Anybody with a maths degree here?

[MumboJumbo]

Hey, well ive been accepted to do maths at Leeds and i just got through the post 3 pages worth of "revision" from them.

I was wondering if any of you who have done maths degrees could point me in the direction of some good books/websites extra to aid me during my course and anything you think might help prepare me for the course.

Thanks

 

[Jokester]

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

 

[lambda]

Are you natural maths wizz? If not, don't bother.

I did 1.5 years of mathematically economics at nottingham uni before changing to finance and accounting, because I couldn't hack the work. I got an A in maths and futher maths too, so its not like I wasnt good at the subject!
Econometrics was torture.

 

[Inquisitor]

I can't really recommend much in the way of reading material, but the things you're likely to spend most time on in the first two years are:

• Linear algebra (this is a big one)
• Real/complex analysis
• General analytical techniques and calculus
• Computational methods; i.e. how to deal with situations where exact solutions are impractical or impossible

It depends on the university, but you'll probably spend most of your first term formalizing and reinforcing what you've done at A-level, while being gently introduced to linear algebra and analysis. Most of the new content will start coming in in the second term and second year. At least that's how my course worked

Edit: as Ugiol says, if you take good noes (and particularly if the lecturers provide you with their own) then you shouldn't have too much trouble. They'll usually recommend particular texts from the library too.

Are you natural maths wizz? If not, don't bother.

Well it's a little late now…

I did 1.5 years of mathematically economics at nottingham uni before changing to finance and accounting, because I couldn't hack the work. I got an A in maths and futher maths too, so its not like I wasnt good at the subject!
Econometrics was torture.

Straight maths will be very different to any kind of applied maths

 

[Ugiol]

I studied maths at Bath Uni and generally found the notes provided by lecturers sufficient. The one book they forced us to buy was "Calculus" by Anton, Bivens and Davis is good but I rarely used it. Maths is one of the subjects you can get away with not reading around the subject if you have good lecturers, I know I didn't!

Of course at the beginning of each unit there will be a list of suggested reading that should be obtainable from the library.

Also the already posted link is a great source of info for anything you need clarified.

 

[Mr Jack]

I did a Maths degree, I recommend picking up Stewart & Tall's The Foundation of Mathematics and Hart's Guide to Analysis as easy to read books that cover some of the first year stuff.

I also give this advice:

If you're any good, the first year will be fairly easy going, work hard anyway. The pattern you set in the first year will follow through to the later years and sooner or later, it will get hard.

 

[titaniumx3]

I did a single honours maths at Birmingham and the first year wasn't too difficult, mainly an extension to A-Levels, but far more thorough. It's only in the 2nd/3rd years that you really get to the more analytical/theory based stuff.

The obvious things are to make sure you know your A-level pure maths inside out, especially your calculus. Also brush up on your mechanics and statistics; eventhough you may not want to continue with them in your 2nd year, I'm pretty sure you'll have an introductory module on either field.

Don't worry about everything else, you'll be shown anything new from scratch. Maths courses usually have very simple and easy to follow structures, it's just a case of reading, revising and practicing as much as you can.

The hardest part for me was just keeping up with the continuous assessment, i.e. the weekly assignments for each module. This was mainly in the 2nd/3rd year, but on most weeks you'd get assignments that were litterally 3 to 5 questions, but you'd be up all night trying to do just one.

Very fustrating at times, but once you've finally solved/proven something it can be hugely rewarding.

 

[Inquisitor]

I did a single honours maths at Birmingham and the first year wasn't too difficult, mainly an extension to A-Levels, but far more thorough. It's only in the 2nd/3rd years that you really get to the more analytical/theory based stuff.

The obvious things are to make sure you know your A-level pure maths inside out, especially your calculus. Also brush up on your mechanics and statistics; eventhough you may not want to continue with them in your 2nd year, I'm pretty sure you'll have an introductory module on either field.

