MHB What courses are included in a rigorous mathematics curriculum for a scientist?

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The discussion centers around various academic courses and lectures being undertaken by participants, primarily in mathematics and engineering. Current courses include topics such as Theory of Complex Variables, Mathematical Biology, Manifolds, Mechanics, and Differential Geometry, with many participants expressing excitement about upcoming classes in Algebraic Geometry, Riemann Surfaces, and Symplectic Geometry. Some individuals are also involved in teaching or delivering lectures on specialized topics like Torpedo Processing Algorithms and naval history, highlighting their professional engagement outside of traditional student roles. The conversation reflects a diverse range of academic interests, with participants balancing coursework, research, and teaching responsibilities, while also contemplating future course selections based on their evolving academic paths.
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This semester I have:

Theory of Complex Variables
Mathematical Biology and Ecology

Fall 2012 I will be taking:
Analysis 1
Adv ODEs
Fourier Series & Integral Transforms
Possible programming in Matlab as well
 
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Well, I'm not a student and have not been for many years, but I will be delivering about 10 hours of lectures on Torpedo Processing Algorithms on our internal Torpedo Engineering Course, and lectures on the History of the Torpedo for a branch of the IET, Warship Battle Damage Survival Probability Analysis from Historical Data, and The Japanese Navy's Wargaming of the Midway Campaign at a historical OA symposium (the last two are pending acceptance, despite their being by invitation).

CB
 
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I'm just wrapping up two courses:

-- Manifolds II (Basically differential forms, integration, orientation, Lie groups, and de Rham cohomology)
-- Mechanics I (The "fun" stuff - Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, symplectic & Poisson geometries, and some stuff on fluids at the end).

Lucky for me that I don't have a final in Mechanics I; I only have a take home final in Manifolds II that I have till Tuesday to finish (that's the main reason why I'll be MIA till then).

For next quarter, I'm taking two courses:

-- Manifolds III (We're most likely using Hatcher's Algebraic Topology as a text)
-- Differential Geometry (All the fun stuff - connections, Ricci tensors, curvature, Riemannian geometry, etc. with a look towards Relativity [since I'll be at MSRI this summer with a classmate at the Mathematical General Relativity workshop]).

I have no idea what I'll be taking in the Fall since they haven't released the 2012-2013 schedule yet (yes, I get to see all the courses offered this next year!)...so I'll have my fun putting together theoretical schedules then. But I know I will be apart of a contact topology seminar as well as an algebraic geometry seminar [I'm going to help co-organize it, and it's something I'm looking forward to doing!].
 
Im taking:

Complex variables and differential equations
Algebra
Pure and applied analysis
Mathematical computation and communication skills (I hate this course as it involves maple programming which i suck at but it was compulsory)
Mathematical Logic
Numbers and Rings
Metric Spaces
Basic Differential Geometry

This seems like a lot but I think at my university courses are structured quite differently to most in that we do lots of smaller courses instead of a few larger ones, although this does give a greater amount of flexibility it does mean that in may I have 8 exams (next year it will be 10!)
 
This semester:
Algebra (Groups)
Graph Theory

Next:
Galois Theory
 
Self-study:

Regular ol' sophomore-level Differential Equations. I'm doing this at my own pace (deep), and I'm getting great stuff out of doing it this way. I'm studying Zill primarily, with Tenenbaum and Pollard as a supplement. My methodology is to read the book straight through, solving every single problem, and writing down important theorems, definitions, strategies, etc., as I go.

Latin. I'm studying Wheelock's Latin as well as John F. Collins's A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin. The goal here is to read the major Latin works in the original: Plautus, Cicero, Caesar, Lucretius, Catullus, Vitruvius, Virgil, Horace, Livy, Ovid, etc. I also want to be able to teach it to my kids.
 
