Mathematics

[GuestFellow]

:sl:

My cousin wants to study a degree in Mathematics but he has no formal qualifications and unfortunately, he is not brilliant at Maths either. He would be considered average.

He is desperate for success. He thinks he ruined his life and feels like a failure, so he wants to study a tough subject, in order to get a top job, impress his family and get respect. He had a tough life and I think he is suffering from depression (probably from bullying), and sometimes, I get the impression he wants to commit suicide. He's currently unemployed and on benefits. His dad moans that he is not educated.

He wants to study at Open University and asked for my advice. I don't want to crush his hopes but I doubt he can cope with a maths degree...then again, he is determined to study very hard. I don't feel like stopping him but then if he struggles and fails, he is going to feel worse.

So is the Open University any good to study Mathematics?

EDIT:

I forgot to add, his mental maths is awful but is very good at Algebra. How should he improve his mental maths?

[Yanal]

Sorry I have no idea myself.

I dislike math.Insha'Allaah someone will be able to help you.

[GuestFellow]

^ LOL I hate Maths too, especially probability, drives me mad.

[Ramadhan]

Why not studying something like computer science or programming?
It is easier than doing full math degree but still requires logic (which is more compatible for him since he's good in algebra).

Also, it will be easier for him to get a job or work once he finished the qualification, and the sooner he gets a job, the better it is for his depression. He could even take some programming job while still finishing his degree.

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[Yanal]

I just dislike it due to the fact it's difficult to understand..

[SlaveOfGod]

lol I come from a family of Math geeks :p idk anything about an Open University but in Maths, whatever you put in, is what you get out. You have to do LOTS of question just to get the hang of one rule! But if he really tries he can do it Inshallah


My personal opinion of Mental Maths is you can't do much about it, but this is just my opinion. My dad is great at Maths overall but when it comes to Mental Maths, he's not that good. I would advise him to go back and memorise all of the timetables, these are really important in Mental Maths and you can save plently of time just my knowing your timetables of by heart! It might sound childish "Go and memorise your timetables!" but it's really helpful!

Hope I helped. Salaam

[Woodrow]

Just my opinion, a person should only seek a Math degree if they are doing so because they love Mathematics. It is not a degree that will lead to a high paying job. Maybe a prestigious job with a nice title, but not one for an impressive salary.

[Yassouid]

al-hamdella i am currently studying Mathematics; inshallah in less than a month i will be entering the second semester of my junior year so i have a pretty good idea of what it takes to be a math major.

So basically the first two years of your study- for me at least- is quite simple. Because you can't get into real math in most universities until after you finish the core requisites which are Calculus 1,2, and 3. This could take 1.5 or 2 years depending on whether you take calculus 1 your freshman year or an introduction to calculus class.

During this time it is almost impossible to take any other math class, so your schedule is basically full of electives and english. Once you've completed those 3 class you are allowed to take high level math classes at will. The nice thing is that after the 1.5 or 2 years of those core classes you still have the opportunity to potentially change majors to almost any engineering or art and science major without losing a lot, because all of those majors also usually require calculus 1-3 and the same electives and english.

After you finish calc 1-3 you can pretty much say that 3/4ths of your remaining classes you will never see a number in. The classes that will have numbers will be classes such as stats, linear algebra, and differential equations, but other than that the rest of your classes will be proof based.

Your university will most likely make you prove everything that you ever learned from why does 1 + -1 = 0, why do two negative numbers multiply to be positive (surprisingly hard to prove), along with algebra concepts. More so, every formula you are taught in calc 1-3 you will revisit in order to show how the person came up with it, and be able to emulate of proof of the theorem.

Classes that are proof based are very numerous, but they include classes such as: real analysis, fundamentals of calculus, abstract algebra, complex analysis, linear algebra 2 and advanced differential equations. The last two prove all the formulas and theorems done in their pre-requisite class.

At the current moment: proving such things seem daunting, and potentially boring and a pain. Well yes it is a pain, a huge one; not going to lie. And they'll be many a day where you miss the days of introduction classes where you could raise your hand, mention a few of the vocab words of the chapter and the teacher would nod her head and tell you nice point without asking you anything. In a math class you must be exact and precise, you cannot make a claim without the appropriate proof to back it up.

Because most of math major doesnt have numbers being able to do mental math is pointless. The classes that do possess numbers are usually only in the first 2 years and are a focus on integration and derivation (basically the manipulation of formulas to produce alternate formulas that tell us the characteristics of the original formula) this doesnt require you to need to know mental math.

not to make the post too long, you can PM me if you have any other questions or ill check back here soon, but a math major can either be the major of the most work out of all the majors in the world or the least work ever. No matter how much Allah (saw) has blessed you with intelligence, no one is born knowing the different parts of a cell or the names of all the bones in the body, so majors such as biology have students who always have to study, though some people have better memories than others.

Math on the other hand has no memorization, its pure understanding. This could happen for someone during class as they listen to the professor then not have to open the book at all for a test or quiz, or they could spend hours looking at books and notes and not understand the concept. Its a lot of "clicking" moments, and unlike other majors where you could get a D in bio 1, but be amazing at chemistry or zoology- most of math is connected in a way that if you didnt understand it in Calc 1 or some class and you breezed by without it- that sooner or later its going to come back in a more difficult form where you not only have to be able to solve it, you'll have to prove why the method is correct.

You dont have to love math to study math in college, you'll learn to love it- you just have to be curious enough to want to understand everything

instead of just learning a formula and how to apply it- to know where the formula came from).

[Yassouid]

Just my opinion, a person should only seek a Math degree if they are doing so because they love Mathematics. It is not a degree that will lead to a high paying job. Maybe a prestigious job with a nice title, but not one for an impressive salary.

Sorry for the double post, but my opinion is that there is no major that leads to a high salary or a low salary, Allah (saw) already has planned for us how much money we will make in our life no matter what, and we should trust that he will inshallah take care of us.

Because the money (and everything else) comes from Allah (saw) we might as well do something we love to make it- as long as its not haraam . . . so yeah i agree and disagree with you.

[Ummu Sufyaan]

wa alaykum us-salaam
i dont really have a clue what to advise but if he isnt good at maths but wants a degree in it, perhaps its best to try deter him away from that. i dont like advising this since you cant really deter anyone away from anything, but if he fails he'd feel even worse so for the sake of his sanity try to convince him to reconsider and consider a different degree. obviously you dont tell him that in a blunt manner as to not make him feel thick, but in an indirect and subtle way where he feels that he may to rethink his choice.

you should also remind him that there are other ways (eg degrees) of getting respect, etc so maybe its best to explore different degrees.

[Dagless]

You don't want him to do a subject he ends up hating. Find out what his interests are/things he likes, and also what kind of job he could see himself doing. Then work out which route to go from there.

[GuestFellow]

:sl:

Thanks everyone for the posts.

[أحمد]

:sl:

Maths isn't "complicated", but does require time and effort. The only person who would like to spend his time and energy on maths (practically), is someone who has some understanding or liking for the subject area. Anyone who doesn't, will most likely fail to "cope with it".

:wa: