currently in an engr major, but am about to change over to a major in cals & noticed thats a lot, if not all, cals majors require either set one of math [MA 141, 241 & 242] or set two [MA 131 & 231 & ST 311]

my question is whats the basic difference between them? is one set noticeably harder than the other? just curious is all

12/11/2007 9:58:01 PM

it really shouldnt matter in the long run. if u have completed one, the dean shouldnt prob. make you retake it unless it was for some weird abstract reason

12/11/2007 10:11:15 PM

Ma 141-241 -242 is the engineering calculus. It has trigonometry and in ma 241 some physics, in ma 242 some 3-dimensional geometry.

Ma 131-231 has no trig. if I recall correctly. However it typically has more business applications and it goes faster, I mean it is ma 141-241-242 with a few of the harder geometric topics cut out. I think ST 311 is just easy statistics, but I'll let somebody else comment on that one.

I would say the ma 141-241-242 route is harder but on the other hand more worthwhile as it likely gives you more options long term mathematically.

12/11/2007 10:54:15 PM

I am a biochemistry major and taking MA 141. I talked to Dr. Knopp and if you think that MA 141 was hard (which it isn't really. just study it's college) then you can "go down" a level and take MA 231 and finish off with ST311 as your final math class. You cannot however go on to take MA 241 and take ST 311; you gotta take MA 242. hope it helps

12/11/2007 11:15:31 PM

One thing I forgot to mention,

ma 141-241-242 has Maple.
ma 131-231 does not.

12/12/2007 12:52:29 AM

everyone i knew that took 131-231 said it was easy as shit. i can't see st311 being hard, its fuckings stats.

141 was easy, 241 was harder and 242 was a bitch, iirc. plus depending on your engineering degree path, you might have to take 341 too.

12/12/2007 9:18:23 AM

Good point on the maple.

My goal before I graduate? To fuck up eGrader so bad it can't function.

12/12/2007 10:37:32 AM

yea good point about the maple. maple sucks and makes you really frustrated

12/12/2007 11:01:48 AM

^Only on the harder stuff that you never use. It was a life saver in my structures 2 class when it came to simplifying equations that took up a sheet of paper. It also was very useful in doing derivatives and integrals that would have been a pain to do by hand.

12/12/2007 11:13:11 AM

Maple terrorists oh no.

12/12/2007 1:09:34 PM

All I had to take was MA131 and ST311, both middle school level easy. (major didn't require 231)

12/12/2007 1:30:37 PM

131/231/ST 311 were certainly easier. It might be worth it to take the 141 series, but since you are dropping the engineering major, chances are you will never need it. ST 311 will be more useful in you as a CALS major.

12/13/2007 9:49:51 AM

2 words....FUCK MAPLE

12/13/2007 11:38:01 AM

haha thanks for the help guys...after hearing how fun maple is & that i likely wouldnt need the "harder" math set, im going to simply go with the ma131 set

12/13/2007 11:56:38 AM