Plan a visit to the Math Department We are very pleased that you are considering mathematics as a major. You will be given the opportunity to meet with our Undergraduate Coordinator, Dr. Jennifer Royal and possibly sit in on a math class if you wish to do so. You may also get an opportunity to meet Department Head, Dr. Neil Lyall and/or some of our other great faculty members and instructors. We have various research opportunities available to undergraduates, both during the year and during summers. Whether you ultimately major in mathematics or not, we would particularly like to call your attention to some special opportunities for freshmen aside from the usual calculus offerings. We have the standard calculus sequence for science and engineering majors, MATH 2250-2260-2270-2500. Students who score 4 or 5 on the AP Calculus AB Exam will place into MATH 2260 (or MATH 2310H), as will students who score 3 or 4 on the AP Calculus BC Exam. Students who score 5 on the BC Exam will exempt MATH 2260 as well and will get credit once they earn a C or better in a subsequent mathematics class (see below). We'd like to take this opportunity to tell you about a few of our entry-level mathematics classes that are virtually unique to UGA. Since 1984 we have been offering MATH 2400(H)-2410(H), Calculus with Theory. Although no prior knowledge of calculus is assumed, most students have earned credit for calculus through the AP exam (and they keep this credit). We use Michael Spivak's wonderful text Calculus; this is a truly mathematical treatment of calculus. Proofs and a deep understanding of the underlying concepts will be stressed, along with a greater variety of applications and challenging computational problems. To the best of our knowledge (after consulting Wikipedia), such courses are still offered only at the Universities of Chicago, Toronto, Michigan, Rochester, and Ohio State. Eminent universities such as Rice and U.C. Berkeley have forsaken the course. In 1999, we pioneered MATH 3500(H)-3510(H), Multivariable Mathematics. Each year, at least a dozen ambitious first-year students who have scored a 5 on the AP BC Exam enroll in this class and enjoy it. This unusual class covers both multivariable calculus and linear algebra in an integrated fashion, including more proofs and applications than standard courses. Comparable courses are taught at Stanford, Yale, and Vanderbilt. Some students choose to take MATH 3200, Introduction to Higher Mathematics concurrently; although we find that it's not always necessary. (This sequence covers all the material of MATH 2500 and MATH 3000.) Please contact Dr. Jennifer Royal, jroyal@uga.edu to schedule a time to visit our department.
