Why I Love Combinatorics
It's the first math class I've had where the emphasis has been on model building vs. problem solving. I say this because although we solved tons of problems (and I will continue solving them into winter break as I am just NOW getting caught up), but all of these problems can be modeled in at least five different ways, though technically three of the ways are all part of the same category, "Generating Functions."
Though alot of my classmates felt this kind of math was abstract and stupid--I see a great benefit. You can't optimize a solution to a problem if you can't enumerate all of its solutions, You need a method that would allow you to find the solutions and this topic, enumeration, does exactly that.
I also learned that I will NOT take another class that requires calculus again, until I've taken the full calculus sequence. I was ill-prepared for many of the topics this semester, however I learned how to fucking study like a grad student. (Between this and discrete math last summer.)
In short, after I graduate I fully plan on making up for some lost time taking the 1.5 yr calc sequence, Linear Algebra, just so I can be successful in grad school where I plan on taking as math-intensive of a CS degree that I can get my hands on. I don't know, I kind of enjoy it when someone says "What are you studying," looks down at my book and says "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"
Though alot of my classmates felt this kind of math was abstract and stupid--I see a great benefit. You can't optimize a solution to a problem if you can't enumerate all of its solutions, You need a method that would allow you to find the solutions and this topic, enumeration, does exactly that.
I also learned that I will NOT take another class that requires calculus again, until I've taken the full calculus sequence. I was ill-prepared for many of the topics this semester, however I learned how to fucking study like a grad student. (Between this and discrete math last summer.)
In short, after I graduate I fully plan on making up for some lost time taking the 1.5 yr calc sequence, Linear Algebra, just so I can be successful in grad school where I plan on taking as math-intensive of a CS degree that I can get my hands on. I don't know, I kind of enjoy it when someone says "What are you studying," looks down at my book and says "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"