Maths majors why are you majoring in maths?

>>7782611
Because it's challenging and fills me with joy. Research in pure math obviously.

>>7782613
Would your fun and strive for challenging work stall; if you majored in physics or other sciences?

>>7782619
Not him but I started disliking the sciences back in high school. I was always good at them but the lack of precision and the limitations of nature made me feel powerless doing it and thus it wasn't very enjoyable.
Math on the other hand let's me explore my ideas in more depth without running into stupid issues such as: is this possible?
I'd like to do research or some comfy software dev

CS is impacted at my school so I settled for Applied Math with a CS minor

>Mathematical Biology

Because it'll set me apart from all the other biology plebs who thought they could study biology without doing any math past calc I (people who study mathbio have the highest med school acceptance rates)

>>7782611
-It's fun
-I'm reasonably good at it (better than I am at anything else)
-I get to choose (somewhat) whether I feel like talking to people or not on any given day
-Not much busywork (all you have to do is learn the concepts for exams and maybe fill out a few homework sheets; no 20-page papers or group projects or shit)

Dunno what I'm going to end up doing afterward. Employment in some sort of statistical analyst job would be ideal but I might end up getting a masters first
Haven't really looked too deeply into the job market. Probably should.

>>7782640
Oh no, you won't like math soon enough.

>>7782625
yeah, i feel the same... maths feels more unlimited whilst the other sciences feel limited...

i'm also all for getting easy jobs; if i dont ever get into academia

>>7782627
Good choice, bro. Apparently peeps with liberal arts are sneaking into the cs/I.T industry...

>>7782634
Fair enough. So you're going to go into mathematical biology instead of med school? That's awesome. Do you have any interested in biology? Are you going into it just make your applied maths degree as means to be more useful? I think its a good chance; it's a fairly new field and I think you'd have a good chance to be one of the top pioneers for it. Anyways good luck with it, buddy.

>>7782640
Seems fairly general for all maths major. Most of us maths majors end up in I.T or in C.S work.
Yeah, If I can't get into academia/research, might opt for becoming a data analyst or business analyst. Otherwise, good choice.

>>7782651
Oh noes...

>>7782739
take your optimism elsewhere you 18 year old fuck

>>7782611
Money

>>7782740
I'm not 18 and yes I'm optimistic. Why are you mad/angry at me? Is being pessimistic good for you?

I want to be a mathematician. I want to teach/lecture at university and do research.

>>7782750
Actuary for 60k starting salary!

>>7782756
That's one option, actuaries are actually in high demand in my country. Also the pharmaceutical industry employs mathematicians, you could work for an intelligence agency, or a big investment bank. Lots of different jobs for mathematicians that are interesting and with a high paying salary.

>>7782752
all high school students and first year students want to lecture at universities/do research until they get to actually hard maths and realise how difficult/tedius/life draining it all is.

>>7782771
this

>>7782611

For the 300k starting salary and the prestige.

File: 1413924269285.png (130KB, 500x755px) Image search: [Google]

130KB, 500x755px

Why else?

Because it's cool and fun. Also doing a CS specialist though.

>>7782771
>>7782812
>all young students want to be a professor
>this means everyone who wants to be a professor is a misled young student

gee, no wonder you had to drop out of math :^) third year year and I definitely want to do research in pure math

>>7782640

Agree, it's a pretty easy major if you have the aptitude. Do your problem sets, take some tests, that's about it.

It's nicely scoped out for you... learn the material in these books. No long or open ended labs. Honestly, very little creativity needed at the undergrad level.

Also, I appreciate that the evaluation is fairly objective. If you write an essay in the humanities, let's face it, it's kind of a random what the prof will think about it.

>>7783178
>undergrad

Really, this should be a decision that you make after you get your PhD.

>>7782625
Kinda how I felt about science but kinda not. I just don't think I feel the same devotion to empiricism as most people who are fascinated with science. Science to me felt more like "what can we 'see'" where math felt more like "what can we know." I guess to explain it better it's like math is pretty much purely logical thinking while science is open to the idea that it might be wrong.
>>7782640
>Employment in some sort of statistical analyst job would be ideal but I might end up getting a masters first
Yeah, this is my plan too. Since my school doesn't have a pure/applied/stats split or anything you basically just pick a plan to follow within your math degree and I'm doing a mix of stats for employment prospects and pure for personal enjoyment and for if I try to go to grad school.
>I get to choose (somewhat) whether I feel like talking to people or not on any given day
You're gonna hate employment a lot, especially if you end up in a research or business setting.
>>7783202
I would hope you're dedicated to doing some type of research before you get a PhD

>>7782625
For me, i wouldn't like to deal with invisible numbers and proofs, i'm more of an experimental physicists, i formulate a hypothesis and see things happen and find out something new.
Instead of spending half a day chalking shit on a board and crunching numbers.

