Schools What Are the Best Alternatives to Cambridge for Studying Mathematics?

[mathwonk]

you are missing my point i think. what they do have is far more than you can possibly master, so make the most of that.

 

[mathwonk]

in degree math as i know it, one is solving problems whose solution is already known to someone else. this makes it not so scary. in research math the problam has never been solved usually, so one takes more of a chance since it may be years of fruitless work, or even lie far beyond ones powers. so trying it takes more guts.

 

[JasonRox]

in degree math as i know it, one is solving problems whose solution is already known to someone else. this makes it not so scary. in research math the problam has never been solved usually, so one takes more of a chance since it may be years of fruitless work, or even lie far beyond ones powers. so trying it takes more guts.

But sometimes there is no problem as well, so you have to create one.

 

[mathwonk]

Jason makes a good point. there is somethig called "problem finding" as opposed to "problem solving", but it is so little taught in school that few of us know much about it.

Years ago, before obtaining my degree, I read about the remark a famous French mathematician made to a student asking for a problem: "how long have you been taking our courses here?...And in all that time have you not noticed anything needing further investigation?"

I realized I had never asked this question of myself.

 

[JasonRox]

"how long have you been taking our courses here?...And in all that time have you not noticed anything needing further investigation?"

Like everything!

Nice quote though.

 

[mathwonk]

well when i read that i felt like a complete moron, but actually most teachers do not teach this. and when i try to teach it now some students resist and act like I am crazy.

 

[JasonRox]

well when i read that i felt like a complete moron, but actually most teachers do not teach this. and when i try to teach it now some students resist and act like I am crazy.

Haha, I know what you mean.

It's like, why would you even ponder about this non-sense? The book doesn't even talk about it!

 

[J77]

This thread seems to have derailed from the OP's original question.

imo, the advice he needs should follow mine, cristo and leon's posts.

 

[mathwonk]

well we seem to disagree. i understood you to be advising his going to a school with a good reputation, but some of us are suggesting it matters more that he learn from some good sources and learn to do his own thinking, no matter where he goes.

 

[J77]

well we seem to disagree. i understood you to be advising his going to a school with a good reputation, but some of us are suggesting it matters more that he learn from some good sources and learn to do his own thinking, no matter where he goes.

...but I think the UK vs. US thing is valid.

In the UK, like cristo pointed out, people do look to what uni you went to -- it's maybe not right, but it does happen.

I don't disagree with your points, mathwonk, but that's more personal opinion instead of the advice, I thought, the OP was after.

 

[mathwonk]

well you are right of course that people do look at the rep of your uni, and they also do this in the US, but I still believe in taking the more idealistic view, as eventually it will matter.

This is not so much a UK/US thing as a cynic/idealist thing. The cynical view is frequently right in the short run, but in the long run, not always. Of course I have been frustrated many times by taking the long view, and seeing recognition go to the wrong people in some cases, but you never feel inferior to someone with a name education who does not know what he is talking about.

 

[J77]

well you are right of course that people do look at the rep of your uni, and they also do this in the US, but I still believe in taking the more idealistic view, as eventually it will matter.

This is not so much a UK/US thing as a cynic/idealist thing. The cynical view is frequently right in the short run, but in the long run, not always. Of course I have been frustrated many times by taking the long view, and seeing recognition go to the wrong people in some cases, but you never feel inferior to someone with a name education who does not know what he is talking about.

...but if you had the chance you would go to a uni with a name, right?

I recall you did some time, off your own back, at Harvard -- did the name not attract you to go there even slightly, even though you probably looked there for the people also?

 

[mathwonk]

Actually I was planning to go to Vanderbilt but my high school teacher advised me to go somewhere famous so i s'aid ok if you get me in Ill go. So she called them up and I got a phone call from Harvard inviting me to apply, sometime after the deadline. Without applying i got accepted over the phone. They sent the application later. I did not even know what town it was in when i was accepted.