<p>I need to take both of these courses before I graduate, but I can take each o them at two different semesters. One of those semesters is more difficulty than the other [b/c in one semester I have more hardcore courses]. </p>
<p>These are the course descriptions from the website: </p>
<p>Number Theory
The student is provided with many historical examples of topics each of which serves as an illustration of and provides a background for many years of current research in number theory. This course also provides the student with concrete examples of general abstract concepts studied in Advanced Algebra I and II. Primes and prime factorization, congruences, Euler's function, quadratic reciprocity, primitive roots, solutions to polynomial congruences (Chevalley's theorem), Diophantine equations including the Pythagorean and Pell equations, Gaussian integers, Dirichlet's theorem on primes. Prerequisites: Calculus II and Linear Algebra.
4 credits</p>
<p>Probability and Statistics
An introduction to probability and statistics at the calculus level, intended for engineering and science students planning to take only one course on the topics. Combinatorial probability, independence, conditional probability, random variables, expectation and moments, limit theory, estimation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, tests of means and variances, goodness-of-fit.</p>
<p>Which is easier based on you guys' experience?
Thanks guys!</p>
<p>Unfortunately I DO NOT have a choice between that. BUT keeping the difficulty of both professors constant, which has the harder SUBJECT MATTER? </p>
<p>Basically I’m asking, which class will I need to put forth less work in to get an A? OR is the amount of work required somewhat the same?</p>
<p>If I were a betting man, I would say Probability and Statistics will be easier. But then again, you can teach an easy number theory class and a hard p. and s. class. Also, the course descriptions - while roughly accurate - aren’t a good indication of the difficulty of the course.</p>
<p>Not talking about having a choice between professors for the same course. You should talk to upperclassmen who have already taken these courses at your school to get the best answer.</p>
<p>I’m not sure which will be easier, but P&S will probably be much, much more useful whether you go into production or research. My P&S class was easy; you basically just had to remember which tests applied to which conditions and know how to do the tests (or make an excel sheet that could do them.) Yeah there was a little bit of math involved but not really a whole lot, since it was an engineering class and more geared toward practical application than theory and derivation. I’ve used the stuff I learned in that class heavily at both internships I’ve had since taking the class.</p>
<p>I took a really basic intro to number theory class in 9th grade and I understood some of the concepts (I only had taken algebra 1 at the time) but the subject matter seemed to be less of practical application and more of like the manipulation of numbers and different tricks that you can do with numbers.</p>
<p>But anyways why do you care which one is harder? You’ll end up taking them both anyways. And I agree that some classes are harder/easier with certain teachers.</p>
<p>Read my OP. I have a tougher course load one semester, so I dont want to make it even harder with another super tough class. I want to have a semi balance. </p>
<p>I think it depends on you. For me personally probability and statistics is the hardest math I’ve had to take. Proofs are easy for me, but combinatorics took me a long time to really “get.” I plugged and chugged to an A in my probability and statistics class, but I can’t say I really understood it until I had tutored it for a year.</p>
<p>Having taken both of those classes I would say P & S is easier, but keep in mind the classes were taught by different professors in different departments. </p>
<p>I had a very difficult time with the subject material in Number Theory, due to the fact that I struggle with proofs. The topics in Number Theory dealt with much more abstract topics, whereas in P & S the topics were easily related to problems or solutions that were all around us, be it a company’s server or Disney’s FastTrak. Again, the professor plays a good role in how the class will be.</p>
<p>Number Theory is harder, especially if you’re an engineer, and haven’t worked much with proofs before (no, the two column geometry proofs don’t count).</p>
<p>P&S was really easy for me, but I’m specializing in stochastic modeling, so it is right up my alley. If you take a class on probability theory (which I suspect is different from the class you have listed), that class is much much tougher (although still not as hard as number theory).</p>
<p>“(no, the two column geometry proofs don’t count).”</p>
<ul>
<li>Just curious about this one. Why do the proofs in geometry not count? I understand you don’t normally do “formal” proofs in math classes like number theory, and the proofs in geometry might be trivial by comparison, but John Travolta said it best: “same ballpark”.</li>
</ul>
<p>More than likely, he was making a reference to the fact that proofs in elementary geometry are no comparison for the proofs encountered in number theory. The reasons for such you already stated.</p>
<p>Having taken both, Statistics is very boring and the theory can be intense. Number theory on the other hand can be lots of fun if you like puzzles and logics and don’t mind proofs.</p>