When I was in high school, I didn’t really like math. Sure, it was okay, and I was pretty good at it (for the most part), but I didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t a class that I looked forward to. And I never thought that, once I started college, I’d actually take upper level math classes. But just-entering-college Francie was so, so wrong about that.
I ended up in Calculus II to fulfill my reasoning credit at Muhlenberg, since I didn’t come in with AP credits. The first few days of class felt like I was drowning in material I never learned, since it had been so long since taking a high school calculus class. I thought for sure that I would fail the class, or at the very least, get a B (which was freshman-Francie’s definition of failure. Current Francie laughs at this now). Now, I joke that I peaked in Calc II.
I found that, even though the material was often difficult, I really enjoyed puzzling through the problems until I found the correct solution. Sure, it was frustrating at times, and I probably wanted to throw my textbook at the wall more than once, but in the end, seeing that WeBWorK green was so satisfying.
More than once, my Calculus professor talked about his “Codes and Ciphers” class that he teaches every two years. I thought that that class sounded like the coolest thing in the world, but Calc II was a 100s level class, and Codes and Ciphers, a 300s level class, required a 200s level prerequisite. What was I to do? Naturally, I took a 200s level class the next semester. Then I took Codes and Ciphers, which is easily my list of my top 3 favorite classes I’ve ever taken at Muhlenberg. The material was fun, interesting, relevant, and I found myself looking forward to every class. I can’t speak highly enough about it. If you have one of the prerequisites for that class, take it. If you don’t have one of the prerequisites for that class, take a prerequisite, then take Codes and Ciphers. You won’t regret it.
So, obviously since my goal was to take Codes and Ciphers, once I completed that class, I could be done with Mathematics, right? By the time I had taken Codes and Ciphers, I was hooked. There was no going back. I declared my Math minor and enrolled in Transitions to Abstract Mathematics, the class that, according to every math student I’d ever talked to at Muhlenberg, was actual Hell. Naturally, I wanted to take it, despite not needing it for the minor.
A month into class Transitions has proved to be challenging, but also one of the most interesting classes I’ve ever taken. This class is the introduction to proof writing class, and it ain’t your high school geometry proofs being written. These proofs are shiny, sleek, elegant, and beautiful. I sound like a massive nerd, I know, but I’m not exaggerating; the complex proofs that I’ve seen (and at this point, only aspire to write proofs an eighth as well as) are logical masterpieces. And I’ve started to use the logic I’m learning in class in my other forms of writing, in how I present arguments, and in how I view the world. While I’m sure that, at the end of the semester, I too can attest to the difficulties present in the class, right now I’m enjoying what I’m learning.
So, why do I love Math, even though the Math classes have a tendency to harm my GPA? Why not just be done with it after my reasoning credit, or after Codes and Ciphers?
Simply put, studying Mathematics has changed the way I approach problems in all disciplines of study. I was initially drawn to pursuing Math after Calc II not only because of the interesting sounding classes I could take in the future, but also because the way I go about a math problem is very different than how I go about a Biology problem, and I liked that it expanded my ability to approach and solve problems.
I like being challenged to, if one method doesn’t work, try a different method. I enjoy grumbling about difficult problems with my friends until one of us has a “eureka!” moment. And I love that I can apply what I learned in math class to not only my other classes, but to my life outside academia.
So, to all those who find themselves grumbling about math class, to all those who think they might like to take more advanced classes but aren’t sure, and to my friends that are Math majors and minors:
Math is amazing.
QED.
