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University of Warwick

Coventry

Discrete Mathematics- Fresher Advice

Hello everybody!

I apologise in advance for how long this post is, I have so many questions and I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

So as the title suggests, I will be a fresher at Warwick in a few weeks and will be studying Discrete Maths. I have a few questions regarding the course, the university and some general stuff too and I'd really appreciate any advice you can give me, so thank you in advance!

I'll get the important questions out of the way first:

How much of the computer science side of things you have to study? I originally applied for Maths and missed my offer, so obviously, I am more interested in the mathematical side of the degree. I am looking at doing mainly maths and stats for my optional modules.

Is there anything I should be doing to prepare for the course? I am currently reading into analysis (I have heard this is a bit nasty so wanted to get a head start) and teaching myself S2 as I only covered S1 at school. I have been doing STEP and AEA over the summer to keep my head working as well but I just wondered if there was anything else I am missing that could be beneficial.

Is there anything I need especially for the course? My assumption was that I would need a calculator and/or a graphical calculator (any recommendations would be greatly appreciated) and books (anything additional to the course textbooks that anyone can recommend?) alongside the usual pen, paper, pencils etc. I ask this mainly because I'm unsure of the computer science side of things and what may be required for this.

Does anyone know if the support given to Discrete Maths students is any less than pure maths students? I know Discrete maths is based in the computer science department so is there less support for the maths modules or is it still really good?

These are less important:

If I decided that after the first year, I wanted to change back to MMath, would it be possible and is there anywhere I can find out exactly what is needed to do this and the modules that I would need to take and excel in?

Is there the option to do a masters? I keep seeing "Discrete Mathematics BSc" on the website but I am really interested in continuing for a 4th year and was wondering if this is a possibility.

What modules do I miss out on doing by doing Discrete maths from the maths course?

I do have a few more questions but this is way too long already so i'll keep them to myself for a while :/

I appreciate any advice anyone can give me and thank you for taking the time to read this.

Reply 1

BobLoblawLawBlog

Original post by mathematigeek

I'm not doing this course, but I think I should be able to answer some of your questions. In your first year, you have 4 core modules that are run by the computer science department. However, only 2 of these seem really computer sciencey. The other 2 are called discrete Maths and their applications and are probably more of a mix between maths and computer science. You can see the full module list here: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/dcs/teaching/courses/dm1/.

I found programming for scientists to be quite a difficult module as I hadn't had any previous programming experience. Maybe it would be worth beginning to learn a little bit of java just so you can get used to it. But there's nothing much that you really need to do.

A calculator will be much less useful than you probably think it will be. You aren't allowed to use one for any of the Maths modules (at least the ones i've done so far). The only times i've been able to use mine so far are in the two physics exams. A graphics calculator isn't really necessary, you can get a free license for MATLAB. So a scientific calculator should be more than enough.

I think that your analysis module is done differently to those in the maths department. For people based in the maths department, they have 1 hour of lectures and 4 hours of analysis classes a week. We were given booklets that we had to learn from and then work through in these classes. These were given out on the Monday and were due in the following Monday. These booklets would then be given back to use during our supervisions. However, for people outside of the maths department, you have the standard three hours of lectures. You also have assignments to hand in, but i'm not sure how these are given to you as you don't have the analysis classes.

I'm not sure about the next three questions, sorry :frown:

.

As for your last question, pretty much all of the maths modules are available for you to do. They've just become optional modules rather than core modules. It seems to be the non maths modules (mainly physics) that are less easily available for you to do. So maths wise you can do basically the same modules if you wanted to.

Feel free to ask the other questions and i'll try my best to answer them :smile:

University of Warwick

Coventry

Reply 2

username1256732

Original post by brittanna

Thank you for taking the time to get back to me, that's really helpful :smile:

I might really enjoy them, but they're a bit daunting at the moment because I have no past experience :/ I've heard that the Discrete Maths and applications are really easy modules if you pay close attention to detail so I'm less worried about those, thank you :smile:

one more question on this, are there a lot of lab hours?

Original post by brittanna

I found programming for scientists to be quite a difficult module as I hadn't had any previous programming experience. Maybe it would be worth beginning to learn a little bit of java just so you can get used to it. But there's nothing much that you really need to do.

