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Course 18: Mathematics Overview of Course 18 Responses

18.02 | 18.023 | 18.06 | 18.303 | 18.314 | 18.355 | 18.441 | 18.445 | 18.701 | 18.901 | 18.S34


18.02: Calculus


Respondent:   Benjamin North
Felt well prepared for class:   yes
Comments:    
Students in class were typically:   undergrads
Students were typically of 1 major:   no
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   D. Jerison / D. Auroux
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Recitation Instructor:   Mark Behrens
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   The lecturers gave competent lectures straight out of the text, and used humour well. Watching Mark explain Calculus was like watching a child playing with a favourite toy; he was also helpful and supportive.
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   2
Comments:   Nothing new here for scientists or engineers.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   Calculus at the level of 18.02 is a prerequisite for certain papers in Part IIB. Otherwise, this course is only for the pure maths enthusiast (it picks up where P6 leaves off).
Additional comments:   Non-Further Mathematicians who need credit for Paper 6 should take the 18.01A- 18.02A sequence in the fall. I reject Hussein's view that 18.023 is preferable to 18.02 - this course has more problem sets, but it's much easier to get an A and there are fewer (albeit still too many) physical science examples.


18.023: Calculus with Applications

Respondent:   Hussein Abbasbaiki-Varamin
Felt well prepared for class:   Yes
Comments:    
Students in class were typically:   Undergraduate
Students were typically of 1 major:   No
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   Prof. Benney
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   3
Recitation Instructor:   Prof. Benney
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   3
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   Prof. Benney hosts his own recitations. He is very approachable and quite entertaining, although progresses at full pace sometimes though some of the more detailed mathematics taught.
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   The course provides a good introduction to multivariate calculus where this is required in a course. For economists, the course can often seem to lose relevance when thinking about the sort of mathematics you want to cover for this option, and is really only useful in particular points when covering certain probability concepts in statistics classes.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   2
Comments:   The course probably covers material already obtained by mathematics majors. It is a general institute requirement for MIT students, and is generally taken by a lot of freshmen.
Additional comments:   18.023 IS CERTAINLY MORE DESIRABLE THAN 18.02. 18.02 requires at least double the workload to cover exactly the same material: problem sets are far longer and more frequent, and midterms have a nasty reputation. 18.023, on the other hand (if you're still interested in taking basic multivariable calculus of any kind!) has fewer problem sets, in-class midterms and NO FINAL EXAM. Beware that grade standards tend to be quite high though.

Respondent:   Russell Haresign
Felt well prepared for class:   No
Comments:   My knowledge of single-variable calculus was poor, so I struggled to get up to speed.
Students in class were typically:   Undergraduate
Students were typically of 1 major:   No
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   Prof. David Benney
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   3
Recitation Instructor:   Lecturer was also TA
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   Prof. Benney is friendly but goes too fast.
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   More user-friendly than 18.02, but no CMI students need this course.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:    
Additional comments:   Lots of engineering applications if you want them.


18.06: Linear Algebra

Respondent:   Hussein Abbasbaiki-Varamin
Felt well prepared for class:   Yes
Comments:   The topic area builds on mathematics taught in first year, but to a much greater depth than you will probably cover in 2nd year economics. No background work necessary.
Students in class were typically:   Undergraduate
Students were typically of 1 major:   No
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   Prof. Ingermann
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   2
Recitation Instructor:   Mr. Peter Clifford
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   5
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   Peter Clifford is probably the best TA I had in my year in MIT. Try and sign up for his recitations if possible - the class also does review sessions before midterms that he occasionally takes.
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   4
Comments:   The linear algebra class is a comprehensive introduction: ideal for 2nd year Economists wanting to cover the mathematics option. More advanced linear algebra courses are also available, but beyond what is needed for such economists.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   The course is a general introduction, probably covering material mathematicians have laready looked at. Recommended though for anyone looking to cover this material in other disciplines (some applications are looked at but not many)
Additional comments:   The class is well-organised: problem sets are due weekly and three short midterms precede the final. It is taken by a large range of MIT students.

Respondent:   Russell Haresign
Felt well prepared for class:   No
Comments:   Students were assumed to be comfortable with basic maths, which I was not!
Students in class were typically:   Undergraduate
Students were typically of 1 major:   No
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   David Ingerman
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   2
Recitation Instructor:   Wei Luo
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   3
Other instructor:   Peter Clifford
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   5
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   Ingerman is clever but out of it. Peter Clifford, on the other hand, is the perfect TA.
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   4
Comments:   If you want to Linear Algebra thoroughly, this is the course. If you just want some introductory material for your other major, it's probably too much.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:    
Additional comments:    

Respondent:   Benjamin North
Felt well prepared for class:    
Comments:   None
Students in class were typically:   undergrads
Students were typically of 1 major:    
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   Michel Goemans
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Recitation Instructor:   Shelley Harvey
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   3
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   Michel Goemans was a distinct improvement over Prof Ingermann, though he often got overenthusiastic and digressed. Shelley was sometimes helpful, but other times seemed uninterested (and once lost work).
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   Could be useful.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   Required for those needing credit for Paper 6 (you could take 18.700 instead but I don't recommend it). The course is accessible to - but may not interest - others.
Additional comments:    

Respondent:   Rahim Karim
Felt well prepared for class:   yes
Comments:   For most parts. There were some parts towrad the end tahn need more serious calculus that was covered in maths A-Level which made parts harder than might otherwise be the case.
Students in class were typically:   undergraduates
Students were typically of 1 major:   no
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   Gomez
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Recitation Instructor:   Shelly
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:    
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   4
Comments:   It was a good class to take if you havent got a great maths background but want to take a class more demanding than calculus
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   1
Comments:   You guys have probaly done stuff like this already - its quite basic stuff.
Additional comments:   I did this course to try and make up for some of the thing I was going to miss by not taking the Part IIA Maths for Economists papers. It seemed fairly usefully espcially for some of the econometrics we did in 14.32.
   


