Is it possible to major in Computer Science and minor in Mathematical physics at Waterloo?

No, but you can get an applied math minor: http://ugradcalendar.uwa...plied-Mathematics-Minor

Or a physics minor: http://ugradcalendar.uwa...e/SCI-Minor-in-Physics1

Math/Phys doesn't offer a minor.




First, delaying your graduation slightly is not a big deal. Many, many people (including a lot of top students) stay an extra year.

With that being said, I would say that it is very doable to find jobs after having worked two terms. I found a job in Waterloo after only having worked one term, and it's the hardest to find jobs in Waterloo if you're not a co-op student. But you have to go out to info sessions, make connections, and rely on/help out your friends to get those interviews. Especially if you're getting "Excellents" on your work terms.

If you're not performing too well and don't think you can find jobs on your own, you may want to consider staying in co-op.

Compared to PMATH and CO courses, are AMATH courses easier, on par, or harder? Also, do you know anything specific about AMATH 231, 242 and/or 251?

Is AMATH 231 easy, though? I'll have some knowledge of multivariable calculus by the time I go to Waterloo if I go, so I was considering trying to get into the class during 1A...

Hi, greygoose:

This has been asked numerous times, @ UW, what is the difference between

Applied Mathematics

Pure Mathematics

and

Combinatorics and Optimization?

The core courses are the same, my plan is

MATH145, MATH146, MATH147, MATH148, CS145, CS146, MATH245, MATH247, MATH249, CS240, CS241, CS245, CS246, CS251, CO255 ......

How different are these fields? Is CO closer to Statistics, whereas PMATH is about proofs, and AMATH is about applications (of methods)?

All three have a certain amounts of proofs. In applied math, you tend to do a lot of differential equations, and there are some theories/proofs that can be involved with those. Typically though, applied math is more computational and, well, applied. A lot of people take applied math and physics, applied math and economics, etc, as applied math is a useful tool for the sciences.

Pure Mathematics is math for maths sake. This one is very proof heavy. You can't really sum up pure math as one thing, there are a number of different things covered in pure math courses, ranging from geometry, number theory, set theory, logic, analysis, algebra, and more. This is heavily proof based.

CO, for me at least, is a bit tricky to define. One part of CO, combinatorial enumeration, involves counting. Problems like "How many combinations of 10 items can you get out of 20 items", stuff like that. That's a basic example though. There's also stuff like graph theory and game theory. CO is also optimization, which is what it sounds like: optimizing stuff (ie, getting the most benefit out of a given set of options). Waterloo has one of the best combinatorics programs. I've yet to take any CO courses, but I'm taking math 249 and CO 255 next semester. From what I hear, these get to be on par with the pure math courses in terms of the proofs and difficulty of the courses. CO can be used for statistics(Did you take data management in high school? Think permutations, etc.), but it is much much more.

It's good to see you're planning on trying the advanced courses! I took all 13X first semester, took, the advanced maths second semester, regret not doing the advanced CS course. Get ready though, because even the 13X courses are most likely going to be much harder than any math you're likely to have done before, this goes extra for the 14X equivalents.

PMath, CO, and CS would all complement each other well, in my opinion anyways. Applied math isn't really my thing, but it's worth a try, a lot of people like it!




They were tricky, but manageable. I did little work in high school, I learned rather quickly that doesn't typically work if you want to do well in UW math.

Compared to High School, it's entirely different. In high school, you're given a few steps, and told to repeat them a million times. In UW math, you do proofs, which requires thought.

HS math marks: Advanced Functions, 84, Calc&Vectors, 90, Data Management, 90
First semester at UW:
Math 135: 74
Math 137: 87
BU 111 (Laurier business): 65
Econ 101 (microeconomics): 85
CS 135: 67%
Second Semester:
Math 146: 88
Math 148: 88
BU 121 (Laurier business): 83
CS 136: 75
econ 102(macroeconomics): 84%

I did more work second semester

CO and CS go well together. As for Pmath being useful, you don't need to be able to prove Taylor's theorem in order to use Taylor polynomials for local approximation. Pmath is way more about why than it is about how. At any rate, you do Taylor polynomials in math 138

The back of a napkin version is:

Applied Math: Engineering/physics-esque mathematics, solving real-world problems (e.g. modelling fluid dynamics, control systems, etc). In terms of doing applied math, you focus mainly on applying methods to solve problems.

Pure Math: The study of very abstract, high level math; the forefront of the mathematics field in terms of research for new kinds of mathematics. You see a lot of its applications in quantum physics and the like. In terms of doing pure math, you will focus a lot on using proofs and understanding to solve hard problems in a general sense. (Cue MATH 245 prof: "In Engineering, Physics, and Applied math, they call this kind of thing an 'edge case' to be ignored. In pure math, we call this a 'counterexample.'")

Combinatorics: Two main branches of the field are enumeration ("counting") and graph theory ("studying the connections between dots and lines"). It's a pretty specialized area of discrete mathematics. See courses like MATH 249, CO 330/342, CO 444, etc.

Optimization: Often more on the continuous side. Making things more optimal. See CO 25[05], CO 460-470 I think.

CO isn't close to statistics at all, really, though sometimes you'll utilize some statistical methods.

High school CS won't give you any advantage for UW CS. Especially OOP, which... well, I hate OOP, and especially hate the contrived way OOP is taught, so I'll refrain from too much criticism now.

I took the calc AB and didn't find that to give me a huge advantage in the advanced math classes, other than knowing how to integrate (which is assumed for the advanced level classes, but isn't taught in Ontario high schools).

The 24X classes, in particular 245, approach grad level content and I can't really think of anything that would prepare one in high school for 245 or 249.



I HATED the physics courses I took at UW (121, 122, and 234). The UW physics department is really lousy. If you don't love physics enough to put up with it, I recommend not going down that path. I think PHYS 124, which is new this past year, is the most ridiculous thing--ask a bunch of first years to do fourth year physics problems with no math background. Succeed only through memorization or as a prodigy. Wow.



CO as a department actually has really wide offerings. On one hand, you have the mathematical history courses, and CO 487, the survey crypto course. (Which isn't computer sciencey at all, but in fact mathy.) On the other, you have a number of cross-listed grad level courses (anything that states you need an 80% average for admission for a 4th year level course), which are often harder than their pure math friends.

PMATH is extremely useful, but in a way you can't really comprehend until you take the courses. Not only does it teach you how to critically think, but there are a lot of really cool tools that PMATH gives you.



CS and CO go hand in hand, and that's also the easiest of all the majors listed to do as a combo. CO has very lax requirements as a major.

Physics courses taught at the first and second year level will never be useful in anything: in real life, in upper years, in grad school, never. It's pretty depressing. PHYS 121 is a review of high school and a bullcrap check. Very sad. I really like physics but... not as it's taught at UW. But eh, see for yourself.

I'm currently take CS 136 (Took 115+116 in 1a/1b) while on coop. I'm actually in Toronto so I'm basically just not attending lectures. For your question though: per rules, you need permission from your employer to take 2 or more courses while on coop regardless if you're on campus or not. If you just want to take 1 and are on campus, generally courses run during the day so if you want to attend lectures, you'll obviously need to work something out with your employer.