who should i take?
this is for spring break.
if anyone has taken any course taught by any one of these professor, comments would be great.
the key things Im looking for in my MA341 teacher is:
1). no hw (or at least not graded)
2). no NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAPLE!!!
3). would be helpful if the professor can teach, but willing to learn this shit myself if it comes down to it.
4). attendence policy
5). grade distribution doesnt really matter since what others do really has no effect on how i should be doing, unless the professor curves

12/22/2006 10:20:50 PM

olufsen sucks

12/22/2006 10:27:06 PM

^ but why? thats what i wanna know...
if she sucked cause you failed the course doesnt really help me...

12/22/2006 10:28:47 PM

I had her freshman year.. long time ago

I disliked her b/c she was hard to understand and got pissed off at tiny things.

But then again there were quite a few immature people in my class

12/22/2006 10:41:31 PM

**CORRECTION**

who should i take?
this is for spring break semester.
if anyone has taken any course taught by any one of these professor, comments would be great.

12/22/2006 10:46:57 PM

Never had any of those for MA341. Are they the only ones teaching for the Spring? where's Hong and Dr. Tran, the best MA341 profs out there.

12/22/2006 11:35:03 PM

Sounds like your ideal professor is yourself. If you don't need HW or class to learn it, why don't you learn it yourself and move on to the next math class or test out of this one?

12/23/2006 12:15:22 AM

Just wait for Hong next semester, unless he retired which I doubt. If you're gonna pass diffeq, it'll be with him. I'd say second best is Taylor, he writes alot but explains well.

12/23/2006 1:03:38 AM

when i took it, Tsynkov had no HW and the tests were 6 multiple choice questions: 5 right=100. it was ridiculously easy, and like 60% of the class got A's.

i went on the first few days and maybe test days, learned nothing, but never had to use any of that stuff again. if you think you may actually need diffeq, you should prob take someone else.

[Edited on December 23, 2006 at 3:59 AM. Reason : diff eq may be more important for a mechanical engineer than for a molecular pathologist!]

12/23/2006 3:59:08 AM

Based on your criteria, I would suggest you take Tsynkov. I took 341 with him spring 2004 and although I made an A+ in his class, I really didn't learn much about it. He did have homework assignments, but they weren't graded, just suggested. He also didn't have an attendance policy. The only grades we had were I think three exams and the final. All exams were multiple choice, 10 questions. If you answer 7/10 correctly, you will get a 100. If you get 10/10, those extra three points will be added to your next exam as extra credit. I got a 10/10, 9/10, and 10/10 on the first three exams so when it came time to take the final, I only had to get one question right to get an A+ in the class. His teach is pretty bad though and his handwriting is awful. Take him if you just want to get through it. If you actually want to learn it, take Hong, he was one of the best professors I have ever had (I had him for calc 3).

12/23/2006 11:39:06 AM

Hong Hong Hong HONG...
thats what ive been hearing but his class is closed...and as of now my schedule only permits Olufsen and Tsynkov, and maybe Pasteur if i tweak my schedule a tad bit...
but anyway...i would like to hear more about Tran...how is his teaching style?
and fyi, i do really wanna learn this shit...i DONT wanna just blow through the course and not remember a thing at the end

12/23/2006 11:35:56 PM

i had tran back in the day

great teacher

12/24/2006 12:00:44 AM

I don't know any of those names, but I recommend Seiwart. If he's still alive.

you know, fuck it, he's probably a badass doing LaPlace transforms from THE GRAVE

[Edited on December 24, 2006 at 12:12 AM. Reason : .]

12/24/2006 12:12:22 AM

why would you not take the easy way out? get good grades = get good job...to an extent.

12/24/2006 3:14:40 AM

^
ignint

cause easy way out is the pussy way out...-_-;;

12/24/2006 6:52:39 PM

holyshit
a spot opened up for Hong so i snatched that shit up and signed up for Hong.
Thanks for the input eerbody

12/24/2006 6:54:10 PM

excuse me while i lol

12/24/2006 8:58:37 PM

if all you're concerned about is the things on that list, then TAKE TSYNKOV

1) no hw
2) no no no maple
3) his teaching isnt terrible, but he has a russian accent (or something like that), that you may have trouble with. I didnt think it was too bad. you'd prob be teaching yourself most of the stuff with any teacher anyway.
4) attendance? nope
5) i got an A+ in his class, and while i consider myself good at math, i put in a very minimal effort

As someone said, his grading is weird. For my class, i think it was 7/10 = 100, but it may have been easier than that.

And any points you get over that mark get carried over to the next test. so if you make a 9/10 on the first test, you get a 100 plus 2 questions on the next test. so if you got a 5/10 on the next test, you'd still have an A.

I had about 5 carrier-over points for the final exam, so i only had to get something like 50% of the questions right to get an A in the class, if that.

12/25/2006 12:23:47 PM

Since I'm one of the three listed, I'll answer for myself:

1) I suggest problems from the textbook, but don't collect homework.
2) No Maple is required ... I demonstrate stuff occasionally with Maple or Matlab, but you don't have to use it.
3) Obviously, I'm not answering that one. I had 92 students last semester in this course (and teach 241 and 242 routinely), so it shouldn't be too hard to find someone who has had me for a class.
4) Attendance is suggested (and students who come regularly typically do better) but not required.
5) I don't pass people along just for the heck of it, and don't give out A's and B's like candy. My grade distributions are usually lower than most of the other instructors teaching the same course.

12/25/2006 10:52:02 PM

hmm...sounds tempting...
but i think im still gonna stick with Hong.
since i am still on the waitlist, if Hong doesnt work out, ill take you
and thanks for your input

12/25/2006 11:41:44 PM

Pastuer fucked me over. He has a no makeup policy for his exams. got a D+ so I can move on, but it fucked up my gpa bad. Take Hong, or don't take it.

12/28/2006 11:40:17 AM

i took 341 w hong and i strongly recommend u do what u can to take it w him. im not a math wiz by any means, but if u go to his class and do the hw he makes the material very understandable...

but he's serious about doing the hw even tho it's not graded. if u do the hw until u can do it in ur sleep, the exams r great (otherwise they're hard as shit, so said my exam #1)

he also makes the class pretty easy to stay awake thru (amazing for the material he's working w). he's pretty funny, esp for a math genius.

12/31/2006 4:54:39 PM