>>7783202
So I should go into a 5 year long research degree for little pay and reduced job prospects before thinking that I might want a career in research?

>>7782611
Because I like STEM but don't like numbers.

>do math olympiads in highschool
>study maths in nearest university because that's the easiest thing to do
>no clue what i will do in the future
at least im from europe so i dont have a debt

>>7783391
Yes. First, not every math PhD ends up teaching, some choose not to willingly while others don't get to even if they wanted.

Only as a PhD student will you actually be able to see how it is like to learn, manage a huge research project and on top of that teach classes. You could go in, find out that you fucking hate it, and then decide to look for work in industry.

>>7783417
>no clue

It is fine. As a math major you can literally be employed in any industry.

>>7783459
Most people who think they might want to go into academia do some research and teaching in undergrad, so they at least have had a taste of what they might be in for.

>>7782634

>mathematical biology
>calling other people plebs

I highly doubt you've taken real, rigorous math classes. Hell, I doubt you've taken more math than the average physics undergrad.

>>7783865
A friend of mine is a third-year computational biology doctoral student at a top-tier university, and he's currently teaching himself linear algebra.

>>7783178
Third year and have not dealt with 20 pages of homework?
You are doomed.

>>7783223
Bullshit, what hypothesis's have you came up with so far?

>>7783223
>crunching numbers

>>7783223
>crunching numbers
You have literally no idea what mathematicians do. Literally none.

>>7782759
Damn, i think people need to the actuary exams to become actuaries. Anyways, are the exams easy or hard? Do you have to learn a lot of probability and statisitics? is quantative analysis is the same?

>>7782771
I'm second year I still want to do research and teach pure maths

>>7782824
Oh stop it, you guys >:D >>7782828

>>7783165
If you were to go to gradschool, would you go to the pure maths or CS route?

>>7783178
Yeah, research/lecturing is first! I want to discover new things; it's fun. What area of research you want to go into? I atleast want to do one area in algebra and one area in analysis.

>>7783198
Yeah, apparently maths is one of the easiest major. I personally think it's due to the workload we have.

One easy text to read and one hard to solve!

Damn right

>>7783202
I think some people would be willing to apply overseas to do tenureship. I'd shoot for Australia, NZ, UK, Scandinavia, and America.

>>7783209
It's been research that 9/10 people hate their jobs. I guess most of these people went to the business/finance route and perhaps its not in everyone's interesting to the same boring tedious work. I think we're all scientists by nature and most of us are interested in finding new things because it builds some excitement in our lives.

Anyways what are you planning to research in grad school for pure maths?

>>7783223
That's good dude. Look at Erwin Shrodinger the guy was an experimental physicist and had made a huge impact in physics and applied maths; through observation and he also made it up; which had connections to a lot of things!

>>7783391
You gotta do what you enjoy. Most people in their late 20's, early 30's, and upwards had already started families, and bought homes already.

I think going to grad school getting stipends and having a little side job on the side would be good enough; if you're living by yourself and don't have a family. if you have a gf or bf, yeah you may have to have second thoughts about it.

>>7783401
Lol fair enough
>>7783417
Your lecturers and professors probably want you to go to grad school; since you're talented in maths.

>>7783459
Thanks for bringing in your perspective. Looks like it would be troublesome to teach and do research; I never have thought about that and got lopsided. Thanks for being real, bro. What research are you working on by the way?

>>7783619
I guess so.

>>7783865
Heard about mathematical biology. I'd feel a little limited if I were to study it, prefer doing openless, and endless amounts of mathematics.

>>7783921
A computational biology that had never studied linear algebra in his undegrad year? That's pretty strange.

>>7784114
I've done one third year subject never came across a 20 page homework... Where do you live? and What university/college you go to?

>>7784115
He's doing his thing. I'm sure he had made some educated guess's; maybe some of them are in development?

