Maths in Data Science

ciara18

Hi, recently came upon the new 'Data Science' course being offered next year in DCU, it looks very interesting. However, it has a B1 (H2) maths requirement as the course has a large amount of maths. The maths includes calculus, linear maths, stats, probability and I'm just wondering what ability of maths you would need to do well in a course like this? I'm far from a maths genius, working hard I'd get B1/A2 usually! I know no-one here has done this course but a lecturer I emailed said that most of the maths would be ran by the maths department anyway so it would translate to other courses.

Sorry for long post, but I don't want to enter the course and struggle / drop out even though I have an interest!

phildenny

Are you getting the A2/B1 working on your own or are you getting grinds?

ciara18

I get grinds once a week! I've gotten A1's a good few times too but predominantly A2's/B1's

phildenny

Obviously it's hard to tell what standard the course will be at but if they've put in a minimum requirement, then they will assume that everyone can hit the ground running at that standard. So do you think you can keep or will you need grinds? I don't think grinds all through college are a good idea, after all what happens when you're working and can't get grinds.
Having said that, if you're getting A's you mustn't be too bad at maths. Do you find it stressful or hard going at the moment? Only you can decide whether you can up that level of work if necessary ( and we don't really know that

ciara18

I don't find it very hard going but at the same time if I didn't study I wouldn't get those grades! Is the step up huge in the difficulty of the maths content at university or is it more about the amount of it?

phildenny

Well I think most people have to study hard at maths apart from a rare few. At uni, it's the pace that catches a lot of people in maths. So the lecturer literally covers the topic and it's done. No going back. Next day moves on and assumes knowledge of last days stuff.
But this will also apply to the computer science elements of the course so the trick is to keep up, do a bit every day and not leave it. No one will be checking to see that you've done your homework which can cause people to put off the study and the next thing they're completely lost.
A lot of courses also have tutorials which means a smaller class going over the stuff the lecturer did so very helpful. It's possible that the maths course will have this, maybe email the college to find out.
If you really want to do the course and are willing to put in the work, I think you'll be fine based on what you're saying here.

ciara18

phildenny wrote: »

Well I think most people have to study hard at maths apart from a rare few. At uni, it's the pace that catches a lot of people in maths. So the lecturer literally covers the topic and it's done. No going back. Next day moves on and assumes knowledge of last days stuff.
But this will also apply to the computer science elements of the course so the trick is to keep up, do a bit every day and not leave it. No one will be checking to see that you've done your homework which can cause people to put off the study and the next thing they're completely lost.
A lot of courses also have tutorials which means a smaller class going over the stuff the lecturer did so very helpful. It's possible that the maths course will have this, maybe email the college to find out.
If you really want to do the course and are willing to put in the work, I think you'll be fine based on what you're saying here.

That's really helpful thanks a lot!

ciara18

Just out of interest does anyone have any opinion on doing the new data science course? It's based on the new demand for data scientists and basically combines maths and programming aimed at data science

boziey

Yeah I actually find this course very interesting bit worried though about the programming in it as I have not done a lot of it. Also feel the points will be high due to the h2 and also that there is only 30 places in the course of a job in high demand

ciara18

boziey wrote: »

Yeah I actually find this course very interesting bit worried though about the programming in it as I have not done a lot of it. Also feel the points will be high due to the h2 and also that there is only 30 places in the course of a job in high demand

Yeah me too, I've only done a very small amount of python just to get some sort of idea of what it's like! at the open day the lecturer speaking said that the points are 'predicted' to be in or around 450 but not sure how they came to that number at all. Definitely think it would be higher myself with the H2 maths requirement.

boziey

ciara18 wrote:

Yeah me too, I've only done a very small amount of python just to get some sort of idea of what it's like! at the open day the lecturer speaking said that the points are 'predicted' to be in or around 450 but not sure how they came to that number at all. Definitely think it would be higher myself with the H2 maths requirement.

Yeah I keep trying to sit down and try python yeah but I never get the chance. 450 points would be nice, I could see the course in the next few years anyway going way above 500 though. Like anyone coming out with a h2 in math are getting well above 400 points. The lecturer I was talking to really turned me on to it, he made it sound so good!

ciara18

boziey wrote: »

Yeah I keep trying to sit down and try python yeah but I never get the chance. 450 points would be nice, I could see the course in the next few years anyway going way above 500 though. Like anyone coming out with a h2 in math are getting well above 400 points. The lecturer I was talking to really turned me on to it, he made it sound so good!

Yeah until i got asking people about it I had no idea how interesting it is, definitely thinking about putting it down number 1! it somehow feels a bit risky though doing a new course that no-one has ever done before in Ireland, afraid the hype on data science will end up being a big flop and then I'm left with a degree in it

GingerLily

ciara18 wrote: »

Hi, recently came upon the new 'Data Science' course being offered next year in DCU, it looks very interesting. However, it has a B1 (H2) maths requirement as the course has a large amount of maths. The maths includes calculus, linear maths, stats, probability and I'm just wondering what ability of maths you would need to do well in a course like this? I'm far from a maths genius, working hard I'd get B1/A2 usually! I know no-one here has done this course but a lecturer I emailed said that most of the maths would be ran by the maths department anyway so it would translate to other courses.

Sorry for long post, but I don't want to enter the course and struggle / drop out even though I have an interest!

Those maths courses would be easier then others for people with a good grasp of maths but very good at studying. You wouldn't need to be a maths wiz, just put the work in on day 1.

It sounds like a great course and definitely a growing area! I work in this area OP so feel free to PM me if you have any questions!