CaptainBlack said:
Well, I'm not a student and have not been for many years, but I will be delivering about 10 hours of lectures on Torpedo Processing Algorithms on our internal Torpedo Engineering Course, and lectures on the History of the Torpedo for a branch of the IET, Warship Battle Damage Survival Probability Analysis from Historical Data, and The Japanese Navy's Wargaming of the Midway Campaign at a historical OA symposium (the last two are pending acceptance, despite their being by invitation).

CB

Do you work at a military college?

Every year you are always doing something with submarines it seems.

---------- Post added at 12:13 ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 ----------

Chris L T521 said:
I'm just wrapping up two courses:

-- Manifolds II (Basically differential forms, integration, orientation, Lie groups, and de Rham cohomology)
-- Mechanics I (The "fun" stuff - Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, symplectic & Poisson geometries, and some stuff on fluids at the end).

Lucky for me that I don't have a final in Mechanics I; I only have a take home final in Manifolds II that I have till Tuesday to finish (that's the main reason why I'll be MIA till then).

For next quarter, I'm taking two courses:

-- Manifolds III (We're most likely using Hatcher's Algebraic Topology as a text)
-- Differential Geometry (All the fun stuff - connections, Ricci tensors, curvature, Riemannian geometry, etc. with a look towards Relativity [since I'll be at MSRI this summer with a classmate at the Mathematical General Relativity workshop]).

I have no idea what I'll be taking in the Fall since they haven't released the 2012-2013 schedule yet (yes, I get to see all the courses offered this next year!)...so I'll have my fun putting together theoretical schedules then. But I know I will be apart of a contact topology seminar as well as an algebraic geometry seminar [I'm going to help co-organize it, and it's something I'm looking forward to doing!].

I have no finals and midterms this semester as well. Next semester I will probably have them Matlab but the others are iffy on having them.
 
Topology from Willard book

Numerical analysis
 
dwsmith said:
Do you work at a military college?

Every year you are always doing something with submarines it seems.

There are employers other than those in the education sector.

CB
 
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  • #10
CaptainBlack said:
Well, I'm not a student and have not been for many years, but I will be delivering about 10 hours of lectures on Torpedo Processing Algorithms on our internal Torpedo Engineering Course, and lectures on the History of the Torpedo for a branch of the IET, Warship Battle Damage Survival Probability Analysis from Historical Data, and The Japanese Navy's Wargaming of the Midway Campaign at a historical OA symposium (the last two are pending acceptance, despite their being by invitation).

CB

Your past and actual activity in the naval history is a great surprise for me!... although I am an absolute 'amateur' in naval history, one of the 'insolute questions' of my 'repertory' is the following: there was really no possibility of 'saving' the Titanic after the iceberg's collision in the night of o4\12\1912?... have You or other 'experts' ever studied this problem from the 'mathematical point of view'?...

Kind regards

$\chi$ $\sigma$
 
  • #11
dwsmith said:
This semester I have:

Theory of Complex Variables
Mathematical Biology and Ecology

Fall 2012 I will be taking:
Analysis 1
Adv ODEs
Fourier Series & Integral Transforms
Possible programming in Matlab as well

My Fall 2012 schedule is slightly changed.
Analysis 1
Adv ODEs
Fourier Series & Integral Transforms (it may be dropped)
Adv Eng Analysis 1 (I will definitely take this at the sacrifice of the above course unless taking the 4 courses won't be too difficult.
 
  • #12
dwsmith said:
Adv Eng Analysis 1 (I will definitely take this at the sacrifice of the above course unless taking the 4 courses won't be too difficult.

