Maths In College

defiantshrimp

I have to fill out a CAO in a few months time and I was wondering if anyone could give me information about what a maths degree is like. I am particularly interested in the maths degree or the maths and economics degree in TCD. I have always done well in maths and I enjoy maths, physics and applied maths in school. But I hear that maths in college is a different world. Does one have to be a maths genius to take a math degree and do well in it? Or will some ability and a lot of hard work get you through? I recently have read a lot of books like Reckoning with Risk, Fooled by Randomness, Fermat’s Last Theorem, A Beautiful Mind and a good few things from Martin Gardner and found them really interesting. So I have an interest I guess but I’m wondering is math incredibly difficult to do. If anyone knows of any books that would give me an idea of what maths is like in college I would appreciate it.

Pherekydes

If you have the basics off, then don't be put off by maths in college.
I did maths last year, and I was worried by it beforehand, but because I had the basics pretty solid, and I was prepared to apply myself (mature student) I breezed through first year. Many kids coming straight off Leaving Cert hons were struggling because of the silly mistakes they make from not having the basics off.

If you are good, and enjoy it, then go for it.

The key is to pick a subject or subjects that you are good at (and enjoy) rather than so-called easier subjects.

ecksor

defiantshrimp wrote:

But I hear that maths in college is a different world.

School maths won't fully prepare you for pure maths in college in terms of giving you a good idea of what it's like. Some colleges will have a first year that won't be much different to school, but TCD isn't one of those. Don't let that turn you off it though.

Does one have to be a maths genius to take a math degree and do well in it? Or will some ability and a lot of hard work get you through?

Ability and hard work should get you through if you're interested and you keep on top of the exercises you get.

If anyone knows of any books that would give me an idea of what maths is like in college I would appreciate it.

Try to get your hands on the book I recommmend in the sticky about textbooks, Introductory Mathematics: Algebra and Analysis by Geoff Smith. It's very readable and gives a brief introduction to relevant subjects that will give you a better idea of what you're likely to meet. It has an associated website here: http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masgcs/book1/

You might pick it up in Hodges & Figgis in Dublin or else from an online bookshop such as amazon.

rainbow kirby

From the looks of things, you're motivated enough. Go for it.
There'll always be the usual crop of geniuses (genii?) in any maths course, but most people who do it are more of the work hard, but have some ability nature. From what I've heard, Trinity's first year kinda throws you in at the deep end, straight into things like group theory and vector analysis which are totally different from the maths you study in school. If that's what you choose, be prepared for that. You'll also have computer programming courses and mechanics courses, so the fact that you like physics and applied maths courses too is helpful.
I'm 3rd year mathematical science in UCD myself, so if you've thought about UCD at all, ask me anything!
And if you like popular science maths books, I recommend 'The Music of the Primes' by Marcus du Sautoy. A very good read.

M@lice

Well a college degree in maths is definetly challenging but if your interested an enjoy it and have the ability then you should have no trouble rising to the challenge. I get the impression that you think maths is on a far away plane, out of reach to mear mortals or something. The fact is that maths isn't any more inaccessable than say english, it just depends on your own ability.

However you say that you enjoy physics and applied maths as well so I would recommend you put down the theoretical physics degree option if its tcd you want to go to. I believe that its the maths degree without the statistics and you do physics with labs as well. But I take it that you want to do the economics degree because thats where the money is eh?

I'm doing the theoretical physics and mathematics degree in Maynooth myself. Its basically Double maths and double maths physics but I have no labs so if your more into the maths and theory I would highly recommend it. Also there are only 4 of us in my year so the individual attention is great. In trinity the class size is more like 40 i believe.

David19

In Trinity there's 35 in theoretical physics and 30 in maths. There's also a small number doing maths and another subject(for example economics). These people will be in all the 1st year maths subjects. Its quite a large class but it decreases every year and there's tutorials which are much smaller classes. Im just about to start 1st year maths in TCD myself.