Has anyone on Veeky Forums ever taken the Math 55 course from Harvard? What was it like?

Has anyone on Veeky Forums ever taken the Math 55 course from Harvard? What was it like?

It's easy.

It's easy.

It's easy

As I understand it, the course varies greatly from professor to professor. Although, they tend to teach for long periods of time... It sounds like a really intense IQ test. Like handing a high school junior a copy of Rudin and seeing what they do with it. Basically, an intro undergraduate class that is taught with graduate-level rigor.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

It's easy.

I took Math 23 at Harvard. I wanted to do 55 but I didn't have enough background in high school to jump into it.

It's really easy.

It does really suck having a weak background due to highschool. I feel so behind everyone else.

Yeah, I only took up to AP Calc AB, which is just calc 1. I self-taught some calc 2 in the summer and went into Linear Algebra and Analysis

My best friend did. Ended up just passing. He was really unhappy about it, so I had to console him about it for a while.
It's pretty nuts.

>has presumably high IQ
>has the privilege of going to a prestigious school
>gets to take perhaps the hardest intro math course a freshman can take at said school
>bitches about "barely passing"
Your friend sounds like an asshole, to be honest. Sounds like he needs some perspective.

Nah, he was just always the smartest, and then was not the smartest anymore. That can be tough for people. He did need perspective, and he got it. He didn't "bitch" but mostly wondered if he was going to be able to make it in math.
Is your typical response to someone's difficulties and maturing just incessant cynicism?
Going from being the best to being average is not easy for people, even if it makes sense. I was always second best, so I never had to worry about that, and that experience has benefited me massively.

>an intro undergraduate class that is taught with graduate-level rigor
in europe this is every math class

Is that why Europe has all the top-ranked universities?

>Thinking that university rankings are rankings of undergraduate experiences

>England and the US
>Europe

Perhaps your undergraduate experience was comparable to the graduate level of some 3rd or (maybe) 2nd tier university... But I really doubt what you are saying is completely true. Unless it's ETH Zurich, or something.

Not a Harvard student (MIT, close enough) but I knew 3 people who have taken Math 55 freshman year. One of them showed me a problem set, and from what I saw, it was basically undergrad-level math treated with a ton of rigor. IIRC it was some stuff on abstract algebra, but I don't remember too well. Not really an algebra fan so I kinda feigned interest

The European university system is shit, that's why they don't produce anything. Rankings are indicative of success. College rankings put U.S. on top too.

This is why all of the top technology companies are headed in America or primarily staffed by American workers

You Yuroposters are delusional constantly spreading this meme.

>tfw MSc from ETHZ

Feels fucking great

>US college top ranking
Lol sure, ranked by the American SJW's themselves

You mean primarily staffed by imported Asians and curious travelling Europoors

In my university (europe), there are several undergraduate programs: pure math, statistics and data analysis, mathematics of finance, mathematical modelling and applied math with economy. the first two or three semesters are almost the same for all students. we have three courses on mathematical analysis and two courses on linear alebra, everything is done rigorously with proofs, e.g. the first lecture on linear algebra (which may well be the very first lecture and undergradute hears) is on the definition of a group, field, field characteristic etc. I'm not trying to say that our education system is better, as a matter of fact I VERY strongly disagree with this curriculum. but it's just the way it is

>they don't produce anything
CERN et al.
Anyway, it isn't americans doing the breakthroughs anymore, it's chinks and pajeets you import. Sorry to break it to you, but american university system is not "good": it's a kindergarten for entitled manchildren so they feel good about doing a degree at the university mr Wang Chingchong or Curry Pooinloo are doing great discoveries at while being mediocre themselves.
It's good in a way, though: since it's private, they can suck money from retard rich white kids and allocate in really big projects or payrolls for the real scientists coming from other countries so they get patents and top tier research.
As an education institution they suck, as a R&D company they are the best in the world, but not because of the alumnii.

Want proof? Most leading researchers in oncology come from Spain. We all know what happens in math and cs.

In France it's definitely true of the math course in any uni or prepa

...

It's not always about academic success.