Topics You Hate

TheBody

What area's of maths do you hate?

For me, it is anything stats related. I hated stats in college and I still hate it now. My eye's glaze over when I read any of the stats problems here.

For me, it by a mile the most boring thing to study.

So, let it rip here folks!! What do you hate the most any why?

Pherekydes

Group theory. Any abstract algebra, in fact. Why? Because my brain is old and just can't hack it.

TheBody

Pherekydes wrote: »

Group theory. Any abstract algebra, in fact. Why? Because my brain is old and just can't hack it.

Abstract algebra can be a cruel mistress!!

Darth Frodo

Easily stats / operations research, but mostly stats! I mean, you could really intrigue me by talking about mechanics of a system, but the instant you say "we have data" I lose interest!

Face Of Arse

Combinations and permutations stuff.

Yuk!

bnt

TheBody wrote: »

For me, it is anything stats related. I hated stats in college and I still hate it now. My eye's glaze over when I read any of the stats problems here.

Darth Frodo wrote: »

Easily stats / operations research, but mostly stats! I mean, you could really intrigue me by talking about mechanics of a system, but the instant you say "we have data" I lose interest!

Face Of Arse wrote: »

Combinations and permutations stuff.

Give the sheer number of questions on the forum that relate to Stats & Probability, I think it's fair to say that it's not a popular topic overall. So much of it seems to be arbitrary, you have to remember and recall some fairly non-intuitive concepts just to get anywhere. (Don't get me started on Bayes Theorem!)

I also find that its complexity leads to misuse. I work in an office where the Average (Mean) function gets seriously over-used, and applied to data sets for which it basically tells you nothing. What use is an "Average House Price", for example, when the distribution of house prices is as top-heavy as it is? One expensive mansion can skew the average seriously upwards, depending on the population size. A Median is a better measure, but in mentioning that I've already blown over the heads of my target audience ... :cool:

ChemHickey

I must be one of a minority who loves statistics!

I absolutely hate everything to do with the Fourier Series and everything that ends up as a Fourier series (currently doing an assignment on p.d.es and it's everywhere )

eoins23456

Hate graph theory , any discrete maths we have ever done, investments models are a pain.

Statistics and differential equations I like!

During my degree I found measure theory rather dull. Life's too short for the full theory of the Lebesgue integral. >__<
Differential geometry/general relativity was also a pain in the ass; very interesting but far too complicated for my tiny brain to wrap itself around.