@bjkmom Finite math (M118) and a brief survey of calculus (M119) are essentially the same level of difficulty at IU, even though the material is obviously different.
If you are strong in math and come into M118 with a basic understanding of probability concepts (conditional probability, permutations, combinations, etc) and matrices, it is very easy. But if you aren’t strong in math in general, it can become overwhelming pretty quickly (it could easily take a weak math student 30+ minutes to solve 1 matrix problem, and then there’s no guarantee of actually getting the correct answer if you’re doing it by hand). Finite is probably the toughest course at IU to predict whether a random person will find it easy, because some people get an easy A without much effort, and some people get 20% raw scores on the exams. Most classes don’t have that wide of a range of outcomes.
If you’re curious, I can’t find a specific list of topics covered in finite, but I took the course and still tutor other students in it. Some major concepts that I can remember are:
-Conditional Probability (using venn diagrams, tree charts, raw numbers, etc)
-Matrices (finding the inverse, stable state vectors, production matrices, etc)
-Linear Programming (all by hand, which absolutely sucks even though it’s pretty easy)
-Markov Chains
Some of the homework problems can get pretty crazy, especially if you make a calculation error, so it’s very important to go to help sessions when you need help.