Clever college classmates come closer

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J_Berg

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Tried to make a clever title but this is basically a thread about what classes you took as a college freshman. I'm trying to gauge where I am academically.. Math In specific. I'm planning on attending CU in the fall and currently enrolled in the college of arts n sciences in the pre engineering track..

I took AB my junior year, did okay.

Took BC this year as a senior. Really grasped the calc 1 concepts. And did decent with calc 2 concepts.

My question is, what would you guys take as an incoming freshman?

I hear calc3/diff eq is rather easy on the calc scale. Tho at the same time I'm weighing being a freshman, figuring it all out, heavy course load, Sooo..

What am I better off doing?

ANY info/insight on majoring in ENGINEERING would be great

Take it easy
 
My majors require very little math so I took College Algebra and Statistics, next semester I'll take Research Methods and then I'm done.
 
Do the engineering departments at CU that you're interested in have a curriculum for you to look at? Something that maps out an average four years of classes in that program might be helpful to see.

I took AB my senior year of high school and started ChemE right away first semester. I took calc 2 my first semester, calc 3 (multivariable) during my second, then diff eq in my third. At that point I was done with the requirements for math courses offered through the math department (we had a PDE class taught in my department) but I took linear algebra my fourth semester as a professional elective.

You seem to be well ahead of the average incoming engineering freshman. Id recommend taking the next class (multi) assuming you got AP credit for your calc classes. I found that the APs were an acceptable (but not perfectly equal) substitute for the college level courses.

Good luck! PM if you have any more questions.
 
I have yet to take a math class in college and I will never take one. That's the plus side of majoring in Unemployment Studies
 
Depends, where I go to school calculus 2 had some multi-variable stuff in it, and you don't want to miss that. But my schools math department is weird, so if you know that you will not miss anything new and already have credit for it skip calculus 2 (Because you will never use that crap again, other than a couple Taylor series for deriving things). Calculus 3 is defiantly reasonable, it was my favorite math class I took and it is somewhat useful for the future. Linear algebra and differential equations are definitely the most useful math classes you will take, but those are both higher level math classes that you will have to take. I took a linear algebra class and then differential equations were mixed into calc 3 and linear algebra.

Also freshman classes are usually weed out classes like Gen Chem, Physics and some calc. So they are going to suck no matter what.

In the end, any class you got credit for skip it if you can, it will be worth it in the end.
 
Definitely start in the highest classes you can and as soon as you start to have trouble go to your professors/ta/someone's office hours and get help as soon as you start to have trouble or not understand something. Do it before the next class if you can it will benefit you a lot and if you get behind you are pretty much boned and should just drop the class.
 
ALl of this was truly great information guys. Thanks a lot. Glad to see there is a more mature/actually helpful side to NS
 
13402618:Left_Brothers said:
Depends, where I go to school calculus 2 had some multi-variable stuff in it, and you don't want to miss that. But my schools math department is weird, so if you know that you will not miss anything new and already have credit for it skip calculus 2 (Because you will never use that crap again, other than a couple Taylor series for deriving things). Calculus 3 is defiantly reasonable, it was my favorite math class I took and it is somewhat useful for the future. Linear algebra and differential equations are definitely the most useful math classes you will take, but those are both higher level math classes that you will have to take. I took a linear algebra class and then differential equations were mixed into calc 3 and linear algebra.

Also freshman classes are usually weed out classes like Gen Chem, Physics and some calc. So they are going to suck no matter what.

In the end, any class you got credit for skip it if you can, it will be worth it in the end.
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this is gold. Basically what i needed to hear. And yeah i can't see the use of all this calc 2 stuff honestly.
 
13402928:iskiPC1997 said:
this is gold. Basically what i needed to hear. And yeah i can't see the use of all this calc 2 stuff honestly.
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I took calc 1 and 2 freshman year and while I was taking calc 2 the math department had an alumni night that I went to and I thought it would be cool to hear what people did with their math degrees and all of them became math teachers. I asked every single one what they used calc 2 for and they all said that there really isn't a good application for calc 2 unless you are teaching calc 2.

It's bullshit. Interesting bullshit but bullshit nonetheless.
 
Took AB as a junior, school didn't offer BC, so I forgot some and then had a really easy time with calc 1 at college. I thought calc 2 was the hardest. Calc 3 was relatively easy for me, but I know a lot struggled with the 3D aspect/had trouble visualizing it. Differential equations came after that, also relatively easy, the only thing that made it difficult for me was that I took it when I was studying abroad in Germany (different teaching style and I was off traveling a lot). I would say go straight to calc 3 if you can. Skipping sequences and series sounds awesome. Keep in mind though, you will likely need at least a 4 on the AP exam and/or a placement test if you want to skip any of them.

As far as engineering goes, you really only need most of it so that you can understand differential equations, and then you use a very small amount of that in your upper level engineering classes. I'm a mechanical engineering major, and the differential equations we do are borderline trivial (the algebra for control systems is another story). Chemical engineers, almost the same, they do a little bit more, but again only with 1 concept, so it becomes routine/trivial. Not sure about Electrical/computer engineering, haven't heard much about it from any that I know,and same goes for civil engineering, though I'm pretty sure they use it less than we do (if at all). Regardless of what you choose, you won't need anything more than basic integral/derivative knowledge (position, velocity, acceleration and similar relations), and then some specific knowledge for differential equations which will usually be retaught to you in an engineering context.
 
13402955:connecticunt said:
I took calc 1 and 2 freshman year and while I was taking calc 2 the math department had an alumni night that I went to and I thought it would be cool to hear what people did with their math degrees and all of them became math teachers. I asked every single one what they used calc 2 for and they all said that there really isn't a good application for calc 2 unless you are teaching calc 2.

It's bullshit. Interesting bullshit but bullshit nonetheless.
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Isn't calc 2 just learning more rules to derive shit and maybe some series stuff? That has its usage in physics and engineering. Well if computers didnt exist it would.
 
13403365:TOAST. said:
Isn't calc 2 just learning more rules to derive shit and maybe some series stuff? That has its usage in physics and engineering. Well if computers didnt exist it would.
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Yes, many things have been derived from using series, the Taylor series is probably one of the most important. We don't use computers to derive things, most derivations you learn about in school are hundreds of years old and are most likely from someone like Euler, Lagrange, Bernoulli or some other genius like that.

Here is my favorite example of the use of series, it is truly beautiful.


Also plug pi into that equation and prepare to have your mind blown.
 
Also, because everything you learned has already been derived there is no really need to know how to derive it, but just what came out of it.
 
13402928:iskiPC1997 said:
this is gold. Basically what i needed to hear. And yeah i can't see the use of all this calc 2 stuff honestly.
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You will use everything you are studying. Also, if you haven't taken any kind of multi-variable vector type classes in the past (in physics, etc.) , then be careful going into Calc 3. You will be able to handle it, but it sometimes takes a long time to grasp the idea of vectors if you're hearing it for the first time, especially if its your freshman year in college.
 
all of your "basic math" university courses are not going to be difficult if you put the time into them.
 
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