Anyone else in a small class for MX1 / MX2?? (1 Viewer)

blyatman

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Matrices and whatnot are pretty abstract, and while 4u students can probably handle it, they probably won't get a good grasp of it. They can know how to find eigenvalues, inverses, determinants and whatnot, but they won't really have an understanding of what they actually are. I agree with the above post - it's simply too rigorous. Topics like epsilon-delta limit would be beyond most students, and are not necessarily critical to understanding higher levels of calculus. Personally I'd prefer if the syllabus went into more applied maths topics rather than pure maths topics, but that's coming from an applied math guy. The new syllabus is reasonably good - the inclusion of vectors is a start. Not a big fan of the Proofs topic though, but that's because it's venturing into the pure side of things.
 
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vinlatte

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Matrices and whatnot are pretty abstract, and while 4u students can probably handle it, they probably won't get a good grasp of it. They can know how to find eigenvalues, inverses, determinants and whatnot, but they won't really have an understanding of what they actually are. I agree with the above post - it's simply too rigorous. Topics like epsilon-delta limit would be beyond most students, and are not necessarily critical to understanding higher levels of calculus. Personally I'd prefer if the syllabus went into more applied maths topics rather than pure maths topics, but that's coming from an applied math guy. The new syllabus is reasonably good - the inclusion of vectors is a start. Not a big fan of the Proofs topic though, but that's because it's venturing into the pure side of things.
What's the difference between applied and pure maths?
 

blyatman

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What's the difference between applied and pure maths?
Pure math is just math for the sake of it, whereas applied math is math which has real world applications. However, some topics which were previously pure now have real world applications (e.g. number theory in cryptography), so the line between the 2 classifications can be blurred.


Here's a (somewhat) helpful video (I don't agree with some parts of the video, where they classify certain applied topics as pure, but its a helpful video nonetheless):
 

idkkdi

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Yeah you have a point there. I personally wish in 4u we looked at the epsilon delta definition of the limit, but conceptually thats definitely above the course. I guess linear algebra is more proof based and rigorous than calculus though, and not a whole lot can be done with it without this rigour, whereas various applications of calculus can be assessed without the strongest foundation.
How did you go in your exam? Any chances of state ranking?
 

TheOnePheeph

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How did you go in your exam? Any chances of state ranking?
I haven't looked at the solutions yet, as I don't want to stress myself out before hsc ends. I got everything out though, and felt good about the exam after finishing, so its just dumb errors I'm worried about, but I was able to pick about 4 of those up and fix them, so I'm hoping there were no more lol. Hopefully a state rank, but I suspect the cutoff will be high this year (98+ raw).
 

Drdusk

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Matrices and whatnot are pretty abstract, and while 4u students can probably handle it, they probably won't get a good grasp of it. They can know how to find eigenvalues, inverses, determinants and whatnot, but they won't really have an understanding of what they actually are. I agree with the above post - it's simply too rigorous. Topics like epsilon-delta limit would be beyond most students, and are not necessarily critical to understanding higher levels of calculus. Personally I'd prefer if the syllabus went into more applied maths topics rather than pure maths topics, but that's coming from an applied math guy. The new syllabus is reasonably good - the inclusion of vectors is a start. Not a big fan of the Proofs topic though, but that's because it's venturing into the pure side of things.
You can just watch 3B1B "Essence of Linear algebra" series :p
 

Cherrybomb56

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I'm wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation. My school is ranked incredibly low with at least half of the grade opting out of maths. So my MX1 class has 3 students and I'm the only person in MX2.

Is having a smaller class easier? What are your experiences in a tiny class??
woww good luck, I can believe it's running even tho there's one student only wishing to do it. it will be easier to concentrate as the teacher will only focus on you and help you whenever you want
 

blyatman

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Thank you for the info! It was such an interesting video.

I think I'm more geared towards applied maths, especially financial maths. But many topics in ext math is beyond that as it also involves more scientific and theoretical applications. Although ext math is mind-boggling, it is intriguing to eventually learn the purposes of such complicated concepts.
Everything in Ext 1 and 2 is applied. The course is 95% calculus based, which is applied. Stats is neither, and the vectors content is applied. You don't really do any pure stuff in HSC math.
 

blyatman

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You can just watch 3B1B "Essence of Linear algebra" series :p
Don't think I've seen that one yet haha, I mainly watch his calc videos. Will give his lin alg videos a go tonight.
 

Drdusk

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Don't think I've seen that one yet haha, I mainly watch his calc videos. Will give his lin alg videos a go tonight.
How... Just how..... have you not seen it. It is beautiful
 

vinlatte

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woww good luck, I can believe it's running even tho there's one student only wishing to do it. it will be easier to concentrate as the teacher will only focus on you and help you whenever you want
It has happened in my school before and they still run the class with one person. It's different than EX2 since my school has more maths teachers available than english teachers. Only extension subjects can still run with less than 10 people.
 

Cherrybomb56

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It has happened in my school before and they still run the class with one person. It's different than EX2 since my school has more maths teachers available than english teachers. Only extension subjects can still run with less than 10 people.
wow. nice. So lucky
 

Arrowshaft

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Pure math is just math for the sake of it, whereas applied math is math which has real world applications. However, some topics which were previously pure now have real world applications (e.g. number theory in cryptography), so the line between the 2 classifications can be blurred.


Here's a (somewhat) helpful video (I don't agree with some parts of the video, where they classify certain applied topics as pure, but its a helpful video nonetheless):
Hasn’t even the zeta function based on Ramanujan’s infinite sum also been used in determining discrete energy levels in quantum mechanics or something, read something about it which was pretty cool that some pure math concept could be applied into the real world
 

Time&moretime

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Could anyone recommend a book on Proofs with examples and solutions at the level of the current MX2 syllabus? Or would the examples in the prescribed textbooks eg. Maths in Focus for HSC be sufficient.
Also I have both Terry Lee's books written for the previous Maths syllabus, should I update meaning buy the latest Adv/Ext 1 Maths book by the same author? It is worth it?
 

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