<p>I get that, I was just wondering if when you said (analysis/abstract), the abstract specifically meant “Abstract Algebra.” It’s a nickname students at my school give it for some reason.</p>
<p>I had in mind Abstract Algebra and other upper level math courses that rely on it.</p>
<p>Is the average under grad Bio major qualified for a Nursing job?</p>
<p>Referring to the CS, I think the more theoretical stuff would be fine, for ex. information theory or algorithms. The problem is when you get to things on the ‘engineering’ side, like large-scale project management, software design and testing, which requires a lot of applied computer science and programming from other coursework you wouldn’t get in a math major.</p>
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<p>I suppose not, but they told me at school that I could go into engineering with a degree in math.</p>
<p>That’s a bad analogy. Isn’t a large part of nursing school time spent in a hospital? Like it’s a substantial part of the learning, and you actually need that to graduate? </p>
<p>Engineers spend undergrad time learning the concepts. Maybe a lot get internships, but anybody can apply for that over a summer. Engineering is definitely lots more academic than nursing; the majority of the skills are learned on the job, not in the undergraduate career.</p>
<p>“Lacero, I apologize for my ignorance, but what do people with ‘signal processing’ jobs do?”</p>
<p>You can do this easily if you have a degree in applied math - fourier transforms, autocorrelation functions etc.</p>
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<p>Anyone can apply for any internship they want. But how many math majors will find engineering internships? It’s not like the number of engineering majors seeking engineering internships is scarce.</p>
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<p>And in what math classes do they teach those things?</p>
<p>By the way, I just googled fourier transforms and the math looks very complicated for me.</p>
<p>Yeah, but my point was that it makes more sense for a math major to apply for an engineering internship than it does for a bio major to apply for a nursing position (not sure if they have internships, per se). I’m not saying that math majors are better at engineering than engineers at all.</p>
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“Math” wise, a math major is qualified for engineering jobs because the most math used at work are trig and calc (my experience-80% and 20% of the time, respectively). Forget about fourier analysis, I’ve never seen it once at work… used to be able to do it at one point, but totally forgot now…</p>
<p>As a math major, the only thing that put you at a disadvantage is whether or not the company is willing to spend more money in teaching you engineering stuff.
For example, the place where I work for sure is not willing to spend time and money training new employees about structural analysis and design, hydraulics, highway design, geotech, etc although we know that you can do the math. There is no incentive for a company when there are lots of civil engineering students that are readily available to do the work with relatively fewer direction compare to math students.</p>
<p>“Forget about fourier analysis, I’ve never seen it once at work… used to be able to do it at one point, but totally forgot now…”</p>
<p>Really?? I use it every day. It depends on the field you are working in. The math skills that are required are not consistent across fields.</p>
<p>Fourier transforms are easy. You should be very concerned if you find them difficult and they are a lot more straightforward than abstract math.</p>
<p>No, math is too theoretical, and it is only one part of engineering.</p>
<p>“No, math is too theoretical, and it is only one part of engineering.”</p>
<p>Again it depends on the field. We employ a number of applied mathematicians where I work.</p>
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<p>Well I took a look at the entry on Wikipedia for Fourier Transform and couldn’t make sense of the first equation:</p>
<p>f[E] := Integral[-inf,+inf] f(x)e^-2piixE dx for every real E</p>
<p>which is supposed to be the Fourier Transform of an integrable question. I can, for example, see that you take a function, you multiply it by e^-2piE and integrate it with respect to x, that’s your new transformed function, but frankly, I don’t know what the formula means.</p>
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<p>Those applied mathematicians, are they math geniuses or average mathematicians? BS? MS? PhD? Also, what type of applied math do they use and for what?</p>
<p>pmvd, I would say the “average mathematician” is closer to a genius than to your everyday intellectual. Math majors or graduates (below PhD, and even some PhD’s and professors) are not mathematicians in the usual sense of the word.</p>
<p>And about Fourier transforms - anything can look difficult when you don’t have the background. Which is a reason I see the “math is too theoretical” argument as a little bit questionable. Engineers get fed a lot of math without a rationale. Math majors are not introduced to anything that isn’t defined or proven rigorously, so you understand where mostly everything is coming from. Which makes it a hell of a lot easier to remember, if not outright reproduce.</p>
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<p>Well, I guess I’m not really bad at math if I put my mind to it, but often I find math classes incredibly, INCREDIBLY boring so I never bother with going to class or studying. I got a B in multivariable calc because I literally learned two months worth of material the night before the exam. So I struggle with all math in the sense that I can’t put myself down to seriously study it. It also doesn’t help I find the math jargon in classes incredibly confusing.</p>
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<p>I understand the feeling. I also suck at forcing myself to do something I don’t care about. On the other hand, if it’s something that I like, I can effortlessly become absorbed for hours, and those hours will feel like a few minutes.</p>
<p>By the way, as a CS guy, if you were required to write a program that relies on math in some way, would you feel motivated to teach yourself the necessary math or even then you couldn’t bother?</p>
<p>When I talk about Fourier transforms and that they are important to understand, in EE in particular they are heavily used. When I say using them, I don’t just mean taking integrals, I mean being able to use FFT’s to solve problems etc. If you have matlab and the toolboxes - take a look at the signal processing toolboxes. Also look at how matlab does FFT’s (fast fourier transforms). Its important to be able to use numerical techniques.</p>
<p>If the computer is going to do all the math for you, then why do they want you to have a background in Fourier transforms? If it’s just memorizing formulas and knowing when to apply them then you could probably get the average English major to do it.</p>
<p>Why do we even take calculus then-- buy a TI-89.</p>