, but it’s more defined and concrete (if that’s one way to phrase it) than your typical abstract mathematical proof. I always see math as two routes: the applied and theoretical. There are proofs in both cases, but I think you have to be able to think a certain way to do theory, so I tend to grasp proofs in applied math instead. We have a professor who is amazing, and all the students are all trying hard to understand the material. </p>
<p>I don’t know if the grading system works in a student’s favor, but we only have one midterm and one final; the rest of our grade is homework. I’m glad I chose to take this class.</p>
<p>Then again, I haven’t started on the first pset, so I wouldn’t so sure yet lol. Also, I’d look into the 121 series because the textbook they use dives into using Calc. II, III, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations in applied physical sciences. I plan to take those courses soon.</p>
<p>(I’ve heard 104 and 185 are the most intense theoretical math courses for upper div. at Cal.) Good luck!</p>
<p>The majority of exam problems for an upper div math classes will be proof based especially for a class like 104 or 113. Compare the exam questions from the math 110 finals to the ones in math 54 from the math department’s exam archives.</p>
<p>[UC</a> Berkeley Department of Mathematics exam archives](<a href=“Home | Department of Mathematics”>Home | Department of Mathematics)</p>
<p>Cool!! </p>
<p>@Spontaneity
Enjoyable eh? I wouldn’t want exams to be a “give the exact steps in proving this” type of thing. I think I’d really appreciate those proof classes if they’d let you do your own thing to give a proof. (but then again, some stuff are answerable with just one set of steps)</p>
<p>Are the concepts too abstract to understand? Are the concepts learned applicable to quantitative math problems?</p>
<p>@Jetforcegeminix
I took a peek at the latest 104 final. Are the stuff posted there just a mere portion of the whole exam? </p>
<p>Have you taken any upper div math class? How would you rate them?</p>
<p>does anyone know how hard discrete math is at cal? is it upper-div or lower-dic? thnx</p>
<p>Discrete math typically covers an introduction to proofs – either Math 55 or CS 70. </p>
<p>As to the original question, it depends what one means by “applied math” – the applied math major here is certainly almost all pure math, with a choice of electives in applied things with mathematical focus. All those pure math classes are proofs. If you mean differential equations, well that can be pure or applied – proofs are likely. Even in more applied courses, I think aside from aid with computerized things, a lot of the work may be theory, except theory more useful for immediate application. For instance, differential equations can be deep objects in pure math, but also can serve immediate purposes, as opposed to something like abstract algebra, which is fundamentally about theoretical constructs to study general structures.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They do what you’d want to all the extent I am aware of. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Really? I know people who say 185 is one of the easier ones, plenty who hype 104 to be hard, and some who would say 113 is actually the hardest. I personally think the abstraction jump to 113 is the highest, and 104 and 185 should be familiar settings where you’re just giving a complete picture of the calculus. 104 looks intimidating because of all the epsilon signs, but they all sort of mean the same thing, and your proofs come from a picture in your head, so once you develop some maturity knowing that a proof is a precise wording of something that should be intuitive, it’s no longer bad at all. </p>
<p>Also, there are plenty of classes like 114 and 142 which are more intense in almost every way. Granted, those are electives, not requirements.</p>
<p>How about coursework? Is taking 2 upper div math classes + 1 elective per semester actually doable?</p>
<p>Math becomes much more doable in large quantities as you start getting used to it and feeling like it’s “all the same.” If this is your first time doing upper division math, I guarantee a load of 3 math classes will keep you very busy, if the 3 are with competent professors. Two is probably a safe number, and adding on non-math classes to those 2 is fine.</p>
<p>Frankly, this is really up to the individual. There were phases depending on professor when I felt one class took up my life, while there are times when I feel 6 classes won’t be so bad.</p>
<p>i took math 110 last semester and it was my first upper div math class and it took me about half the semester to get used to the class. Pretty much every upper div math goes like this: Definition -> Lemma -> Theorem -> Corollary-> maybe some examples-> repeat .Now i’m taking 113 and 104 and i have a good sense of what i need to do.</p>
<p>Awesome info guys! Thanks!</p>
<p>To answer your questions, no and yes. It’s very applied with some theory, but for PDEs, physics tends to be the motivation for deriving the formulas.</p>