Ok I don't know how to create a poll here but I need need this on my class on monday. Please rate you math skills from 1 - 10 and if you can state it clearly why, please do so. 1 - lowest; 10 - highest; Thanks DarkBalls

For this to be meaningful, you probably need to state the standard that we should judge ourselves by. Math is a vast discipline. Some people who study math for their lives have an expertise that goes far beyond mere skill in algebraic manipulation or calculus. What level of expertise would you consider a 10? The ability to contribute original research at the frontiers of mathematical understanding? Maybe just the ability to blaze through most ordinary integrals in a calculus II class?

Well for starters Im not sure what the scale is? Is a 10 like Stephen Hawking, a Phd Math, or like a Bachelor Math?

I'll assume a 10 is a Phd in Math as a middle ground.

I would say I'm an 8 then. I have taken advanced math classes for a minor in mathematics. So I have seen up to Calc 3, Linear Algebra, Computational Math, and my personal favorite Abstract Algebra.

So the reason I didn't go higher is bec there are a few areas that I am not knowledgable in like Stat stuff and the things I am knowledgable in Calc 3, Abstract Algebra I'm not very advanced and capable in without some guidance.

Why I didn't go lower is bec I do know of these things and how to use them. I am able to tutor in all levels of high school math so I have a very firm understanding up to high shcool Calc. Plus I was usually better at math than most of my comp sci contemporaries, for whatever thats worth.

To offer further calibration, I'll agree with the 10 = Phd and set myself as a 6. I can do linear algebra, calculus (including multivariate and basic differential equations), some geometry/computational geometry, etc. But I'm not great at any of it.

But this thread still makes no sense.

11! wait.. yea no definitely 11!

I can use my hand for the right handed rule like it's no bodies business.

Yeah I mean you probably need the numbers for statistical reference but the underlying theme of the survey is more interesting. I'm not sure what your survey is for but I've always wondered how a science that grew directly out of mathematics, attracts some people that are not mathematically inclined.

In my experience I was surprised to find that some (I want to say most but for the benefit of the doubt, some) of my peers at uni were actually scared of calc 1 not to mention more advanced/interesting maths. So my question would be is this the result of comp sci growing beyond math or is it a result of people being attracted to computers and programming even though they may not be inclined to think in that way, at least not as naturally.

Just my thoughts

I can do multivariable calculus. I know more abstract linear algebra than I know concrete linear algebra. I know a fair bit about real and complex analysis. I've picked up some decent knowledge of abstract algebra through exposure but haven't had the privilege of taking a course in this subject yet. I know a decent amount of topology, including some algebraic topology, and some pieces here and there of knot theory. I know a bit about the theory of calculus on manifolds, including differential forms, de Rham cohomology, the Poincare Lemma, etc. Recently I've read a bit about geometric algebra (a specific Clifford algebra that in many ways is an extension of linear algebra).

Articles in the Harvard College Mathematics Review tend to be right at my level or a bit above.

I'm a (second semester) math major.

And even with all this I'd say I'm a 5 at most. Show me an arbitrary research-level paper in mathematics and I probably won't know what's going on, at least not well enough to follow any of the arguments.

Like I said, mathematics is a vast subject, and there are some people who are incredibly good at it.

There are very few people alive today whom I'd consider to be 10s. Terence Tao is one of them. Timothy Gowers is another possibility. Curtis McMullen also has a remarkable grasp of the interaction among topology and advanced calculus.

In fact, thinking of myself as having a score even half as high as that of these people makes me think even a 5 is too high. This isn't a lack of confidence on my part. It's just the recognition that I have a lot of work to do as a math major ahead of me. [smile]

1 - 10 eh? That's -9! Yay I can do maths!

I'm one class away from a math minor and I've used calculus a lot in my physics class, so I'd say between 6 and 7. I understand a lot about math but I lack the knowledge to really put calculus to work sometimes. :/

The problem with the scale is probably that those without high level math might think they know more than they do. Actually seeing how large of a field math is my math minor is looking like the basic low level requirement for math.

Eh.. I don't know.. I guess a ten probably.