Which math courses are most important?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I am a junior in high school who is taking classes at my local community college. After the end of this school year, I will have taken calculus I, II, and III and I am confused about what I should take next year. I am interested in pursuing a degree in either computer science or finance/economics (not sure which yet). My options include:</p>

<p>Calculus IV
Discrete Math
Linear Algebra
Descriptive Statistics
Inferential Statistics
Differential Equations</p>

<p>Which 3 courses will I most likely need to take when I am pursuing a degree in either of the fields that I am interested in?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help!</p>

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<p>What exactly is included in Calculus IV? Most schools only have Calculus I, II, and III. </p>

<p>Linear algebra is one of the more useful branches of mathematics. Discrete mathematics is incredibly important in computer science. Differential equations is a very useful course in CS as well. Statistics is pretty applicable across the board. </p>

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<p>Do you know where you want to apply for college upon completing high school? If you have a guess, I suggest you look at each schools degree plans for CS, Finance, and Economics and make notes of which math classes that each school has on their degree plan. I agree with Linear Algebra being a general useful math class and that discrete math is important to CS. At my school, CS majors all take discrete math but their version is offered through the CS department. We also have discrete math through the math department which would not count towards the CS degree here. I can’t speak for Finance or Economics.</p>

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<p>What’s the difference between Calc III and IV?
If IV completes the Calculus sequence, then you’d need to take it, then Discrete Math and Linear Algebra. </p>

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<p>Calculus IV is an extension of multi-variable calculus. So statistics is not as important?</p>

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<p>Calculus 4 may be multivariable calculus at a quarter system school (i.e. the same as the last 2/3 of calculus 3 at a semester system school).</p>

<p>Anyway, the important math courses for each major (assuming completion of frosh calculus) are:</p>

<p>CS (non-engineering based): discrete math, linear algebra, statistics (calculus-based if available)</p>

<p>CS (engineering based): as above, but also multivariable calculus and differential equations</p>

<p>economics (pre-professional) or finance (not-so-quantitative): statistics (calculus-based if available)</p>

<p>economics (pre-PhD) or finance (quantitative): multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, statistics (calculus-based if available)</p>

<p>Note: at semester system schools, linear algebra and differential equations are often combined into one course. If you take one, but not the other, you may end up having to repeat it if you need to take the combined course for your major. If this is a concern, try to take both of them if you want to take either one.</p>

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<p>Linear algebra and discrete math are important for CS.
Statistics might be really important if you want to mine data for Google or the likes tho. </p>

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<p>CS and economics majors that require statistics may require calculus-based statistics courses. If your community college only offers non-calculus-based statistics courses, they may not be accepted to fulfill requirements at CS and economics majors that require calculus-based statistics courses. Check your target four year schools.</p>

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<p>Great, thank you all so much for your help.</p>

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<p>Actually a lot of schools have calculus IV. Sometimes they call it Advanced Calculus, but it’s the same stuff. It’s usually not the last part of cal III, but more advanced calculus methods. Most syllabi list multiple integration, vectors/vector analysis, surface integrals, partial derivatives, and directional derivatives. For example, here at Columbia there are four semester calculus classes (I-IV), but only cal I through III are required for the statistics major, the computer science major, and the economics major. You only have to take cal IV in the math and physics majors.</p>

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<p>" Most syllabi list multiple integration, vectors/vector analysis, surface integrals, partial derivatives, and directional derivatives"</p>

<p>That is the last part of calc III at most schools. </p>

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<p>Thanks for your input @juillet‌!</p>

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<p>For me, as an engineer, Calc 4 was Differential Equations.</p>

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<p>Comparing Columbia’s calculus 3 and 4 courses (3 credits each):
<a href=“Calculus III: Fall '07”>http://www.math.columbia.edu/department/syllabi/CalcIIIsyllabus.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Calculus IV”>http://www.math.columbia.edu/department/syllabi/CalcIVsyllabus.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>with a typical calculus 3 course (4 credits) at another school using the same book (Stewart’s Calculus - Early Transcendentals):
<a href=“Math 53 | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley”>Math 53 | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley;

<p>shows that the Columbia 6-credit sequence covers most of the same topics as the other school’s 4-credit course, but adds an additional two weeks of material in calculus 3 (complex numbers and some applied topics) and an additional three weeks of material in calculus 4 (complex functions, not in the book).</p>