My Mathematics Major: Pure, Applied or Statistics? (4 Viewers)

[Aquawhite]

Become a checkout chick at some place that they have shit register that doesn't add everything up, and they don't sell calculators. Now you wish you did the Applied major.

 

[Studentleader]

Become a checkout chick at some place that they have shit register that doesn't add everything up, and they don't sell calculators. Now you wish you did the Applied major.

Sounds about right for undergraduate coursework.

Do pure (take stats/comp science too if you have room) then specialise at honours IMHO.

 

[Shadowdude]

I'd like to teach advanced math theory to primary schoolers... in theory. Not in practice. =P


Computer science? What's all that about? I figured I'd just fill up my major with Mathematics and then possibly consider a second major in Statistics - while filling up anything else with Chemistry for epic three hour practicals!

 

[Studentleader]

I'd like to teach advanced math theory to primary schoolers... in theory. Not in practice. =P


Computer science? What's all that about? I figured I'd just fill up my major with Mathematics and then possibly consider a second major in Statistics - while filling up anything else with Chemistry for epic three hour practicals!

Computer science or computing science (sometimes abbreviated CS) is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that create, describe, and transform information.

It is extremely important in mathematics as in industry you will do nothing by hand and learning algorithm design.

Here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_mathematics

 

[Shadowdude]

sikhman, of course - because I'm an ex-high school student who's clueless - and thus, is asking questions.


Well, studentleader - these are the times I wish I could give rep to you again, but that's not possible. I suppose I should look over the handbooks for UNSW and Sydney again.

 

[Studentleader]

sikhman, of course - because I'm an ex-high school student who's clueless - and thus, is asking questions.


Well, studentleader - these are the times I wish I could give rep to you again, but that's not possible. I suppose I should look over the handbooks for UNSW and Sydney again.

If I was going to USyd I'd look at:

Applied:
MATH3076Mathematical Computing
MATH3078Partial Differential equations and Waves
MATH3964Complex Analysis with Applications (Advanced)
MATH3977Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics (Advanced)

Pure:
MATH3961Metric Spaces (Advanced)
MATH3067Information and Coding Theory
MATH3068Analysis
MATH3968Differential Geometry (Advanced)
MATH3969Measure Theory and Fourier Analysis (Advanced)

Stats:
STAT3011Stochastic Processes and Time Series
STAT3012Applied Linear Models
STAT3013Statistical Inference
STAT3014Applied Statistics

But that's just me. (I hated 2nd year metric spaces though - probably because of the algebra.)

 

[Studentleader]

For UNSW (which looks like it has more units):

SEM1:
MATH3041 Mathematical Modelling for Real World Systems
MATH3101 Computational Mathematics
MATH3161 Optimization
MATH3611 Higher Analysis
MATH3801 Probability and Stochastic Processes
MATH3811 Statistical Inference

SEM2:
MATH3121 Mathematical Methods and Partial Differential Equations
MATH3201 Dynamical Systems and Chaos
MATH3821 Statistical Modelling and Computing

USyd is better for Pure and UNSW would be better for applied I guess - I still reckon ANU is the best for pure though.

 

[Shadowdude]

^ Someone give him some more rep please, he deserves it =P


Well, I'll look over that later studentleader. Thanks again, though really - the only way I can thank you properly is by sending $4000 in the mail...

 

[-may-cat-]

I think you should really discuss this sort of thing with an academic adviser at your uni, they can really help tailor your program of study in regards to where you may want to be in a few years time.

 

[Studentleader]

^ Someone give him some more rep please, he deserves it =P


Well, I'll look over that later studentleader. Thanks again, though really - the only way I can thank you properly is by sending $4000 in the mail...

I'd seriously do first year comp science though - its been so much more helpful than maths units for me.

 

[shaon0]

There's no point thinking about that now, start planning your major ~Y2 S2. Till then, enjoy your holidays...you've just finished the HSC.

