MATH 251 — few words of caution

• Math 251 is a very difficult course. It is probably the hardest course in the Math 151–152–251–308 progression. Not only the material is hard, there is a lot of material to go through as well. Ideally, this course should be taught with 3 lecture hours and 2 tutorials per week. However there are no tutorials and thus students have to work a lot on their own.
• Understand the theory. In this course we will be using many complicated formulas. In the test, I will write the formulas on the board (or you can make your own formula sheets). Still, you will have to know when and which formula to use. You can either memorize this information (and forget it the day after the exam) or you can try to understand why and how the formula works. In mathematics, there is a reason to everything we do. It is this understanding that I will try to encourage. Occasionally, I will put a (simple) theoretical question on the test, to see if you understand the concepts.
• Understand how to apply the theory. At this point of mathematics, the number of possible types of problems is huge. You will rarely see a "same question as in the homework but with different numbers" problem on the exam. You should not expect to memorize an algorithm for each type of problems that can come up. Instead, you should concentrate (again!) on understanding how and why we apply concepts and formulas to answer a given question.
• Do not expect "bite-size" problems. The problems that you will see on the exam will often require several steps in their solution. Breaking a complicated question into a series of simple ones is an important skill that you will need in life. It's time to start developing this skill.
• On my part, I will work hard to explain how and why the things work the way they do. You can help me in this by asking questions. No question will be turned down.

This file was last modified on Wednesday, 01-May-2019 16:58:09 CDT.