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Cambridge Maths Students and Applicants

How many C and D courses do 'strong' Part II students typically take?

I've been looking at the Part II courses, and the ones I find interesting are 4 C's and 7 D's.

Broaden your horizons: you'll never know what you like if you don't try it! I didn't have many courses to go to last year at first, but I forced myself to go to some which I wasn't too keen on and I even ended up liking some of them.

I was in the top 20 in IA, and people are saying I should reduce the C's and increase the D's.

I feel that my marks (and rank) dropped going from IB to II because I didn't do any short questions. I was in a situation where I had a few minutes left in the exam—not enough time to do a whole long question, but possibly enough to get a beta in a short question. Getting 8 marks on a short question is worth more than 8 marks on a long question due to the bonuses, but because I only did D courses, I didn't look at the short questions at all. I even missed the easy prime numbers question...

Do some 'C' courses have all of their material covered in 'D' courses?

No. I didn't do Number Theory, but I did do Galois Theory and Number Fields (and now I'm learning Elliptic Curves and Local Fields), so I've ended up knowing a little bit of advanced number theory while knowing absolutely nothing about the basics...

Reply 1781

stripy_and_nice

I'm going to be doing Part II PDEs next term, although it's lectured this term. I won't be going to lectures. What notes or books would people recommend? I've got Tom Körner's 2002 notes, and Joshi and Wassermann's on which they're based, from the late 1990s. Although the course has been reorganised, subsequent lecturers David Stuart and Peter Markovich both recommend the earlier notes.

I've also got the books by Evans (PDEs) and Iorio and Iorio (Fourier Analysis and PDEs), and will try to get Friedlander (Introduction to the Theory of Distributions). Evans looks as though it covers a lot more than what's on the course, and Friedlander probably covers much more on distributions too, which are only one topic in the course.

I'd be grateful for some advice on what sources, or parts of sources, would be best for self-studying this course. Many thanks to anyone who can help with this! Unfortunately the most recent student's notes I could find are from 1995.

Reply 1782

ForGreatJustice

13

Original post by stripy_and_nice

I'm going to be doing Part II PDEs next term, although it's lectured this term. I won't be going to lectures. What notes or books would people recommend? I've got Tom Körner's 2002 notes, and Joshi and Wassermann's on which they're based, from the late 1990s. Although the course has been reorganised, subsequent lecturers David Stuart and Peter Markovich both recommend the earlier notes.

I've also got the books by Evans (PDEs) and Iorio and Iorio (Fourier Analysis and PDEs), and will try to get Friedlander (Introduction to the Theory of Distributions). Evans looks as though it covers a lot more than what's on the course, and Friedlander probably covers much more on distributions too, which are only one topic in the course.

I'd be grateful for some advice on what sources, or parts of sources, would be best for self-studying this course. Many thanks to anyone who can help with this! Unfortunately the most recent student's notes I could find are from 1995.

I have Peter Markovich's notes which he lectures from. They're hand written, and not the neatest in the world, but they would clearly help at least guide you on what to study elsewhere. I can send these to you if you wish.

Reply 1783

stripy_and_nice

Original post by ForGreatJustice

I have Peter Markovich's notes which he lectures from. They're hand written, and not the neatest in the world, but they would clearly help at least guide you on what to study elsewhere. I can send these to you if you wish.

Thanks - that would be brilliant. I've PMed you :smile:

Reply 1784

Zhen Lin

12

Original post by stripy_and_nice

I'm going to be doing Part II PDEs next term, although it's lectured this term. I won't be going to lectures. What notes or books would people recommend?

I have heard that there were only two candidates who attempted exam questions in PDEs last year. I don't think the course is suitable for anyone but the most hardcore analysts (despite it being a DAMTP course).

Reply 1785

kidoo

14

I have a question to all the maths-demigods out there...

Why is maths so damn difficult and annoying D:

Yours sincerely.
A maths-slave.

E: Who ever negged me is sore because they can't do maths....

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1786

stripy_and_nice

Original post by Zhen Lin

I have heard that there were only two candidates who attempted exam questions in PDEs last year. I don't think the course is suitable for anyone but the most hardcore analysts (despite it being a DAMTP course).

Right up my straße, alors! Just my cup of chai! :biggrin:

Reply 1787

Owl_492

Why do 10-20% of male mathmos pong so badly?

Every time I go to the CMS, there's at least one student whose armpits I can smell from 3 metres away! Sometimes it's 10 metres away! I wouldn't have believed it was possible until my nostrils told me.

Guys - if any of you are reading this, try to wash and bathe more often! All the female mathmos can manage it!

True, it gets better after the first year. But still, there are loads of IBers, IIers and IIIers who need a bit more acquaintance with soap!

Reply 1788

ambience

11

Original post by stripy_and_nice

Right up my straße, alors! Just my cup of chai! :biggrin:

Good on you, stripes!

(Dig the new tights btw).

Reply 1789

Slumpy

16

Original post by Owl_492

Why do 10-20% of male mathmos pong so badly?

Every time I go to the CMS, there's at least one student whose armpits I can smell from 3 metres away! Sometimes it's 10 metres away! I wouldn't have believed it was possible until my nostrils told me.

Guys - if any of you are reading this, try to wash and bathe more often! All the female mathmos can manage it!

True, it gets better after the first year. But still, there are loads of IBers, IIers and IIIers who need a bit more acquaintance with soap!

Maths is sweaty work. This is also why there're showers in the CMS :p:

Reply 1790

SimonM

18

Original post by Owl_492

Guys - if any of you are reading this, try to wash and bathe more often! All the female mathmos can manage it!

True, it gets better after the first year. But still, there are loads of IBers, IIers and IIIers who need a bit more acquaintance with soap!

Reply 1791

around

13

Original post by Owl_492

Why do 10-20% of male mathmos pong so badly?

Every time I go to the CMS, there's at least one student whose armpits I can smell from 3 metres away! Sometimes it's 10 metres away! I wouldn't have believed it was possible until my nostrils told me.

Guys - if any of you are reading this, try to wash and bathe more often! All the female mathmos can manage it!

True, it gets better after the first year. But still, there are loads of IBers, IIers and IIIers who need a bit more acquaintance with soap!

glass houses, (s)he who is without sin, etc etc

Reply 1792

Zhen Lin

12

Original post by Slumpy

Maths is sweaty work. This is also why there're showers in the CMS :p:

... there are? I knew there was a hammock room somewhere, but...

Reply 1793

Slumpy

16

Original post by Zhen Lin

... there are? I knew there was a hammock room somewhere, but...

Certainly I think I found one next to a toilet in B pavillion once. Maybe I imagined it though!

Reply 1794

nuodai

17

Original post by Zhen Lin

... there are? I knew there was a hammock room somewhere, but...

Two things. First, yes, there are directions to showers in some of the pavilions. Second, WHAT?! I have to see (and use) this thing! Where is it?

Reply 1795

jcarz

1

Maths is the greatest

Reply 1796

Slumpy

16

Original post by nuodai

Two things. First, yes, there are directions to showers in some of the pavilions. Second, WHAT?! I have to see (and use) this thing! Where is it?

Wait, yes, that too!

Reply 1797

My Alt

12

Some of us make the CMS an innately more cool place 8)

Reply 1798

Supermerp

2

Original post by trollbuster

True or false - all old colleges (founded pre-1800) have had at least one Senior Wrangler, but no new colleges (founded 1800 or later) have ever had one.