Courses What courses of the following are the best for my field?

[jamalkoiyess]

Hello PF,
I am a physics junior and I lately decided on a math double major. I found the topics and classes and interesting enough to do so. Now my prospective fields are either high energy physics or quantum information. And so I wanted to tailor my math electives to help me within these fields.
I will have to take: Linear algebra I, Analysis, Topology, Adv. Calc, Complex analsys, Adv. Probability and abstract algebra
I have to choose one of the following: Linear Algebra II, Advanced Topics in Algebra.
And three of the following:
Higher Geometry (Eucledian)
Differential geometry
Fourier analysis
Wavelets and appl.
Statistical interference
Applied probability models
Numerical computing
Number theory
Set theory
Numerical linear algebraThanks for the help!

 

[fresh_42]

Hello PF,
I am a physics junior and I lately decided on a math double major. I found the topics and classes and interesting enough to do so. Now my prospective fields are either high energy physics or quantum information. And so I wanted to tailor my math electives to help me within these fields.
I will have to take: Linear algebra I, Analysis, Topology, Adv. Calc, Complex analsys, Adv. Probability and abstract algebra
I have to choose one of the following: Linear Algebra II, Advanced Topics in Algebra.

Linear Algebra is probably more useful in physics, as you won't really need to learn e.g. Galois theory, although this is certainly a basic for math.

And three of the following:
Higher Geometry (Eucledian)
Differential geometry
Fourier analysis
Wavelets and appl.
Statistical interference
Applied probability models
Numerical computing
Number theory
Set theory
Numerical linear algebraThanks for the help!

It's easier to say no than to say yes, as they all have their justification. I would drop (Euclidean) Higher Geometry, Number Theory and Set Theory. Numerical linear algebra can be learned on demand, I think. This leaves you with three out of six. Numerical Computing is difficult to comment, as I would make it dependent on content. I guess it'll be a bit old-fashioned and not really helpful. Algorithms can be looked up and real life constraints are often the real issue, not the theory. I'd probably drop Wavelets and Statistical Interference in the hope that Fourier Analysis and Applied Probability Models will cover a lot of it.

As a personal remark: Such a selection also depends on personal favors, the (to us) unknown content of each course and probably a few other conditions. Furthermore, even here you might get different advice by different people, as everybody will bring his own experiences and history into the answer. So whatever somebody tells you, including me and the above, don't take it too seriously as it reflects a lot more assumptions than stated. E.g. for high energy physics the statistics might be more important than differential geometry, which is a must if you want to proceed on an academic career.