Recent content by jeffasinger

Just wanted to add that while it might be just one step ahead of where you're at right now, you might want to look at Polya's How to Solve It. The book tries to teach you how to make conjectures about a problem, and then gives you general suggestions (that are pretty generally applicable) on...

Depending on how the courses are taught, you might be able to take PDE's or Dynamical Systems without a class in analysis, but it sure wouldn't hurt to have first. You could check with the professors of these classes, and see what they think. However, any good topology class without any course...

As far as the commenting goes: If you have commented code, and you've made a small mistake somewhere, but the intent is clear, I find that the professor is usually a little more lenient, because it is easier for them to understand the overall logic of your code.

I've also been collecting textbooks, If I use a textbook in a class that I think would make a great reference for a given subject sometime down the road, I will hold onto it. The amount of money you get for selling back used books isn't usually worth giving up a good book

I Second the reading math texts slowly. On occasion, and with one text in particular, I've needed to spend well more than an hour on just two or three sentences. Also, never be satisfied just getting a solution to a problem, you should also aim to deeply understand why that answer is true.

JG89 - I believe that is correct. I think the historical proof is only satisfactory for the 5 color theorem, and that the only proof of the 4 color theorem is actually computer based, and not really accessible to a human. In my Graph Theory textbook, it said that the first correct proof was 741...

To expand on what micromass is saying about the incompleteness theorem, in some sense, it is impossible to prove that mathematics is consistent. Where consistent means that it doesn't lead to a contradiction. However, it is pretty widely believed that ZFC is consistent, and if that were the...

Talk to someone else about it (preferably someone who has the pre-requisites for the problem, but hasn't actually seen it yet), work on proving a sub-case, or if I can't even see why it might be true, try to find a counterexample. Sometimes the act of searching for a counterexample is enough to...

The other side of this question to ask (which I don't know the answer to) is: How bad will having an REU on your resume, without a corresponding recommendation from your adviser there hurt your application? If you have someone else you've done research with write one instead, it's probably not...

Cod, Its entirely possible to take both, I was just trying to point out that it would probably be difficult to take both given your schedule constraints that you mentioned. If you're willing to have a difficult semester, then taking both is definitely something to consider.

Real Analysis will be looking at the deeper theory behind what you have learned in Calc II. There's no problem with taking Real Analysis without having first taken Calc III prerequisite knowledge wise, but, I think that if you are trying to work 40 hours a week, and spend time with your family...

In general, Linear Algebra is probably more directly applicable overall, but as Newtime said, without more information about what you're planning on taking in the future, it's impossible to give a good answer.

The AP B exam is not very difficult. As long as you thoroughly understand how to do the non-multiple choice problems in your review book, I'm sure that you will be able to do quite well on the test.

Personally, I would send an email saying that you are interested in his work, and then ask him if he could point you to either a good introductory text or survey paper, in the area. He's probably extremely busy, and answering this simple question won't be too difficult for him, and will help...

Thanks all, It sounds like with a little self study I won't have a problem.