Why Math Major?
Requirements of Math or Stat Major
The guidelines below were designed with you in mind. Hopefully it will help you to manage through the exacting, and most often times demanding, interrelationships of quantity, form and space - which we call mathematics.
1. First and foremost, you must possess a good measure of patience. And by "good measure", I mean a lot. It's likely that you will not understand all of the course material given in a lecture period. So it's imperative to spend some time outside of the classroom learning course materials.
2. It's likely to take more than five minutes to solve an assigned problem. Be patient and don't give up easily. Spend some quality time with your homework problems while reviewing lecture notes and book chapters. And if you must, stare at them for a while (ask any mathematician, staring actually works).
3. When you can stare no longer, seek the guidance of your instructor. Your instructor's office hours are your single most important resource. There is no reason to be shy and timid, your instructors are there to help.
4. Read your textbook, if for nothing less than it being an expensive resource. It is silly to think that there exist English majors who do not read books. Since you are a mathematics major, you should be reading mathematics.
5. Complete all assignments and then complete more. A lot of practice will not make you perfect, but it will earn you an A.
6. You are not exempt from the rules of writing in the English language. You must write in complete sentences while using good grammar. Your solutions and proofs should be neatly written and written in such a way that your instructor knows that you know the course content - there shouldn't be any guess work here.
7. Be sure that you understand why you are doing what you are doing. This will make everything so much more enjoyable.
8. As a mathematics major, you are learning to describe patterns. The world is full of beautiful patterns. So most importantly, have fun observing, describing and discovering our world's patterns.
Why Become a Math or Stat Major?