Preparation

So what should you do to prepare for life as a math major? The following tips can help you make a smooth transition from high school senior to college math major.

• First, take as much math as you can in high school. You should take Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Precalculus if it’s offered.  You can also replace one semester of college Calculus with AP Calculus if it’s available at your high school—this enables you to take higher level math classes more quickly.
• Score well on the Andrews Mathematics Placement Examination (MPE).  Most math majors score P5 on the MPE when they first come to Andrews. If you get a lower score, you can take Precalculus at Andrews and still do well. If you present AP Calculus credit you do not have to take the MPE.

What to expect
Your serious mathematical study will start with Calculus I, II, and III. After Calculus, many doors open. You will want to take Differential Equations (finding solutions of equations involving derivatives), elementary Linear Algebra (a powerful extension of the study of simultaneous linear equations), and Statistics and Probability. All these are studies with many applications in science, technology, and business.

It is important for you to take Discrete Mathematics as soon as possible, preferably in the spring of your first year.  In this course you will learn the fundamentals of logic and proof on which many of your advanced courses will depend.

You’ll also learn about many areas of “pure” mathematics that were developed “just for the fun of it” but have important applications (the ancient Chinese and Greek study of number theory is a good example). The power of pure mathematics is so great that no applied mathematician can afford to be ignorant of it.

Advanced Calculus teaches you how to think with complete precision about the ideas of continuity and limit that you explored first in Calculus.  Abstract Algebra (groups, rings, and fields) is a great unifier of mathematics. By developing theorems from very simple axioms, we save ourselves the labor of generating essentially duplicate theories for different mathematical structures. Geometry is important for understanding the nature and structure of spatial relations.