>>7784330
Number crunching is fine; it's used a lot in other stem fields. The schooling system in Australia deal withs a lot of number crunching sadly and little dabs with geometry/trig/algebra...

>>7784339
Applied Mathematicians and Statisticians are still considered Mathematicians.

I am considering it. Currently deciding between math and physics. Leaning towards math though.

Not sure what I am going to do for a job. Some people ITT said many different fields take math majors so I hope that is true. I would consider being a teacher if nothing popped out at me

>>7784396
Your college/university won't let you major in both? That's strange. Mathematics has much more oppourtunities and you could choose to do research in computational research in physics for grad school if you want. Then you'd have to go the applied maths route, if you want that to happen.

Yeah, teaching is fine.

>>7784346
Took any abstract algebra class? Just try anything from Dummit, 8 per two weeks easily reach 20 pages (don't tell me you write on both sides though, then you are for certain a joke).

What courses do you even take? Why are your professor being this lenient to you?

because I was a physics major, then:
a) realized I was halfway to a math degree anyway
b) math prof said I should consider a math major

>>7784376
>Applied Mathematicians and Statisticians are still considered Mathematicians.
The former, yes. Do they just "crunch numbers"? No.

Statisticians have the name statistician, not mathematician. Theoretical statisticians, sure I can see them being called mathematicians. Do they "crunch numbers"? No.

For any mathematician, "crunching numbers" is not a big part of their career. It's a very small part. A tiny part.

>>7784346
>>7784376
Multireply™

>>7784417
Nope, I switched majors from engineering to maths. Done Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, and DE.

Some are lenient and some are not.

>>7784428
Good choice; come to the maths route if you want to empower yourself more!

>>7784430
Fair enough.

>>7784563
I equally acknowledge everyone on 4chan. I'm a caring loving person. Eventhough, I'm a man; I'd make a better girlfriend than any other woman out there.

>start learning programming about 2 years ago
The longer I stick with it, the more I find myself caring less about a particular language and more about how to get a problem done in pseudocode
Also, more and more often I find a need for math beyond algebra

I'm starting to wonder if it might be a better idea for me to major in math instead of computer science.

Anyone here switch from computer science to math, or study math and do lots of programming?

>>7784568
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOZO0WWULLA

Never know I would ever meet such an exact example.

I always liked math and I loved its applications to solve real world problems. So I wanted to do applied math. That or math and econ for the shills

>>7784705
econ is pretty goddamn useless

there aren't really any jobs in economics itself except for a handful of analyst positions

taking something "for the shills" you're better off dedicating your time to statistics and introductory financial engineering courses

>>7784568
That being said. Just to give you a perspective. Math guys I knew started real analysis no later than first year sophomore (better take mathematical proof method first, else there is a threat to be dropped from that class). That mean they finish what you did in the Freshman, and they usually don't give crap about DE, unless that's their specialization (applied math).

Thank me later.

>>7784726
* first semester sophomore.

>>7784726
>Math guys I knew started real analysis no later than first year sophomore
this is a bit misleading

you might start real analysis in 3rd semester if you're a "math guy", but most mathematics students at most unis won't take real analysis until first semester junior

at my university it's not even possible to collect all the prerequisites fast enough to take it 3rd semester unless you test out of calc 1

it's true that he's incredibly naive and has his head up his ass a bit though

switching to a math major without ever seeing a rigorous math course doesn't seem like a well-informed decision

>>7784745
I took cal II cal III, passed ODE and linear algebra (this one may be in sophomore, I forget). Took the math proof class first semester sophomore, and I am not even a math major.

>>7784761
Oh yes, those (cal II, cal III, passed ODE and linear algebra) was my Freshman.

>>7784745
!?!! What?

I study pure maths at a UK university and the real analysis course starts on day one of first year.

What the fuck kind of joke maths courses do American universities have?? No wonder /sci/ says maths is a meme degree if you are doing high school calculus for the first year or so of your degree. What an absolute joke

>>7784772
That's likely the intro, i.e. the mathematical method I was talking about. After all limits are still analysis.

>>7784772
UK universities are significantly better than american ones but I think that's just naming in this case

I'm guessing what you're talking about is more likely real analysis a la Spivak than a baby Rudin course

>>7784789
Depends on who rank them really. Either way, I still believe Princeton is the best in math.

