Is over. Thank god I have that out of the way. I now have 3 months before it all starts again and my scheduling is back at the mercy of the Open University.
I am not too sure how I did in the exam. I missed a couple of small bits out and I think I really botched one of the last ten point questions. I know what I needed to do for it but the notation completely escaped me, bollix.
We will see just how I did in a few months time. Now I need to figure out what would be the most beneficial thing to do with all this free time.
Open University M203 Pure Mathematics Course
Is driving me nuts. The last block ie
Analysis B
is trying to cover so much ground so fast I have hardly got time to catch my breath. This is in part due to my preparation ie
MST121
MS221
These courses are meant to be adequate preparation for M203 but having just started reading.
Hardy G. H: A Course of Pure Mathematics.
Courant R: Differential and Integral Calculus Vol. 1
they seem to spend a lot more time on the fundamentals of calculus ie limits and functions than I ever did previously. Hardy’s book is very explanatory but hard to follow and deserves some concentration but so far I have found the first few pages a treat to read. I like the way “he preaches to the cannibals” which is just what I need.
I am not sure if MST121 and MS221 are enough preparation for M203. I have done very well in all of my coursework but my algebra is just not up to scratch. I can tell this when I am reading some of the material and they appear to make leaps from one bit to another. If you are thinking about doing M203 or the next course M208 then make sure that you have a good grounding in algebra. The best arena for brushing up on your algebra or at least for me is “real analysis” particularly sequences limits and series.
I have decided I won’t be attempting Complex Analysis M337 next year because my algebra is just not hot enough yet. I will do it in 2 years time when the course runs again. Its a shame because I really wanted to do M337 next year.
M203 Group Theory
Is over and thank the lord. My tutor had told me that the Group theory was much easier than the linear algebra, unfortunately for me this was not the case. It was only when I handed him the Tutor Marked Assignment ( TMA ) that I found out he had specialized in Group theory so I think he might be a bit biased 😉
I think it was because I was unable to see an immediate use for it. I loved its elegance and I enjoyed the course more than the linear algebra but I found it much tougher going. I have been using linear algebra during the process of building a vector space search engine so it is nothing new to me and I could see a use for it which I lacked with Groups.
Still haven’t decided what I am going to study next year but I would like to do a a bit more work on group theory. I have a summer school coming up soon and I am hoping to get some idea of what might be suitable for my level 3 courses next year.
I managed to get 92% for the TMA so I must have done something right.
M203 TMA04
This was the analysis block of the course and so far it has been the easiest I have done. I think this is because it was one of the more enjoyable blocks I have done on M203. We are now studying Groups and so far it is looking OK but I will reserve judgment on this until the TMA has been and gone