18.303: Linear Partial Differential Equations

Respondent:   Maurice Blount
Felt well prepared for class:    
Comments:   This roughly covers the first half of the Methods course.
Students in class were typically:   undergrads
Students were typically of 1 major:   yes
Name of major of most students:   Course 18 - Mathematics
Lecturer:   Neil Balmforth
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   5
Recitation Instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:    
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   2
Comments:    
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   5
Comments:    
Additional comments:    
   


18.314: Combinatorial Analysis

Respondent:   Maurice Blount
Felt well prepared for class:   yes
Comments:   This was a good introduction to combinatorics, it assumes little prior knowledge of the subject.
Students in class were typically:   undergrads
Students were typically of 1 major:   yes
Name of major of most students:   Course 18 - Mathematics
Lecturer:   Richard Stanley
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Recitation Instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:    
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   2
Comments:    
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   I would only recommend this if you are interested in combinatorics.
Additional comments:    
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18.355: Fluid Mechanics

Respondent:   Maurice Blount
Felt well prepared for class:   yes
Comments:   This course seems to be a good match for the Cambridge course, and I think it was more in depth than the Cambridge course would have been.
Students in class were typically:   grads
Students were typically of 1 major:   yes
Name of major of most students:   Course 18 - Mathematics
Lecturer:   John Bush
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Recitation Instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:    
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   2
Comments:    
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   4
Comments:   This course should comprehensively cover the material of the corresponding Cambridge course
Additional comments:   The problem sets are at times quite hard.


18.441: Statistical Inference

Respondent:   Maurice Blount
Felt well prepared for class:   yes
Comments:   The class was fairly well paced.
Students in class were typically:   undergraduates
Students were typically of 1 major:   yes
Name of major of most students:   Course 18 - Mathematics
Lecturer:   Richard Dudley
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Recitation Instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   Prof Dudley lectured well, although the pace at times felt slow.
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   This would give you some insight into the theory behind vaious statistical tests.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   4
Comments:   This is a good match for the corresponding Cambridge course.
Additional comments:    
   


18.445: Introduction to Stochastic Processes

Respondent:   Maurice Blount
Felt well prepared for class:   no
Comments:   The course was fast paced - often new concepts were introduced with little explanation, and this made the notes hard to follow
Students in class were typically:   grad students
Students were typically of 1 major:   no
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   Daniel Strook
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   3
Recitation Instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:    
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   2
Comments:   If you have an interest in financial analysis this might possibly be useful.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   2
Comments:   The course is challenging and very theoretical.
Additional comments:   This years notes are currently online at the professors website-it might be worth looking them over to get an idea of the concepts involved.
   


18.701: Algebra I

Respondent:   Jacob George
Felt well prepared for class:   yes
Comments:    
Students in class were typically:   undergrads
Students were typically of 1 major:   yes
Name of major of most students:   Course 18 - Mathematics
Lecturer:   M. Artin
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Recitation Instructor:   N/A
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   Artin wrote the book.
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   4
Comments:   For a general introduction to Algebra, it's pretty good.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   The last half extends Algebra & Geometry, but if you're willing to do a little work over Christmas then you can make that up.
Additional comments:    
   


18.901: Introduction to Topology

Respondent:   Maurice Blount
Felt well prepared for class:   yes
Comments:    
Students in class were typically:   undergrads
Students were typically of 1 major:   yes
Name of major of most students:   Course 18 - Mathematics
Lecturer:   Prof Lusztig
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   2
Recitation Instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Comments on any of the teaching staff:   The lecturer was often incomprehensible, although with the book it was usually possible to follow.
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   2
Comments:    
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   You can take this course either in the fall or spring. Prof Lusztig covered only the basic concepts of topology, making for an easier, introductory course, whereas Prof Munkres was far more thorough and would have provided better grounding for more advanced courses.
Additional comments:    
   



18.S34: Mathematical Problem Solving

Respondent:   Maurice Blount
Felt well prepared for class:    
Comments:   This course serves as preparation for the Putnam Competition. There are two classes a week, one of them is a lecture, and the other involves explaining your problem set solutions to the rest of the class.
Students in class were typically:   undergrads
Students were typically of 1 major:   no
Name of major of most students:    
Lecturer:   Richard Stanley
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   4
Recitation Instructor:    
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):    
Other instructor:   Hartley Rogers
Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):   3
Comments on any of the teaching staff:    
Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   Could be interesting if you have any interest in maths, the problems are quite hard but the course is Pass/Fail.
Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely):   3
Comments:   If you have an interest in entering the Putnam Competition, this class is useful preparation.
Additional comments:    
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