This is a huge worry for me :frown:

I have no experience with programming at all, is it really difficult to learn and get used to? I will start looking at java now, are there any other programming things it might be worth getting my head round? I'm not a computer whizz at the best of times :/

Original post by brittanna

A calculator will be much less useful than you probably think it will be. You aren't allowed to use one for any of the Maths modules (at least the ones i've done so far). The only times i've been able to use mine so far are in the two physics exams. A graphics calculator isn't really necessary, you can get a free license for MATLAB. So a scientific calculator should be more than enough..

Is it best then to wait until I'm there to see what updates may need to be made to my current calculator? Can you tell me a little about MATLAB please?

Original post by brittanna

I think that your analysis module is done differently to those in the maths department. For people based in the maths department, they have 1 hour of lectures and 4 hours of analysis classes a week. We were given booklets that we had to learn from and then work through in these classes. These were given out on the Monday and were due in the following Monday. These booklets would then be given back to use during our supervisions. However, for people outside of the maths department, you have the standard three hours of lectures. You also have assignments to hand in, but i'm not sure how these are given to you as you don't have the analysis classes..

Oh okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but this sounds like we get less support for this module?

Original post by brittanna

I'm not sure about the next three questions, sorry :frown:

That's fine, you've been really helpful with the rest!

Original post by brittanna

As for your last question, pretty much all of the maths modules are available for you to do. They've just become optional modules rather than core modules. It seems to be the non maths modules (mainly physics) that are less easily available for you to do. So maths wise you can do basically the same modules if you wanted to..

That's really fantastic, thank you. Sets my mind at ease now a little bit :smile:

Original post by brittanna

Feel free to ask the other questions and i'll try my best to answer them :smile:

Do you want me to ask then on here or message? Whatever you prefer :smile:

Thank you so much for getting back to me, I really appreciate the help!

Reply 3

BobLoblawLawBlog

Original post by mathematigeek

Thank you for taking the time to get back to me, that's really helpful :smile:

one more question on this, are there a lot of lab hours?

I've heard that the first one is fairly simple. I think the second one is a bit more difficult though. I haven't taken it, but one of my friends took it and it ended up being his lowest scoring module. Whether that's because it's difficult though or just because he didn't put in enough work I'm not sure.

Original post by mathematigeek

This is a huge worry for me :frown:

I'm guessing your programming module will be quite a bit more difficult than the one I did, but I had no previous programming experience and ended up doing quite well on the module, it just took quite a lot of work. But then some people pick it up really naturally. So you'll probably be okay, you just have to be prepared for the possibility that you will have to spend a lot of time on it. I also know someone doing computer science that had no previous programming experience that said the module was quite nice.

Original post by mathematigeek

Is it best then to wait until I'm there to see what updates may need to be made to my current calculator? Can you tell me a little about MATLAB please?

Really any calculator will be fine. I used the same one I had at A-level (fx-991es) which was more than enough. If you haven't got a graphics calculator already, then I really wouldn't bother investing in one.

So MATLAB is a package mainly used for numerical computations. It allows you to graph curves and surfaces, perform matrix operations and other similar kinds of things. There is a module called Maths by computer which is optional for you that is all about MATLAB. You have one lecture a week for it, and you have about 4 assignments to complete in the latter half of the term which together count for 100% of the module. However you have 1 hour of support classes for this module a week where you will go through other exercises to help you with the assignment and where you can ask for help. MATLAB can be quite helpful for the Geometry and Motion and Linear algebra modules (as well as Maths by computer :tongue:

Original post by mathematigeek

Oh okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but this sounds like we get less support for this module?

Sort of. But then Maths students are effectively self teaching the module and so more support would be needed, whereas all the information will be given to you via lectures. Pretty much every other module is done this way, so analysis 1 I think is the only module where you may get less support. There are also 1 hour of support classes a week for analysis II, where the class teacher would go through some of the section A and/ or section C questions (most of the assignments, at least for maths, are split into three sections. The first consists of warm up questions that you sometimes have to hand in (depends on the module). The second section contains the questions you have to do that will count for most/ all of the credit for that assignment. The last section contain more difficult questions that you aren't supposed to hand in.). I'm not sure if these are available for non-Maths students, but there's nothing stopping you from turning up. Although I think you have different assignment sheets, so i'm not sure how much use they would be anyway. Personally, I didn't find these classes much help anyway as I hadn't started the assignment by the time the class came around and so I was just looking at answers to questions I hadn't attempted yet. So you don't get that much less support. And there're always people in the UG workroom you can ask for help. I'm not sure how much support is given for the computer science modules though.

Original post by mathematigeek