/sci/ - Science & Math

pick related is pretty much allways the best course of action

Whatever you want?

Here read this now: http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir/pguo-PhD-grind.pdf

>>5613079
that won't help me at all

I want to learn how to do real mathematics

>>5613087
But it will fix all your problems
How about this then? That should take care of it

Try some of MIT's courses.

>>5613101
No, I'm telling you I'm not interested damnit!
>>5613106
I'd prefer to pursue it by myself for now.

>>>/sci/1116566963

>>5613087
Well it is good that you know what you want. I assume you are not at college yet, as you could easily take pure mathematics courses there. I would suggest starting to read some books on pure mathematics. May I suggest "What Is Mathematics?" By Courant and Robbins? It is a nice read in that it is not set out like a university text book, it does have the aim of being engaging. There are many topics, some of which I haven't even covered in my first year at university in the UK, eg Projective Geometry, Topology, however there are some good chapters with no assumed knowledge like "The Natural Numbers" which was pretty much identical to my course in foundations of mathematics, and "The Calculus", which is not as rigorous or thorough as an undergraduate analysis course, but provides a lot of insite.

>>5613148
insight :D

>>5613148
Thanks. Yes I have yet to enter college. Truth is I'm still in high school, so now my problem is how to handle the shitty textbook courses they have set up now.

>>5613155
College courses aren't always much better bro

>>5613086
I actually loved reading this. Actually i got to chapter 5 and stopped and i'm saving the last chapter cause i didn't want to see how it ends yet (getting the sweet Phd).
I basically just enjoy how honest he is about the drudgery and craploap of work he has to do.

>>5613159
Reading >>5613086
I can sort of see that. I honestly prefer self-study in general but from what I hear you're not worth jack shit if you don't come from a university.

>>5613159
That is very true, what I have found at university is that the courses which are set up for Physicists and so on are usually a let down for me (I am a bit "keen" on pure maths). Try to do some nice courses which scientists won't be interested in, for example abstract algebra (group theory), analysis (calculus done properly), foundations. The problem is that courses like Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus are the sorts of courses that a lot of students need to take, and so I feel they are dumbed down somewhat, and by that I mean there is more emphasis on problem solving than proof.

>>5613155
Hopefully if you read up on a lot of maths, you should be able to attend a decent college where maths is done properly. I don't really know how it works in America, all I know is that the system is unfair and very much a matter of money. In the UK we have a very difficult entrance exam called STEP, which is used for Cambridge and Warwick (where I study). If you are looking for some interesting maths problems which use high school knowledge, that would be a good place to look.

>>5613160
np bruv :^)
keep in mind if/when you graduate and start your masters, you should stop going on /sci/, but I think that's obvious from the book

>>5613173
I'm really tottering between taking things into my own hands, or going with their system for now. In the end I'll most likely do a mixture of both, but I feel like my schedule is going to build up since I also have to learn Spanish via self-study so I can skip the mandatory classes, which are a complete waste of time.

>>5613180
i'm not OP but yea that book (or memoir:) is really cool.

>>5613173
those three were probably my favorite math courses in college, basically the only ones i did besides the normal ones.
even though i enjoy applied math and statistics stuff now, dat pure math.... feels good man

>>5613060
Lockhart is full of shit, so don't sweat it.