 

[Shadowdude]

Oh lovely, more talking is it maycat? Well, I suppose I should. Those shall be some long hours in the discussion rooms. I'm not even sure what I want to be or where I want to be in a few years time - except with the 'employed' and have a wife. =P

I'll look at the computer science stuff.

---

There's no point thinking about that now, start planning your major ~Y2 S2. Till then, enjoy your holidays...you've just finished the HSC.

True. Though I suppose it can't hurt figuring out what the options are and garnering a scaffold of them.

 

[kaz1]

I don't know if it's true but I remember my high school maths teacher saying that people who do pure are pretentious douchebags who are doing it for the name and people who truly love maths do applied.

 

[Drongoski]

I'd seriously do first year comp science though - its been so much more helpful than maths units for me.

By the way, Studentleader, is that a picture of Nobert Wiener in your avatar ??

 

[deterministic]

I don't know if it's true but I remember my high school maths teacher saying that people who do pure are pretentious douchebags who are doing it for the name and people who truly love maths do applied.

Your high school maths teacher sounds like a douchebag.

 

[jaychouf4n]

Statistics.
Statistics.
Statistics.

Pure math is shat. I did great in High school mathematics 98 in 3u and 95 in 4u and a 99.5 ATAR. I did shit at uni pure mathematics. It is insane, way too abstract...

My suggestion is you do Commerce/Science with a major in Finance/Actuarial and Statistics. Pure mathematics becomes insanely hard at university, and you will be competing against people who drink, eat and sleep mathematics. The things you do in pure mathematics often have little direct application to the real world. e.g. In algebra you will learn about the classification and identification of n dimensional vector spaces. This has little use practically.

I was considering Actuarial/Quantitative Risk at UNSW. After 2 semesters of pure mathematics courses, I'm now doing Actuarial/Law.

 

[Studentleader]

Statistics.
Statistics.
Statistics.

Pure math is shat. I did great in High school mathematics 98 in 3u and 95 in 4u and a 99.5 ATAR. I did shit at uni pure mathematics. It is insane, way too abstract...

My suggestion is you do Commerce/Science with a major in Finance/Actuarial and Statistics. Pure mathematics becomes insanely hard at university, and you will be competing against people who drink, eat and sleep mathematics. The things you do in pure mathematics often have little direct application to the real world. e.g. In algebra you will learn about the classification and identification of n dimensional vector spaces. This has little use practically.

I was considering Actuarial/Quantitative Risk at UNSW. After 2 semesters of pure mathematics courses, I'm now doing Actuarial/Law.

I hated Algebra and Number Theory - real analysis is useful though and is alright I found.

By the way, Studentleader, is that a picture of Nobert Wiener in your avatar ??

Yes I have all of his books and a first edition of his autobiography

 

[jaychouf4n]

I hated Algebra and Number Theory - real analysis is useful though and is alright I found.

Some of the pure mathematics is definitely useful, but if your primary objective is to learn how to apply mathematics to real life, imo you should be majoring in applied or statistics.

The other option is to do an undergraduate in pure mathematics, then specialise further on in an honours year or phd. I have a friend who did his undergrad in pure, and did his Phd in applied mathematics (financial hedging).

 

[Studentleader]

Some of the pure mathematics is definitely useful, but if your primary objective is to learn how to apply mathematics to real life, imo you should be majoring in applied or statistics.

The other option is to do an undergraduate in pure mathematics, then specialise further on in an honours year or phd. I have a friend who did his undergrad in pure, and did his Phd in applied mathematics (financial hedging).

Thing about undergrad applied is its pretty shit - you don't learn anything good about modelling or simulations.

For these reasons I'd do the standard Real Analysis units and fill the rest up with stats.

 

[mitchy_boy]

I'm in the same boat as you Shadowdude, it's all pretty confusing, when we've had no choice in what we study within a subject for the past 6 years.

If I could re rep Studentleader and jaychouf4n I would. Some pretty helpful stuff (I think...).

But apart from finance and teaching where can I (realistically) get a job with a maths degree (pure or applied...)?