>>7784346
>Damn, i think people need to the actuary exams to become actuaries. Anyways, are the exams easy or hard? Do you have to learn a lot of probability and statisitics? is quantative analysis is the same?
Exams are extremely hard. In my country (UK), it's 15 exams, with a few of the later ones having around 30% pass rates. You have to learn a cubic fucktonne of probability and statistics, so much that I can't even believe you asked that question - you seem to have no idea what an actuary is.

>I atleast want to do one area in algebra and one area in analysis.
Banach Algebra, look it up.

>>7784346
>apparently maths
Oh... so you're in the UK too? Where/what are you studying? I wouldn't say it's one the easiest, to take an example from my own studies, you've got about the same amount of contact hours as the pure science students, but since you're not spending any hours in labs, you end up with way more lecture notes than they do, meaning you have to spend way longer than they do just to sit down and get your head around what you've actually covered in the week... I can't be the only person who's lost 3 hours to a half page number theory proof.

>>7784745
>you might start real analysis in 3rd semester if you're a "math guy", but most mathematics students at most unis won't take real analysis until first semester junior
Top kek, UK student here, we started real analysis at the start of the second term of the first fucking year.


Fuck it, I'd read more of this thread, but I'm detecting cancer.

>>7784844
>Banach Algebra
Is that analysis or algebra?

>be quite good in maths in high school
>why the hell not

that's the whole story. I have no clue what to do after I graduate.

>>7784880
>Is that analysis or algebra?
Exactly, it's a wonderful union of the two.

>>7785052
>>7784880
Holy shit, looked it up and its actually a thing
I thought it was just made up for the ebin meem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12bfWTw9Hk

>>7785220
>I'll make my foot converge to your ass in the Cauchy sense
Brilliant.

>>7784789
the main course textbooks we used were howie's real analysis, and Ross's elementary real analysis. These are both not even close to baby rudin in difficulty, but they are hardly spivak tier.

my second year analysis course had Rudin's Real and Complex analysis as one of the course textbooks, and the Third year functional analysis course was based on Rudins book on the subject.

>>7785220
Everything that professor says is true, you know.

>>7784415
To get a degree in both, they require like an extra 45 credits or something stupid like that

>>7785470
Real Rudin was most likely a supplementary. No need to rash to that extent. And I think you completely missed the point of the other anon mentioning Rudin. Maybe you should take some logic and appease your ego.

>>7785545
Yes, it's an excellent way to get degree in neither.

Math professor with a phd is instructing my calc 2 class.

He said he decided to switch from physics to math during DE because math was an easier.

>>7785588
>Math professor
>Finds math easier than other subjects.
Who would've thought?

How do you know if you're good at math?

>>7784680
Here. I dropped from a CS engineering degree one year in. After getting into pretty advanced programming stuff i realized it's just a tool, not something I should specialize in.

>>7785785
By having an IQ > 180.
Srsly though, you become good at math by doing it. Become obsessed with it.

>>7785822
I'm basically doing a meme degree that has a lot of math and I don't really know if I'm good at math.

I never got less than an A or a B in it in highschool. And I understood stuff for the most part, if I didn't I could study it and get it.


I don't want to get into an actual hard math class and fuck up because I'm bad at it.

>>7785834
Like he said, you become good at math by doing it. You'll only fuck up if you don't put in the work to keep up.

>>7785890
What if you're dumb though? It would be a lot harder.

>>7782611
i want 300k/year, any job i want when i graduate

>>7785785
If you can beat Professor Layton games without looking at a walkthrough then you're good at math.

>>7785766
This was when he was an undergrad

>>7785470
why are yuropoors so desperate to prove their superiority

>Maths major
>I failed grade 11 pre calc

OP pls.

Too lazy to do anything else desu senpai

>>7786151
>This was when he was an undergrad
That's still not surprising.

Either you're all top students or have decent connections, but I think a lot of you guys in this thread are overblowing how readily employers want you, potentially even with a Master's.

Don't get me wrong, the potential for hire in many industries is definitely there, but you should start narrowing your specific interests and getting the necessary work/research experience.

I was wanting to study computer science but I realized what separated the good from the bad was a strong understanding of math. I ended up liking math better although I'm still doing my double major with math concentration, Ill probably end up as an actuary. Taking the p exam soon and I'm writing my thesis on time series analysis.