Don't worry about everything else, you'll be shown anything new from scratch. Maths courses usually have very simple and easy to follow structures, it's just a case of reading, revising and practicing as much as you can.

The hardest part for me was just keeping up with the continuous assessment, i.e. the weekly assignments for each module. This was mainly in the 2nd/3rd year, but on most weeks you'd get assignments that were litterally 3 to 5 questions, but you'd be up all night trying to do just one.

Very fustrating at times, but once you've finally solved/proven something it can be hugely rewarding.

I'm currently doing Theoretical Physics and Applied Maths at Birmingham (going into third year), and the continuous assessments are a bit of a pain, but it really helps being on such a small course (about 8 people) that we all know each other really well and can just do the assignments together and help each other out

 

[titaniumx3]

I'm currently doing Theoretical Physics and Applied Maths at Birmingham (going into third year), and the continuous assessments are a bit of a pain, but it really helps being on such a small course (about 8 people) that we all know each other really well and can just do the assignments together and help each other out

That's one thing I regret not doing when I was at uni. I had very poor 'time management skills' (you know what I mean ), which meant I ended up having to do most of my assignments at home, on my own.

 

[WalesOwl]

If you have an analysis module then get Terrence Tao's book: Analysis 1.
I got 20% in the first module without it, then got 70% in analysis 2 when I continually read the book throughout the semester.

There will be plenty of calculus and applied maths books at your library.
If you are planning doing lots of stats you may need to get a decent book early on.

 

[dangerstat]

Personally, I wouldn't revise anything you did at Alevel.

Learning basic set theory, and it's notation will help you. Perhaps also learning how to write your notes up in LaTeX, it'll make them more readable and help you learn skills you'll require down the line.

You'll probably find it a shock, but stick with it for a good few months, if you're still hating it, the natural options are more applied subjects like engineering.

Books you say? Erm, well I have Real Analysis and Probability by Dudley - which is great for all sorts, but perhaps not for someone straight out of Alevels I quite like a number of textbooks aimed at Physics students - like "mathematical methods for the physical sciences" by Boas.

To be one of the biggest stumbling blocks with maths students is that they find it hard to visualise what they're doing (and for some topics it's near impossible!) but where you can get using something like MATLAB, Mathematica or even R to get a visual perspective of that it is your learning about. It really helps me now when I'm doing "real world" maths.

 

[taz488]

just finished first year at warwick, doing maths & physics, its a LOT harder than anything ive done before, so be prepared to put the work in.

two main subjects will be analysis and linear algebra im guessing, lecture notes are much better than books for learning the material so go to lectures and if you dont understand something, go over it after the lecture.

to be honest id say reading books beforehand wont get you that much of an advantage, it may lay a foundation of the sort of things you will learn in the first year, but at the end of the day the best way to do well is to go to lectures, take good notes, and work hard at it.

 

[Inquisitor]

to be honest id say reading books beforehand wont get you that much of an advantage, it may lay a foundation of the sort of things you will learn in the first year, but at the end of the day the best way to do well is to go to lectures, take good notes, and work hard at it.

I agree with this. You'd have to do some pretty hardcore reading to get even a small head start, and it wouldn't really be worth it anyway, so I wouldn't bother.

 

[Smit]

I think most things will be specific to your university and they should tell you which books you need for each course.

I have a maths degree and to be honest it was pretty easy work mostly for me (for some unknown reason I find Algebra so easy although Calculus was a struggle to start with).

You may be able to go on to Leeds Uni website and find out which books the courses will require/recommend you to have and then you can glance over them but I doubt it would make much sense since the books I have anyway don't really explain anything but give examples.

 

[Dr.EM]

How anyone could do degree level maths is beyond me

I can't pass AS level, it just doesn't make any sense. Definately one of those things you're either naturally good at or not, and nobody in my family is!


Sorry, that was no help at all . Good luck with it though, you obviously must naturally have a good grasp of it!

