B.U.+Math+Courses

Professor: Higinio Fernandez
 * CAS MA 123** Calculus I

I thought Prof. Fernandez was a good professor; he explains everything clearly and thoroughly. Some people did not like his personality, though; he’s dry and not very “buddy-buddy” with people. Your grade was based on two midterms, a final exam, and homework. The tests were frustrating; they weren’t too hard, but he would tell you to know all these definitions and theorems and then the test would have NO definitions on it. The test problems were not too surprising, though; it was stuff emphasized in class. My TF, Jeehoon Park, was great, and many other students liked him. At discussion sections, he solved every homework problem—BEFORE the homework was due! Thus, I got an average of 9/10 or 10/10 on my homework. Like Charlie said, a good class to take if you haven’t had calc or if you want a calc refresher. Reviewer: Anne Goncharov

Professor: Ranjan Panth

The class was pretty straightforward. Three tests and a final, with a large percentage of grading based on weekly homework. None of it is really difficult, and Panth leads his own discussions, so they’re helpful for going over the homework. Panth is a really fun teacher, who loves to talk about the goals of teaching, and gets sidetracked into telling bad math jokes. I’m not sure how this class would be if you hadn’t already taken calculus, but since I had, it was easy to follow. Panth also knows Z, so if you tell him you’re from BUA, you’ll get a lot of things directed towards the class along the lines of “At [insert your name here]’s high school, they…” Which is amusing. Reviewer: Anna Ziering

Professor Maciej Szczesny

This is, like all first semester calc courses, a fairly straightforward course. It’s quite large (over 100 undergraduate students), but he is a funny professor who at least seems to know what he’s talking about. If the entire class makes a mistake, he grades that problem very easily – he tends to air on the side of fairness to the point of raising your grade. Tests are what you’d expect from such a class, and there is a problem set due every week that together count for a small part of your grade. Quizzes are also given each week, and these too count for a small part of your grade. It’s a good enough course if you haven’t taken calc or if you’ve only taken one year at BUA; for those students, it’s easy enough to do well in that I would recommend taking it. Reviewer: Charlie Miller

Professor: Karen Acquista
 * CAS MA 124** Calculus II

I found this course to be pretty difficult and would not recommend it to students who aren’t particularly invested in math. The professor was good and very helpful but there aren’t very many ways in which to raise your grade. There is homework due every week and although it’s hard, there are many people to get help from and it’s not that long. The tests and grading were very fair and the professor was pretty lenient with scaling the grades. Reviewer: Terra Hittson

I basically agree with what Terra said. I would strongly echo “[I] would not recommend it to students who aren’t particularly invested in math.” I’ll also add that you should always look at the homework you are handed back, because the grader was terrible and made many mistakes. And know that if you would always take extra time on Academy math exams, you will probably not do too well on Acquista’s long, hard, strictly timed tests. Oh, and just don’t put yourself through this course if you don’t enjoy calculus and don’t intend to continue in math. If you take it, have a reason for taking it other than “well, I should really be taking a math course this semester.” Reviewer: Adam K

Professor: Higinio Fernandez

Also a difficult course. I would recommend trying to find a different professor first. He does a pretty good job explaining the material. The discussion leader was helpful as well. However, as Sinan can attest, he gives much more homework than any other teacher and his tests are extra long. Hard grader and curved to a C. Reviewer: Jonathan Sachs

Professor: Takashi Kimura I can't say that I found it a difficult course. This may be because the semester before I took it I took Calculus I (MA 123), and the year before that I took BUA calculus, so I came into the class very well-prepared and having a thorough knowledge of basic calculus. I think that if I had taken MA 124 without taking MA 123 I would definitely have found this class harder. I would recommend taking MA 123 before MA 124 instead of going straight to MA 124, unless you are very good at math or feel very well-prepared. Kimura is a pretty good professor; his lectures are unispiring, but all in all I wouldn't mind taking the class with him again. The exams are very similar to the review problems/study guide, and are not hard. He is very good about reviewing material before an exam, and the exam emphasizes what he emphasizes in class. My TF, Jeehoon Park, was great; if you go to discussion and ask questions, homework should not be a big problem. Reviewer: Anne Goncharov

Professor Diane Meuser
 * CAS MA 129** Honors Calculus

Don’t take this class expecting an A, unless you’re extremely talented at math and you’re willing to put a lot of time into this. Even then, consider carefully—there were 18 people in my class and it was curved (upwards) to a B-. The course is based on theory and proofs instead of how to “do problems”, and BUA math has not prepared you for this. On the first day we started out with a rigorous epsilon-delta definition and proceeded from that point. Professor Meuser doesn’t usually slow down and explain in non-mathematical terms; I ended up writing down everything she put on the board and trying to learn material from my notes. It’s absolutely necessary to do homework in this class. Thinking about the problems and doing them rigorously probably takes at least three hours per class (twice a week). Homeworks and quizzes counted for 25% of the grade, and the other 75% was split up between three exams of 6-8 problems each, taken literally from the homework. Up until this class, I had never taken notes in math class and hardly even studied, but here I took notes on everything, studied the exact set of problems from which the exam problems were taken, and still could not get the grades I’d gotten easily in other math classes. Ultimately it’s rewarding if you get through it, and you’ll learn almost a different side of math. In that sense, this is a really good class, but if you’re looking for a fun professor or a good grade, or if you want a class for first semester senior year, this probably isn’t the course to take. Reviewer: Shishi Chen

Professor [|Robert Devaney]
 * CAS MA 226** Differential Equations

Books: The one Prof. Devaney wrote. Assignments: Labs, midterm, exam.

