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Originally posted by Ed Mack
I also like math a lot, and will most likely will take it further. Which courses are more interesting, and cover ground?
ahab made it sound a little bit (perhaps unintentionally?) like applied mathematics is a stepping stone on the way to understanding pure maths. I would rather say that pure maths involves the study of mathematical structures themselves, whereas applied maths uses mathematics to study real-world phenomena (although they might not always seem like 'real-world' ), so they are two different areas.
The off-shoot of this is that applied maths is often more accessible to some people since it involves other subject areas and might touch upon another field of interest - for example biology, physics, chemistry, gambling, strategics/logistics, finance, even music, you name it - there will be some maths behind it.
If you are still at school/college or whatever, take a range of courses - that's the only way to discover what you like. It's also useful to get at least a little grounding in all areas of maths if you are semi-serious about studying it. If it's more of a hobby and you're not studying anymore, I would just read around, take a current area of interest and see what maths there is behind it.
Also newish areas like chaos theory, game theory and the likes are well worth a look IMHO. They are fascinating without knowing huge amounts of background information. In comparison, if you study something like group theory (part of algebra) for example, it will take years and years to learn the fundamental parts, which can be a bit frustrating.
phew. could talk about this for hours but better do some work now
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Actually, I thought I was trying to convey the opposite, but I wrote it in a hurry. I see the sentence that made you think that ... I was mainly saying that calculus and differential equations are always taught with applications, even though they are used very much in pure mathematics.
I think the best subject for a beginner is number theory because you hardly need to know anything about math. In fact, the best math book I own (out of over 70 books) is a little 200 page book called "Friendly Introduction to Number Theory" by Joseph Silverman that I bought a few years ago. There isn't a single other math branch mentioned in the book except for number theory and I couldn't put it down.
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Senior Member
7+3+10
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Senior Member
7+3=10
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basic trig and some calculus
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madskool.wordpress.com
Peanos axioms
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Dynamic Systems, Inc.
I am very much glad to see this active discussion around mathematics.
I am a PhD in maths (algebra, group theory). I have many publications and I have written a part of the following book published by the American Mathematical Society:
http://www.ams.org/bookstore?co1=AND...ject=genint&u=
etc...
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Originally posted by mikaelian
I am very much glad to see this active discussion around mathematics.
I am a PhD in maths (algebra, group theory). I have many publications and I have written a part of the following book published by the American Mathematical Society:
http://www.ams.org/bookstore?co1=AND...ject=genint&u=
etc...
mikaelian - what are you working as now? is it still maths related? was just wondering...
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Gross Pecululatarian
I'm in Year 10, so courses are quite far ahead of me, along with any other studies. One area that sounds quite interesting is topology. Also, physics is somthing else I like and will take on.
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Hmm ... in uni I had 6 parts of Mathematics-- Linear Algebra and Analytic Geometry 2 parts, Mathematical Analisys 2 parts , Theory of posibility and Spherical Trigonometry... I always hated the theory though LOL I mean I dont know the names of the theoremes etc but I loved to solve mathematical problems ... I forgot much of it anyway LOL I'm not sure I can solve a differential or an integral equation right now
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Enemem
You asked for physicists to make themselves known - are we going to take over the world now? Is this the call to arms!
swills
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