Actualy, that`s why I like Boolean, I have a zillion and one practical uses for it (sometimes daily). but the cheque book only comes out about twice a year, so I don`t bother )

Yeah, most of the modern mathematics we do is completely abstract and doesn't really have an application in the real world.

who knows? maybe todays research will help physists in 100 years time to solve some problems etc etc. i wonder what practical application group theory has

I must say higher algebra is very interesting. Groups, rings, fields, vector spaces etc. are far more interesting than most topics in maths, you get see such awesome organisation and cataloguing of ideas.

i wonder what practical application group theory has

It's used in Quantum Mechanics and other areas of Physics. Suggested reading: http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/groups.htm. The linked article outlines some of the applications of group theory in Physics. If you already are familiar with group theory, then you'll probably want to read only the first 3 paragraphs, and the sections "Applications to Quantum Mechanics", "Continuous Groups", and "Conclusion", for the rest of the article is a basic introduction to group theory.

 

Also, there is also a book that discusses the applications of Group Theory in Physics, entitled Group Theory and Physics, link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0521558859/102-7909745-4660944?v=glance.

Group theory also tends to trivialise some notoriously tough looking theorems in number theory.

who knows? maybe todays research will help physists in 100 years time to solve some problems etc etc. i wonder what practical application group theory has

Ever heard of Lie groups and Lie algebras? I hear they are used extensively in quantum mechanics.

who knows? maybe todays research will help physists in 100 years time to solve some problems etc etc. i wonder what practical application group theory has

 

I suppose the answer to this question is that physics is now becoming a lot more abstract (and to some extents, fairly unusable - for instance, string theory). Who knows how abstract that's going to be in 100 years time?

Yeah, most of the modern mathematics we do is completely abstract and doesn't really have an application in the real world.

 

no I think the stuff that's useful in the real world are just very special cases of more general stuff in math.

Fair enough. There's a lot of seemingly abstract things in mathematics that do have applications though, so I guess it's not all for sheer interest

i can use a calculator , but seriously now - Im just about to start my maths gcse in school so where abouts will i be? i doubt i will be doing calculus. its not my fav area of science though...

Calculus won't come until A-Level. GCSE is a mix of a load of things, although I found it was quite trig and stats oriented. There's also (rather obviously) a heavy emphasis on algebra.

 

Most of my time was spent doing bloody cumulative frequency graphs.

most of mine time went solving inequalities.

Yes, that too.

I have a phd in math. One of the most interesting fields is functional analysis i would say.

 

Mandrake

Pre-calc is as far as i've gone. I really enjoyed that course, had an awesome teacher who cursed just like us kids, and was good at teaching, and a book that competantly explained concepts. Did half a year of calc with a teacher that sucked, and was a Smiling Nazi, and the book couldn't do shit to help me make up for what i couldn't absorb from the class. Taking AP Stats this year with a teacher that i hear is awesome, hopefully that'll be fun.

speaking of that teacher. Well she's not ALL that horrible, but mostly---- is there a word for wearing a pleasant mask and being evil at the same time? I was searching for that word to describe her, there really should be some word to describe those nasty people . . . .

Two-faced, perhaps?

 

And to bring this post slightly on topic, I've had my fair share of math teachers like that. Generally if they like you/think you're pretty intelligent, they'll try to get on with you (from my experience, anyway).

Generally if they like you/think you're pretty intelligent, they'll try to get on with you (from my experience, anyway).

I agree (and this has happened to me not only with maths. professors but with other professors as well). Problems arise however when they expect from you more than what you can provide.

...and when you expect from them more than what they can provide.

Yes indeed. Personally I think it's wholly unfair to shun other students whilst concentrating on a select bunch, but I suppose that's just the way it is.

By select bunch are you talking the gifted or the challenged buch? It's rare to find a teacher more concerned with the gifted kids than the kid who took a math class three years too advanced, in my experience at least.

...and when you expect from them more than what they can provide.

Good point. I had this professor for a couple of my CS courses who could not articulate herself properly in english when conducting a class (and she supposedly has 12 years of teaching expirience in the U.S.!). I guess nobody complains since everybody tends to pass her courses (e.g. I aced all of her courses without any trouble). At this stage, I don't really rely much on lectures anymore so all of the stuff I learn, I learn on my own. The professors, as I see it, are just there for support.

hmm yes culmative frequency, trig, standard deviation, and to top it off statistics coursework , aint I lucky!

Ooh, you got the coursework. I got the nice MA1 exam, which I liked a lot.

I went straight from Algebra I to Calc BC. I passed to AP exam, and I'm enrolled for Calc III (Multivariate and vector calculus) at the community college this fall. But I've been reading math books for ages, and I've read books on linear algebra, topology, functional analysis, group theory, tensors, spinors (I only know how to use spinors with a (-+++) metric tensor, I couldn't find a book that would show me how to generalize them to any space), stats, and--my favorite--number theory (particulary prime numbers, they seem to fascinate everyone nowadays).