| Cambridge Students Home | How to Apply | Academics at MIT | Living at MIT | Admitted Students | Contacts & Advice |
| Course 18: Mathematics | Overview of Course 18 Responses |
Previous | 18.303 | 18.314 | 18.355 | 18.441 | 18.443 | 18.445 | 18.701 | 18.901 | 18.S34
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: | ||
| 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. |
| 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: | ||
18.443: Statistics for Applications
| Respondent: | Yuan Shen | |
| Felt well prepared for class: | Yes | |
| Comments: | Not a great deal of content, and not that hard. Problem sets easy-ish. Generous grader (only this semester), generous professor. Stats prepares you for this. Prereq: some probablility course | |
| Cambridge Equivalent: | Stats | |
| Students in class were typically: | graduates | |
| Students were typically of 1 major: | no | |
| Name of major of most students: | ||
| Lecturer: | Panchenko | |
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Recitation Instructor: | ||
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Other instructor: | ||
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Comments on any of the teaching staff: | Excellent lecturer. Very clear, sharp. Not charismatic in say the Gowers sense, but has a very distinctive pleasant style | |
| Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely): | 4 | |
| Comments: | Good if you want to learn some basic statistical approaches. Course is targeted towards Engineers and Mathematicians | |
| Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely): | 3 | |
| Comments: | I think next year, 18.441 is coming back--a more mathematically based approach. That will be useful | |
| Additional comments: | I found my high school stats course came in handy. e.g. we learned the principles behind the approaches but the actual statistical tests are no different (chi-sq, student-t, normal, blah blah) | |
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. | |
| Respondent: | Dale Winter | |
| Felt well prepared for class: | yes | |
| Comments: | Covered a lot of material we'd already done in 1A algebra and geometry | |
| Students in class were typically: | ||
| Students were typically of 1 major: | yes | |
| Name of major of most students: | 18 | |
| Lecturer: | Mike Artin | |
| 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): | ||
| Comments: | ||
| Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely): | ||
| Comments: |
|
|
| Additional comments: |
| Respondent: | ||
| Felt well prepared for class: | Yes | |
| Comments: | taught from very basic material, eg matrix addition | |
| Students in class were typically: | ||
| Students were typically of 1 major: | ||
| Name of major of most students: | ||
| Lecturer: | de jong | |
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Recitation Instructor: | ||
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Other instructor: | ||
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Comments on any of the teaching staff: | Lectures extremely well, but not as helpful in office hours | |
| Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely): | 4 | |
| Comments: | take if and only if you intend to go into pure maths | |
| Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely): | 2 | |
| Comments: | some physicists took it in my year |
|
| Additional comments: |
| Respondent: | Martin Watton | |
| Felt well prepared for class: | Yes | |
| Comments: | The first half of the course was familiar from IA Algebra and Geometry | |
| Students in class were typically: | ||
| Students were typically of 1 major: | no | |
| Name of major of most students: | ||
| Lecturer: | ||
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Recitation Instructor: | ||
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Other instructor: | ||
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| Comments on any of the teaching staff: | The instructor was not the usual one, he will be back next year | |
| Recommend subject for any Cambridge CMI student (1=definitely not, 5=definitely): | 1 | |
| Comments: | This course will not be useful to you if your major is physics | |
| Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely): | 4 | |
| Comments: | 10 |
|
| Additional comments: | I thought that this was a difficult class, the material was covered very quickly |
| Respondent: | Yuan Shen | |
| Felt well prepared for class: | Yes | |
| Comments: | The first half is essentially covered alreday by A&G. You will have already done this if you are a math student--good preparation course | |
| Cambridge Equivalent: | MATH: A&G + Groups, Rings and Modules | |
| Material that was not covered, or material that was covered: | This is the first half of an Algebra course. THe second half is 18.702 next semester will get deep <=> v. difficult. Latter half. Would help a little (not really necessary) if you wandered along to Groups, Rings & Modules in the 2nd term | |
| Students in class were typically: | ||
| Students were typically of 1 major: | yes | |
| Name of major of most students: | 18 | |
| Lecturer: | ||
| Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent): | ||
| 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): | 3 | |
| Comments: | Fast pace throughout, in fact accelerating. Not suited if you are not maths/physics/talented at the above two, but worthwhile | |
| Recommend subject for individuals majoring in subject area (1=definitely not, 5=definitely): | 4 | |
| Comments: | Good course, but the first half you will have done You *could* take Algebra II next semester, but you *will* find that tough. You don't mention rings or modules in A&G. 3 hrs lectures (90% attendance, prob) |
|
| Additional comments: | This is a pretty standard course in the basics of Algebra, as the name expresses. The pace is fast for the regulars since they won't have taken A&G, but worthwhile, for non-maths students |
| 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: | ||
| 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: | ||
Previous 1 2 Next