I need your help surviving a double major in math and computer

So I'm a guy studying math at a pretty respected uni. I can give details if you want, I guess. I'm on scholarship in army ROTC and trying to do research and an internship. All I really know how to do is work hard.

I'm also not that smart. I always say that I'm smart enough to hang with the smart kids but I'll never be the best in the room.
What I've learned so far is that you should mentally/emotionally or whatever prep yourself to get C's, and learn how to work with other people. Hell, annoy them if you must. It's harder alone and impossible without a sense of realism.

>>8597563
try TOCP if you make your way through
congrats! you just underestimate your potentials

>>8597563
You've got 10 years in industry. So you can just coast through any CS class which isn't purely theoretical. That's a great fall back, so you really shouldn't be stressed at all.

Take 1 math class at a time. That way you don't get stressed when you have problem sets due or tests to take on the same day. You'll slowly gain confidence as the classes get harder.

As you run out of CS classes to take, shift to taking 2-3 math classes at a time to finish up your math degree.

You will absolutely be able to do math if you put in the work. Undergrad mathematics does not take special inspiration. If you're at least partially interested, you'll be fine.

Do all the problems the professor assigns, and if you can't do some, or you still don't get it, go to office hours. I was typically in the top 2/3 students in my classes and I went to pretty much every professor's office hours from time to time.

>t. CS and Math double major, class of 2016

>>8597574
>>8597581
>>8597594
thank you all very much, very helpful advice

>>8597574
where are you studying? what's it like?

>>8597581
ah, that old chestnut. i'll give it a go

>>8597594
>t. CS and Math double major, class of 2016

inspirational

>>8597563

Drop one of them. You're setting up yourself for failure.
People struggle with one major and you want to do two.
Better doing one major really well.

>>8597563
You should be fine. You won't get to real math (proofs) until rigorous linear algebra and analysis(advanced calc). After that you can start doing anything you find interesting. Like abstract algebra, topology, complex analysis, and so on.

>>8597563
Just need hard work
http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/04/28/on-becoming-a-math-whiz-my-advice-to-a-new-mit-student/
http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/11/14/how-to-ace-calculus-the-art-of-doing-well-in-technical-courses/

First you get Mathematical Reasoning books, and read them
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/
http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~nige/IMRpartI.pdf (Eccle's Introduction to mathematical reasoning)
http://math.cmu.edu/~cnewstea/teaching/21-128-F16/notes-current.pdf (Carnegie Mellon's 15-151 course notes)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Solve_It (read this, or the whole book)

Second, you do a lot of proofs. The more you do, the better you get at it. When your prof writes them in class, copy them down yourself (and later get the lecture notes of the class too). In your own time afterwards, spend at least 1-2hrs really focusing and trying to recreate the proofs yourself. Then a month later, go back and re-do them until you can effortlessly recreate any proof given in class. At this stage you can now optimize your proofs to make them more simple and 'elegant'. Most of the math in a CS undergrad course is basic applied math so you can do algorithm analysis and understand difficult problems like Max Cut. You run into the more difficult math when you do a Msc/PhD and have to do original research into computational number theory in cryptography and cryptanalysis or adding errors to a codeword in a disguised binary Goppa code.

>>8598069

A second this motion.


I agree with everyone else. It's doable, but do you want to risk it?


Do a little mental cost-benefit analysis.


net_projected_benefit = benefit_of_success*probability_of_success + cost_of_failure* probability_of_failure