/sci/ - Science & Math

[mathfag No.3756145]

Hello /sci/. Let's do a hypothetical. Let's say that you could design a course in the math department that was to serve as an introductory course for "motivated undergraduate freshmen" who already know they want to do mathematics for a major. What would it be like?

[Anonymous No.3756174]

doesn't sound like the best idea, but then again I'm not majoring in math

[Anonymous No.3756188]

http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

Every day

[Anonymous No.3756195]

Math isn't taught in holes and generalizations. You can't assume that everyone already knows what you're teaching simply because one educated shithead (who should have fucking tested out of it) is sitting in the back, having a rage-gasm.

It's a calculus course. You teach everything involved in calculus from A to Z, even if someone else in the class already knows everything from B to Y.

So my question is... why didn't you test out of it already? Are you just lazy or slightly too stupid to move on to the next level?

[mathfag No.3756247]

Woah, /sci/, calm down. I've been graduated for years. We currently make our "motivated freshmen" (which is another term for math majors who have already taken calculus but are not ready for analysis) take a course called "Consolidated Calculus" which is just calculus with multivariable thrown in a bit. Currently there is some to-do about making a new course which would get our MF ready for Analysis instead of just making them learn proofs all at once.

[mathfag No.3756315]

Really? None of you /sci/entists wish your freshman math classes were cooler? Sad, /sci/. Sad.

[Anonymous No.3756333]

>>3756315
A "windows on math" course for math students? I have that for physics.

I would say, a breakdown of what is expected of math graduates, I guarantee there's people who go into college, say they wanna' major in math and expect it's just plug-and-chug the whole way. I'd have it be some introduction to different fields of mathematics-- some exploratory/recreational math problems to engage curious young mathematicians-- to expose them to the world of topology and permutations and infinite series and all those fun things. Let them see what's the come and get a feel for what their favorite field is.

[Anonymous No.3756336]

How often do you see freshman who "know" what they want to major in?

About as often as you see kids who "know" they want to be a firefighter.

[Anonymous No.3756347]

The Mathematics of Lord of the Rings
I would sign the shit up to that course.

[Anonymous No.3756354]

>implying my freshman math course wasn't cool as fuck

[Anonymous No.3756357]

I would split into discrete maths, and touch on the different areas, and then abstract algebra, number theory, etc.

Then people can find the type of maths they like, and branch from there.

[Anonymous No.3756362]

>>3756145
porn, 24/7

[mathfag No.3756371]

>>3756336

Math is a strange major, I guess, in that a large number of freshmen try to declare it as soon as they get here. Large enough to create a condensed calculus course for them, I guess. Of course, a few switch, but, for the most part, we don't get many new ones in and many old ones out as the time passes.

>>3756333
One other professor suggested this, but it felt sort of "fuzzy" to me; in that, how would we do it without making it feel like a class "about" math instead of a class where you "do" math? Apparently, there are a number of classes in other places where each week a number of problems are assigned and the students solve them in whatever way they want, and then all of them sort of sum up their solutions. Then the professor, I suppose, and the class critiques the methods. This seemed nice, but it seems like something we'd need a general topic (like algebra or geometry) to work around.

[Anonymous No.3756379]

I have a better idea, motivate them to pursue a useful degree or better yet go become a construction worker or a janitor. All would be much more useful to society.

[Anonymous No.3756392]

Are you a math major? If so, I've got some questions for you if you don't mind-- first being, what did you graduate with? BS? Masters?


....BA?

[Anonymous No.3756410]

>>3756379

>Implying shit like Operations Research isn't extremely important to society at large

[samefag No.3756442]

>>3756379
that'd be funnier if it wasn't so god damn ugly to look at.

[Anonymous No.3756530]

Just make everyone watch the show Numb3rs then talk about the math in the show, how realistic or unrealistic it is, the rigorous theory behind what was used in the show, how that theory is actually used in real life, talk about the limitations of the math and why the show is fiction.

I like the show, even though it's not realistic, it makes math interesting to the average person which I think we need to do more.

[Anonymous No.3756558]

>>3756442
How about this one

[mathfag No.3756566]

>>3756530

That show is terrible, imo. But that may not be a bad idea.

>>3756392

I've had my phd for a while. As in, my phd is probably older than most of the visitors of this site.

And before you ask, my dissertation was about an extremely specific subtype of CW complexes in algebraic topology. It turned out to be a dead-end a few years later, and has nothing to do with my current research (except that they're both in algebraic topology).

[Anonymous No.3756572]

it would definitely be something that would keep you from getting screwed when you get to complex analysis and realize that you're not autistic/a genius and can't do all the proofs.

you know, to save you time and money.

[mathfag No.3756620]

>>3756572

There are a number of students who come in wanting to do "math", not realizing that what they mean is "engineering" or some sort of calculus applications. This class would, indeed, "warn" kids about what they're getting themselves into: proofs and all.

[Anonymous No.3757084]

I would suggest an introductory class on proofs and mathematical reasoning. My old university had a class like this for the incoming mathematics majors. It didn't assume a lot of prior knowledge except for maybe high school algebra.

I recently went through several books along these lines and now I've fallen in love with mathematics. I'll be heading back to university next year to major in math.

[Anonymous No.3759214]

bump?