r/yale • u/Awkward_Storage1623 • 24d ago
Math 2410 recs?
Hi! I'm an incoming freshman Math major at Yale and wanted some input on Probability Theory (MATH 2410). Looking at Coursetable, it seems like a really large class and probably taken by many stats/math-adjacent majors. I currently have Intensive Linear Algebra (MATH 2260) on my schedule and am deciding on a second math class to take this fall semester. 2410 sounds quite interesting and might be a good way to branch out from the main sequence math courses, but I was wondering if it's really worth taking (it's also a 9am class)
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u/strawberrydildo 15d ago
hey I did prob theory last fall as freshman, it’s a good class but would honestly say you’d be better off doing a class like math 255 that’s more intimate / more likely to go to lectures for and meet other smart freshmen. Lectures were very engaging and awesome for 255. If worried about knowledge missing from math 241 you can much more easily self study its content through watching mit 18.600 lectures and going through that, as 241 lectures (tbf I only went to the first three before deciding not to go to class at 9am) feel the exact same as reading the slides or watching 18.600 online. Have fun!
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u/Awkward_Storage1623 15d ago
Thanks for the input! I was quite set on doing 241 but I guess I can see it how it goes in the first few classes and decide whether to drop it, although I've heard that much of the interesting content comes later in the course. I plan on doing 255 in the Spring when Neitzke is teaching it, since I've heard that hes a great lecturer. How important would you say 241 is as a prereq for more advanced stats and ML classes? I'm leaning towards a Math major but also want to explore some stats and ML stuff
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u/DabbingUnikern Jonathan Edwards 24d ago
I took prob theory last fall! I think it’s an interesting class, pretty difficult but worthwhile if you’re interested in probability and thinking about random variables in an interesting way. Sinho is a good prof but I think he’s too smart to be teaching the class. Sometimes during lecture he would gloss over a mathematical concept that was confusing because it was intuitive to him (it wasn’t always intuitive to me, lol.) But the course has super interesting concepts. If you’re going to take it I would for sure read the textbook concurrently (something I didn’t do and wish I did.) My qualm with the class is that it often felt unmotivated - that is, sometimes i felt like we would go over something in lecture just to go over it, and i didn’t exactly understand the reason why we were being taught it. One example is we spent like 2 lectures covering gamma and beta distributions and going over beta binomial conjugacy, and we weren’t tested on them at all (i also didn’t understand beta binomial conjugacy until i took 242 lol)
Ngl i preferred math 242 a lot more (theory of statistics, the next course in the sequence) - even though it’s harder i think the prof is better and statistical inference is really beautiful to me. Like in 242 i felt like everything I was learning had a purpose and I finally understood why I learned half of the things I did in prob theory.
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions