Do you want to do a Maths Degree?

Well, do you? Here are five criteria from me that, ultimately, might help the decision process:

1: Do you like mathematics?

Or rather, do you really like mathematics? And I don't strictly mean if you're good at it or not. Probably, you won't realise if you enjoy maths or not, until about halfway through the degree. Because there's nothing like ten weeks of solid problems to stimulate or shut down the mental processes.

2: Do you like learning?

You'd better. So far, maths lessons for you will have been, ultimately, building on what you did the previous module, or term, or year of study - with the odd exception, such as when you first discovered trigonometry, or calculus, or anything else that would send a normal person running and screaming. But then you find yourself at university, and the first lecture chucks everything you knew out the window. In my first few weeks, I was eagerly clinging on to the bits of differentiation and integration that I recognised amidst the sea of greek letters and set theory. Don't worry - it becomes much easier with time. But you will have to learn a lot of bizarre new things, and fast.

3: Are you terribly precise?

I'm presuming so, as you've got this far. I'm not talking about handwriting - some students I've seen have appalling handwriting, especially in maths. Rather, in copying down symbols and words and phrases from the board. One thing you can't do is just copy down any old rubbish, and copying down blindly means you can't always get the gist either. Mathematics requires precision, almost to the point of pedantry, when it comes to notation. Count your brackets! Swot up on Greek letters! Learn some logic!

4: Are you good at exams?

Compared to other university courses, mathematics particularly seems like a breeze. You won't have a report to hand in every week. There's no compulsory books to read up on. No essays, really. In fact, during the term time, you'll only have one or two pieces of coursework to hand in, three if you're very unlucky.

But then you come to the exams. The exams - which, by the way, are worth about 95% of your grade for this term - requiring you to basically do fifteen questions in ten hours. All crammed into about two weeks. Let's face it, if you're better at coursework than in examinations, I'd probably advise a different subject.

Of course, during the weeks leading up to the exam, you have lectures, you have problem sheets, you have a mounting pile of work that you really should do if you want to pass the exam. So whilst it's by no means a breeze, it does mean you can work at your own pace. Or rather, you can skip a few weeks of work, nobody will notice, until you have to stay up all night before the exam.

5: Do you know what you want to do afterwards?

The choice is simple. Do you want to be an engineer or something practical? Do an engineering course. Or something with computing? Step forward Computer Sciences. Most jobs have a course attached to them - aeronautics, finance, law, even media, ultimately... Mathematics? Well, most of it is theoretical. So, tough luck. But the good news is, maths degrees fit into every kind of job. (Actually - I'll get back to you on that one...) The sort of degree that tells people you've got the brains to do really complicated stuff. Because at the end of the day, it's not the really complex processes you learn in the final year... but learning the way of thinking that you need in order to implement them.

Unless you're one of these people who wants to go on to do a PHD in the subject. Shortly followed by a trip to an asylum, I presume. (joking, joking...)

So... that's my personal advice to any wannabee maths graduates. Oh, and also - it's a great subject - highly engrossing, entertaining, challenging, baffling and rewarding, if you want it to be.

Five Quite Boring Things I've Started Doing Recently

For the most part, third year university life for me is much the same as second year university life was. Lectures, bus trips, problem sheets, filling mind-numbing gaps in the day... (but not, unfortunately, an offered job supervising first-years - shame.) But I did think of a few changes that I've started getting used to:

1. Drinking tea.
   
   Yes, for preposterous reasons, I'd never tried tea until a few months back. Obviously this was letting the side down for Britain, especially given my taste for coffee. But it's actually rather nice at four o'clock, as a mild, hot, cosy beverage. Even if I don't go quite as far as putting lemon with it.
   
   
   
2.  Fresh bread.
   
   Okay, so whilst I live with other people, I shop and cook predominantly for myself. And buy food for myself. For the first two years, I bought a loaf of bread a week. Now, I'm finding myself buying two smaller loaves, and fresh ones at that. It always tastes pretty good, especially the crusts, and it doesn't work out much more expensive. And in theory, this means I can get round the problem of having stale bread left at the end of the week! Result. (Tip: take packed lunches! It's so much cheaper!)
   
   
   
   
3.  Warming up last night's dinner
   
   There's plenty of advice out there, in our days of extra convenience, with the inventions of microwaves and freezers. Why not cook a great big batch of food, so you don't have to bother to cook it tomorrow? Yeah - but what if I actually like cooking? Or, if I try something new (heaven forbid!) and mess it up the first time around?
   Cooking for one is always going to be harder - although you don't hear so many complaints. (You should try cooking for six, in my first year! But at least then I only had to cook once a week!) In the past, yeah, I've cooked double and saved the other half for the next day. But then we come to days I have to stay at Uni late - far too late to postpone dinner. And I'm a three-square-meals-a-day man. Before, I used to just take another sandwich... which sounds a bit odd now I mention it. But this year, I've been using the (slightly dodgy) microwave on campus, and using a bit of forward thinking, heating up last night's pasta! Result! Even if it takes about half an hour to eat it with plastic cutlery.
   
   
   
   
4. Putting my hand up in lectures
   
   Because, obviously, I wouldn't be rude enough to call out. It's a tough thing to do when you're surrounded by a hundred (if not two hundred) other students, all watching a lecturer who's far more skilled and knowledgeable than you are. Hopefully. And who's, again hopefully, done the course before. And who rarely allows you to put a word in edgeways inbetween everybody copying things down. Normally you can tell a mistake has been made because people look puzzled, turn to the person next to them, ask whether that's a lambda, and then corrects it privately.
   You always have one mad individual in a year who asks the oddest but intelligent questions, which go far beyond the course... and I'm not them. For starters I'm too shy, and secondly, for me it's just pointing out possible mistakes in handwriting.
   But I do like to question things. Excessively and annoyingly, sometimes. I think it started in A Level - where I was conscious that I was one of the only ones asking for help. Not necessarily because I don't understand it, but often to clarify things too. My first inkling seems to be to ask daft things, rather than think it over when I have a spare minute. This carried on into tutorials - small groups of twenty people going over the homework, with the tutor talking about the work, and the rest of the group being in complete silence. Apart from me. (Tip: if you call out an answer though, try to actually have completed or attempted or even looked at the homework that week. Otherwise you may become very infuriating.)
   I'd like to think that, in a similarly sized lecture room, faced with a slightly incomprehensible but kind-hearted lecturer, I'm doing everybody else a favour by getting him to clarify a particular point. Even if there's still complete silence. Because if you don't understand something, chances are other people don't either.
   
   
   
5.  This blog
   
   Well, it's more expressive than Twitter. And I hope it's readable!