 

[MumboJumbo]

Ok cheers guys. I wasn't really looking to get a head start so much as what i should look at to brush up on. Rustiness + nerves = blank mind I usually find.

Mainly im looking for sources to use throughout uni as I found it particularly hard to find books for further maths and there appears to be a a lot of good suggestions so i shall look into them thankyou

Also im actually quite glad to know that the visualizing aspect is what people find hard as it happens to be one of my best areas. I also happen to really like calculus, i found it a breeze and taught most of my maths class and rather worryingly one of my teachers how to do integration by parts.

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Another question for you people who have came out of uni. How have you found the job market and careers to be like. Im hoping to get some good pay with a maths degree, my dad works quite high up in hsbc although he doesn't have a maths degree but he sees the levels some of the luckier ones get into and their pay checks are nuts considering.

 

[dangerstat]

Another question for you people who have came out of uni. How have you found the job market and careers to be like. Im hoping to get some good pay with a maths degree, my dad works quite high up in hsbc although he doesn't have a maths degree but he sees the levels some of the luckier ones get into and their pay checks are nuts considering.

It's a while since I graduated, but I still have a decent awareness as to what the market is like, and it's pretty shocking. Most maths grads, won't go on to be mathematicians, more likely accountants, banking, computing or such.

Banking has clearly been hit, and hit very hard. Accountancy less so, but from what I hear it's pretty poor there too, however in a nice economic climate places like PWC will hire pretty much any graduate from a decent university with a remotely numerical degree, whereas they're more likely to be favourable of maths grads in these times. The computing sector is pretty bad at the moment too - see the post by Nix.

To be honest as long as you work hard an graduate with a good degree from Leeds - you shouldn't have much of a problem getting a job. A lot of the problems with graduates at the moment getting careers, seems to be those that graduate from Bournemouth Poly with a degree in "sports science".

Saying that, you really shouldn't be doing a degree with the soul aim of getting a decent job at the need of it. Those that I know with this attitude ended up getting terrible degrees or dropping out entirely as they had little interest in the subject they chose to study.

 

[w11tho]

Baby Rudin gives an excellent introduction to first year Real Analysis (Principles of Mathematical Analysis, W. Rudin).

Davenport gives a lucid introduction to the theory of numbers (The Higher Arithmetic, H. Davenport).

I'd also buy, for the pretty pictures alone, a cheap copy of Penrose's "Road to Reality". The book is pitched waaaay too high for its target audience, but can serve as a handy, informal reference point for mathematics undergraduates (and graduates!).

Personally, I'd stay away from engineering type books - they're often mathematically sloppy. In a mathematics degree you should aim to understand mathematical tools, rather than learn to mindless apply them. I would also urge you to stop attempting to "visualise" everything - a major skill you will need to develop during your degree is to think abstractly. One often needs to set aside intuition, or familiar pictures, and approach the subject from a purely abstract point of view.

Have fun!

 

[csmager]

Accountancy less so, but from what I hear it's pretty poor there too, however in a nice economic climate places like PWC will hire pretty much any graduate from a decent university with a remotely numerical degree, whereas they're more likely to be favourable of maths grads in these times.

I'd've said the big four couldn't give a stuff what your degree's in, as long as it's above a 2.1 and from a decent university. Half the people I know did subjects like History, English, Philosophy - whatever. Accounting maths is hardly challenging. It's adding up and percentages - it's barely GCSE level stuff.

 

[dangerstat]

I'd've said the big four couldn't give a stuff what your degree's in, as long as it's above a 2.1 and from a decent university. Half the people I know did subjects like History, English, Philosophy - whatever. Accounting maths is hardly challenging. It's adding up and percentages - it's barely GCSE level stuff.

Well no, they prefer numerical subjects (as the pass rate for ACA type exams is higher for those that have done numerical degrees). It's harder than GCSE maths