At first I thought this was an English course but I'm guessing now that it's engineering. :p
 
  • #13
The Fall 2012 and Winter 2013 schedules have been posted in my department! :D

In Fall 2012, I will be taking:

Lie Algebras
Dynamical Systems Theory

and in Winter 2013, I hope to be taking either two of the three or just maybe all three:

Algebraic Geometry I
Riemann Surfaces
Symplectic Geometry

I will finally have TA responsibilities in addition to taking classes! Just when I thought I was done with taking classes, there are some that I just can't ignore...I...must...take...them...all... XD
 
  • #14
Chris L T521 said:
The Fall 2012 and Winter 2013 schedules have been posted in my department! :D

In Fall 2012, I will be taking:

Lie Algebras
Dynamical Systems Theory

and in Winter 2013, I hope to be taking either two of the three or just maybe all three:

Algebraic Geometry I
Riemann Surfaces
Symplectic Geometry

I will finally have TA responsibilities in addition to taking classes! Just when I thought I was done with taking classes, there are some that I just can't ignore...I...must...take...them...all... XD

Foote did a one day crash course in Riemann surfaces Tuesday. Tomorrow is a crash course on Sheaf Theory.
 
  • #15
This spring I will probably take

Programming in Matlab
Systems and Synthetic Biology
Orbital Mechanics
Analysis 2 or Continuum Mechanics or something else
 
  • #16
Next semester I'm planning on taking

Ordinary Differential Equations,
General Topology,
Metric Spaces Topology,
General Mechanics 1.

I might take an optional course on Lie Theory for the undergraduation, not sure yet. I want to talk to the responsible for it to get more information, it looks very interesting. :D
 
  • #17
Next quarter, I plan to take

- Symplectic geometry

However, I'm dabbling with the idea of taking one more class and I'm deciding between the following three:

- Riemann Surfaces
- Algebraic Geometry
- Non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics

Although, if I end up taking the one class, I'd have a lot more free time than I have now...so...we'll see how things turn out.
 
  • #18
This semester I am taking several courses.
Calculus I
Chemistry
Composition II
Engineering Computations
Engineering Orientations
"Stupid required waste of money class"

For a total of 16 Credits.
 
  • #19
Chris L T521 said:
Next quarter, I plan to take

- Symplectic geometry

However, I'm dabbling with the idea of taking one more class and I'm deciding between the following three:

- Riemann Surfaces
- Algebraic Geometry
- Non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics

Although, if I end up taking the one class, I'd have a lot more free time than I have now...so...we'll see how things turn out.
Symplectic Geometry is something I wish I could do, but no such course is offered here. It looks amazing. All of the other three sound interesting but not as much. What are you doing your PhD in, again? Mathematical Physics? (Happy)
 
  • #20
Fantini said:
Symplectic Geometry is something I wish I could do, but no such course is offered here. It looks amazing. All of the other three sound interesting but not as much. What are you doing your PhD in, again? Mathematical Physics? (Happy)

I'm getting my Ph.D. in mathematics (focusing on mathematical physics; to be more specific, it's in celestial mechanics [and to be even more specific, my thesis is going to be related to the three body problem]).

I'm looking forward to next year when I'm going to be taking the Quantum Field Theory sequence in the physics department, and just that class unless there's a class or two offered through math that tickle my fancy. Other than that, I'm already finished with my course requirements for the Ph.D.; I should begin working on my thesis sometime next year.
 
  • #21
At this very moment we are in the middle of presenting the 5 day torpedo engineering course, my share is 3.5 hours of lectures and 3 hours running the case study.

CB
 
  • #22
dwsmith said:
This spring I will probably take

Programming in Matlab
Systems and Synthetic Biology
Orbital Mechanics
Analysis 2 or Continuum Mechanics or something else
Slight change:
Programming in Matlab
Advanced Dynamics--canceled but now I will be taking Classical Mechanics
Orbital Mechanics
Continuum Mechanics
 
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  • #23
Next semester, if I take them all, will probably be the toughest I've ever faced:

Ordinary Differential Equations;
Metric Spaces Topology;
General Topology;
Mechanics I;
Introduction to Lie Groups and Lie Algebras;
Riemann Surfaces (I won't be enrolled in this one, just watching),

together with my undergraduate research project. (Whew)
 

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