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"Math 55" has acquired a reputation as a class of the most difficult undergraduate mathematics in Harvard and this assessment, perhaps in the world. The course is a number of many students fear, while some are part of pure curiosity, to see what the whole problem is. (On the first day of each semester, the class is only standing.) But some some consider as a rite of passage that their short mathematics.

The course of two half-long-term - consisting of "Honore abstract algebra" (math 55a), in the fall, and "real and complex analysis" (Math 55b), in the spring-is much more difficult than its name No importance can make you believe. But, by all accounts, it is totally worthwhile to pass through the test. Since very few of us will have a chance to start the course, even less to finish, here are 17 crazy things that you probably do not know about the craziest academic experience that most of us could possibly imagine . And if you want to test your own algebraic skills (or their absence), do not miss these20 school-level mathematical questions so strong that you will wonder how you got your degree.

To have a sense of the kind of brain, it takes to cross mathematics 55, consider thatBill Gates itselfwas a student as part of the course. (He spent.) And if you want to sharpen your brain like the co-founder of Microsoft, hereThe 5 books Bill Gates indicate that you should read.

A former Harvard student, a "mathematics group of math 55", saidThe Harvard Crimson, "These guys are my models." And a 55th (that's what math 55 students apply themselves) could confirm: When people find out that people find out, they are simply spontaneously brilliant, vanished, weak, turn red, start laughing . "

Or they have just asked for help with homework.

On afirst year guide In Harvard's Mathematics Department, there are two first-year mathematics courses, the most difficult in mathematics 55. You could take mathematics 21, which is taught by graduate students and where homework generally become reasonable from three to six hours per week. Or, you can choose to take Math 55 - which gives you10 times the amount of homework.

"Problem sets can take everywhere from 24 to 60 hours a week to complete." Yes,per week. So, essentially, it is a full-time job, plus a part-time job - and it's above the rest of your course loading, internships, real-time concerts and the Harvard party required.

AuthorSam Williams describe inFree as in freedom, its pioneering biography of free software (and math 55 graduates)Richard Stallman, the course is "four years" of mathematics in two semesters. "

University of Pennsylvania teacherDavid HarbaterAnother former 55th, adds: "It's probably sure to say that there has never been a class for beginner students who were intense and advanced." In other words:It's like learning "at the chain speed." And speaking of insane curriculum, check the20 Courses of the most ridiculous colleges that you will not believe will not be real.

You can expect to see students kissing mathematics 55 on a regular basis. The size of the class reduces half of its original size or less before the end of the semester.According toA student who took mathematics 55 in 2005 and took into account the conclusion of attendance: "We had 51 students on the first day, 31 students on the second day, 24 for the next four days, 23 for two more weeks more , then 21 for the rest of the first semester after the fifth Monday.

By all accounts, those who make it during the first five weeks - the end of the harvard addition period is thick as thieves. They must; The course requires it. So, they hang together, they party together, they do homework together.

Homework occurs in a fluorescent shackle in Thayer Hall, a dormitory on the north side of Harvard Yard. (Steve Ballmer,e. e. cumrings, andANDY BOROWITZ All chained out there during their Harvard years, on the way.) 55ers, who are aimed at the soldiers trying to pass through an event, felt the room the "war room". "We are a team that tries to survive this class"said A 55ER. "There is no claim. No attitude of" We are better than all the others ".

"It's really a worship," Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, Professor at the University of Oxford and former 55th (he followed the course in the 1970s,Recount The Harvard Crimson. "I consider it as more than one ordeal than a course. People who have crossed it does not really forget .... it's like changing the rings of fraternity. It identifies you."

Most mathematics 55 students produce problems from 15 to 20 pages each week. They must produce so many things that students are sometimes discouraged to show too much work.

Like an old 55erto explain, "Many students write the solutions of the form of Lemma's theorem, proving everything from the rocky background. I did it too. That's your problem.huge. ... you should learn what is the main idea of ​​proof and what can be taken for granted. This is not so easy to do in a class of undergraduate events, where almost all evidence is obvious. "

InWILLIAMS BOOKHe describes Calculation 55 of Richard Stallman at the end of the semester with 20 students, eight of whom will become future mathematics teachers. We finally pursued physics.

Those who register for Math 55 might wonder if they are able to handle it. Well, it becomes clear enough fast, thanks to a diagnostic examination for registrants. NIGHT STUDENTSMore than 50% Are encouraged to register in Math 55, while those who score less than 10% are invited to take mathematics 21. If you fall between the two, the choice is yours.

According to the first year guide, 55 "mathematics" often contain former members of the International Math Teams Olympiades. " It is the world championship competition in which students from the Mathematics High School of more than 100 countries are heading in heads on ridiculously difficult mathematics problems.

For example, here is a problem with last year's battle:

A convex quadrilateral ABCD satisfies AB · CD = BC · DA. Point X is inside

ABCD for

∠xab = ∠xcd and ∠xbc = ∠xda.

Prove that ∠BXA + ∠DXC = 180◦

Good luck.

Many other men are part of mathematics courses 55 than women. According to a report in theHarvard Crimson, only 17 women followed the course between 1990 and 2006. In 2015, no womenMaths completed 55a.

Professor Yum-Tong SIU, whose class has started with 50 students in 2003, said he had actively tried to reduce the size of the class. AsThe Harvard IndependentReports, the class dropped up to 25 students, but Siu added: "I want to reduce it a little more." Objective: 20. "We want a group of students with similar backgrounds so we can proceed at a rate who can agree at the same time, so they do not feel bored or on their heads "said Siu.

A roommate of two 55ersExplain to theHarvard independentThat ", on a particularly stressful problem of problem solving, he had more sleep than the two handsets - and he had only six hours total!"

"If a problem takes an hour and a half to solve and write, I would call it easy," said a studentThe Harvard Independent.In comparison, it's about as long as Disney Medium Animation Film.

Those who plan to register in Math 55 are warned that mathematics must be theirthing. This is not a class for dowls looking for the major in philosophy or squeezing it in some political scenarios aside. As the first year guide warns, Math 55 is only for those who "are safe enough to want to be a mathematical concentrator" and who "want mathematics to be your most important class."

According toThe Harvard Independent, a celebration of math 55 "Pi Day" - which falls on March 14, becauseThe IP number is 3.14-There's third of the 2002 drunk class. So, good, do not say that the maths do not know how to have fun, too! And feeling a little smarter after all this, check these40 Facts on the numbers that will make you feel like a mathematical genius.

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