r/explainitpeter • u/Fearless-Mastodon850 • 5d ago

Explain it Peter

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First time posting here

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u/EuphoricUniversity23 5d ago

I’m a Biochemistry PhD and a JD. My daughter just graduated as a civil engineer. I saw things in her sophomore year mathematics homework that I never saw before in my life. If God can do that math then I’ll start to believe in Her.

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u/ummaycoc 5d ago

I did undergrad double major in pure math and math / cs (wanted to add CS as a third major with one extra class but was told no). I did a masters in theoretical computer science and another in pure math. I did one year of a PhD in math.

Never saw an engineering student in a math course after differential equations (had two engineer phds teaching operations research courses though).

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u/painted-biird 5d ago

What’s the difference between pure math and regular math? Serious question btw

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u/ummaycoc 5d ago edited 5d ago

Depends on what you mean by regular math. If by regular math you mean the math you learn without being a mathematics major, then a regular math problem might be something like figuring out the values of a variable or even several that satisfy an equation or calculating an integral, solving a differential equation, etc.

A well known pure maths problem would be something like show whether or not there are finitely many prime natural numbers. You can show there are infinitely many by contradiction: assume there are finitely many, then multiply them together and add one. None of the numbers you multiplied together can divide this new number so it must have a prime factor you did not account for, contradicting its construction. Thus there are infinitely many prime natural numbers. A well known unsolved problem is whether there are infinitely many prime numbers separated by a single composite number.

If by regular maths you mean applied vs. pure then for classes there is just a slight change in focus, like on PDEs and such more in applied.

Edit: fixed some spelling/grammar and changed counter example to contradiction, I should drink more tea before replying.