Hello everyone,

Well i want to get into a level 2 program in the field of chem bio/biochem/molecbio ect.

However, I want to keep taking math courses, so i have a couple of questions;

1- Will a student who was taken math 1a03/1aa3, be at a disadvantage in terms of preparation compared to a student who took math 1x03/1xx3 during first year?

2- Which type of math courses (real analysis, topoly, chaos theory, number theory, ect..) could i take that would not require knowledge of all other areas? (for example: if you take 8 courses of a certain field, it would suffice to fully understand the field and even continue beyond undergraduate)



Thanks.

I can't answer #2 but I know that 1x03/1xx3 are pretty much identical to 1a03/1aa3 in terms of course material. In fact, my 1aa3 class last year was shared with 1xx3.

as hyvaa said 1a03/1aa3 and 1x03/1xx3 were pretty much identical last year, although i believe 1x03 had a bit more hardcore math in it but it didnt really make much of a difference since 1aa3 and 1xx3 had a shared class last year and people seemed to be on the same level in regards to assumed knowledge

for the second question, if you want to go into chembio/biochem, you probably wont have any elective spaces due to the program. as far as i know though, anything that requires previous knowledge would list them as prerequisites. you'll probably be able to get into any 2nd year math course if you take 1a03 and 1aa3, except for program specific math courses and linear algebra (unless you take 1b03 too)

just to note, i'm in chembio right now (2nd year) and i wanted to take some 2nd year math courses, but i cant because i have no elective 1st term and 2nd term maths are almost all continuations from term 1, so take that into consideration if you want to continue taking math courses

Yup they are very similar. In fact, in math 1AA3 last year, we had the same midterm/exam. Anyways, for your second question, you should look at the prereqs for the courses. I'm taking this course called Math for Physical Chemists (chem 2PC3). The class size is very small (16 people). We cover a lot of different types of math and do a lot of application style questions related to chemistry. Here's the outline:

1. Series and limits (Chapter 3)
2. Functions of several variables (Chapter 12 - up to 12.5) and the Fundamental Equations of Thermodynamics
3. The Newton-Raphson method (23.1) of solving nonlinear equations – chemical equilibrium
4. Linear equations & their solution - Gauss-Jordan elimination (23.4)
5. Vectors (13.1), linear transformations, matrix algebra (18.1) and discrete dynamical systems – equilibrium and steady state solutions
6. Markov chains & unimolecular reactions
7. Matrix inverse (18.2) and determinants (Chapter 17)
8. Vectors spaces (20.1, 20.2), subspaces, basis vectors and function spaces
9. Change of basis & linear operators
10. Orthogonal matrices – molecular rotation – discrete Fourier transformation
11. Eigenvalues and decay rates – eigenvectors and decay to equilibrium (Chapter 19)

Btw does anyone know how to get excel to solve Newton-Raphson with 2 variables?

Sounds like linear algebra^.

Originally Posted by luxhydrus

Hello everyone,

Well i want to get into a level 2 program in the field of chem bio/biochem/molecbio ect.

However, I want to keep taking math courses, so i have a couple of questions;

1- Will a student who was taken math 1a03/1aa3, be at a disadvantage in terms of preparation compared to a student who took math 1x03/1xx3 during first year?

2- Which type of math courses (real analysis, topoly, chaos theory, number theory, ect..) could i take that would not require knowledge of all other areas? (for example: if you take 8 courses of a certain field, it would suffice to fully understand the field and even continue beyond undergraduate)



Thanks.

For your first question, it shouldn't be much of a disadvantage, provided that you keep the big picture in mind in 1A03/1AA3. Working to intuitively understand calculus by fully understanding concepts like the epsilon-delta definition of a limit etc. instead of just "prep for tests" should do you well if you plan on taking 2X03/2XX3, although there is quite a jump from 1AA/1XX to 2X.

As for the second question - to continue beyond undergraduate you'll need a few standard courses - real & complex analysis, and maybe some algebra and differential equations. The interrelatedness of other fields varies based on the composition of your math courses. Something like chaos theory would require knowledge of a field (not mathematically speaking, haha) like differential equations, while topology would probably not, and relate more to the ideas you'd get from 2X/2XX, for example. There will, of course, be quite a nice concept-overlap between 2X and 2R, since 2X introduces vector-valued functions and their calculus

Originally Posted by fred

as hyvaa said 1a03/1aa3 and 1x03/1xx3 were pretty much identical last year, although i believe 1x03 had a bit more hardcore math in it but it didnt really make much of a difference since 1aa3 and 1xx3 had a shared class last year and people seemed to be on the same level in regards to assumed knowledge

for the second question, if you want to go into chembio/biochem, you probably wont have any elective spaces due to the program. as far as i know though, anything that requires previous knowledge would list them as prerequisites. you'll probably be able to get into any 2nd year math course if you take 1a03 and 1aa3, except for program specific math courses and linear algebra (unless you take 1b03 too)

just to note, i'm in chembio right now (2nd year) and i wanted to take some 2nd year math courses, but i cant because i have no elective 1st term and 2nd term maths are almost all continuations from term 1, so take that into consideration if you want to continue taking math courses

Yeah, in chembio it's pretty difficult to minor in anything, there's not a lot of elective space.
If you did core biochem though, they have TONS of elective space after 2nd year. In 2nd year, I think they get one elective each term, but then in 3rd year they have 4 required courses, and plenty of room for electives in 4th year (although not as much as 3rd year).