Devaney is the best BU professor I’ve encountered here, and I’d recommend him for any class your prerequisites match. His lectures are not only captivating but extremely well-designed, providing algebraic work and visual aids through the use of transparencies prepared before class. The class itself is the logical step up from multivariable calculus, and our multivariable course will prepare you for everything but the small bits of matrix manipulation covered in the later parts of the course. There is no required homework, and exams, though graded fairly harshly, test overall knowledge and offer many opportunities for partial credit on the essays they include. The class is not easy, but Devaney’s teaching really makes it a worthwhile choice. Reviewer: Ed Pastuszenski

I thought he was a good professor because he used lots of examples – many people would disagree (sp?). Fast-paced material. Study previous tests, exams, and midterms. Getting an A is possible, although the average grade is a C/C+. Go to class, but watch out, he hates engineers. Reviewer: Vanessa Rubin

Decent professor. His sense of humor isn't everything, but he makes the classes interesting & is helpful at office hours. Uses pre-prepared (?) slides to go through his lectures fairly quickly, so pre-read the text and try not to fall behind. As Ed mentioned, the homework isn't collected, but make sure you at least make an attempt because he likes copying some problems into his exams verbatim. One test is dropped (!!!), but the average is low, usually C/C-. The labs are never overly difficult, but leave yourself time to complete them (1-2 hours). The course isn't a terrible difficulty spike from MA90, but since tests determine 80% of your grade, don't procrastinate on studying. And above all else, don't fall asleep in class. Reviewer: Dan

Professor: Higinio Fernandez
 * CAS MA 293** Discrete Math I

This was a fairly good course. It introduces a bunch of neat abstract concepts and then has you prove theorems about them. The material is a lot to get your head around, but not terribly difficult. Not enough homework is assigned, so I recommend doing a lot of practice problems. Also, Fernandez is a fairly good professor but can be confused and confusing at times, so I'd avoid taking it with him. His tests were easy, but waaay too long.

I would recommend this course to you if you're good at math and plan on doing the homework. Reviewer: Peropi

Professor Timothy Kohl
 * CAS MA 441** Honors Linear Algebra

The class is fairly frightening when you start out. There are many highly-important-seeming lists of things, dozens of theorems strewn about – and all before the first test! – but the actual skill and knowledge required is far below the level of the lectures. You will sometimes fall behind Kohl’s train of thought as he devises proofs, sometimes even improvising. But homework is light (one tricky but doable problem per week), exams are really not that bad, and the professor is available for discussion and help very often. I’d recommend this course. Reviewer: Ed Pastuszenski

Professor Timothy Kohl
 * CAS MA 442** Honors Linear Algebra

This class is about matrices. Everything you did in precalc with matrices plus more… linear independence, multiplication, reduced row eschelon form, determinants, etc. This course is honors level, which means that basically tests and homeworks will consist of problems and proofs. Professor Kohl isn’t the greatest teacher. He is better one on one. Sometimes he gets lost in his train of thought, but overall he teaches you the material you need for the test. Reviewer: Vanessa Rubin

Professor [|Robert Devaney]
 * CAS MA 471** Chaotic Dynamical Systems

As with MA 226, the teaching style here is just excellent. Every single lecture feels like it fits with the last and advances the course at just the right pace, as though all the material were prepared as a single work. The field of study is also very interesting, and the simple premise, examining iterations of the function x2 + c, expands into an engaging and visually impressive investigation of the complex plane. Like MA 226, homework is wholly optional and practically unneeded for the exams. Grading is actual easier here, as the tests are almost totally comprised of essays, but the specificity of those essays can hurt you if you miss a class or forget to study some lecture. Even more so than MA 226, highly recommended – the class is an excellent reward for the years of lower math courses. Reviewer: Ed Pastuszenski

Professor Timothy Kohl
 * CAS MA 541** Modern Algebra

Professor Kohl isn’t incredibly clear or incredibly nice, but he will teach you the basics fairly well. This course is on abstract math and is heavily based on proofs. Once you become familiar with concepts, the class becomes much easier. The beginning is hard because you don’t really work with numbers and instead you work with concepts. Topics include group theory, Abelian theory, factor groups, homomorphisms, and isomorphisms. Reviewer: Vanessa Rubin

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