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I disagree. 'Mathematical maturity', to me, means: There is no specific advanced prerequisite knowledge, but you need to be able to follow something technical.
by patrickthebold 5y ago
I disagree. 'Mathematical maturity', to me, means:
There is no specific advanced prerequisite knowledge, but you need to be able to follow something technical.
As an example: you'd reasonably expect a student with mathematical maturity to know what a set, the Cartesian product of two sets, and a function are. That's high school level math.
From there you can define a ring and a module over a ring, in like 5 mins.
So at that point the Prof, strictly speaking, told you everything you need to know to start studying modules.
Of course, many students will be like whaaaaaa?! When a ring is defined. But here's the point: Mathematical maturity does not mean that you already know what a ring is, but when the Prof defines a ring, you are following along.
Anyway, my point is that there is nothing specific that you need to know.
- woah 5y agoIsnt' that basic set theory as a prereq
- tapas73 5y agoIt's abstract thinking and ability to work with new math constructs on the spot.
- arthurmerlin 5y agoMathematical maturity should be well defined if you are using it as a prerequisite. Mathematicians, of all people, should be good at coming up with such precise definitions.
- gizmo686 5y agoThat is why they rarely list is as a prerequisite; and instead list specific classes that likely fostered it. Any good definition of mathematical maturity would likely be so technical that you need mathematical maturity to understand it.
- ghaff 5y agoIt's not a precise definition (and I'm not sure how actionable it is) but it is a term of art. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_maturity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_maturity Some people are better with math than others. Undergrad math majors thought the major was pretty easy. Many of us in engineering majors--who weren't that bad at math (it was a good school)--could no more have graduated with a degree in math (or physics) than have flapped our arms and flown.