Is a minor in math worth it?

[denizperi]

Hi guys, this will be my first post so please bear with me.

I'm a first-year econ major at a top-tier university in Turkey with a 4.0 GPA and my dream is to get into a good MFE program in the States. The problem is that my econ degree isn't mathematically rigorous enough. It has okay econometrics and stats (with some R programming) courses but the math doesn't really go beyond calculus 2 (and some mathematical econ) and it has very little programming (2-3 courses). So to increase my chances, I want to either minor in mathematics or double-major in econometrics.

The minor in mathematics includes courses such as linear algebra, analytical geometry, integral calculus, differential equations, mathematical statistics & probability, and real analysis as well as some (1-2) intro CS and programming courses. The reason why I don't consider math a double major is that my school's math program is infamously hard and it has many courses that won't help me with quant finance (Like topology, number theory, discreet mathematics, and whatnot which will probably drop my GPA). I also want to develop myself in other areas and I fear the math double major may eat up most of my time.

The econometrics major includes (I excluded the courses I have on my current major) linear algebra, applied statistics, financial econometrics, mathematical statistics, time-series analysis, regression analysis, mathematical finance, data mining/analysis, optimization, capital markets and portfolio management, risk analysis & actuarial sciences as well as a few more advanced statistics and some (around 4-5) CS/programming classes mainly around R and statistics.

Personally, I enjoy stats way more than I enjoy pure mathematics and I think I will have an easier time doing the double major since the first two years of econometrics is almost identical to the econ degree. But if those math classes are a must or the econometrics program simply isn't rigorous enough I think I can handle the math minor.

Thanks for your time

 

[Michsund]

The econometrics sound much more useful

 

[denizperi]

The econometrics sound much more useful

Thanks for your answer!

How important are differential equations and real analysis? How else can I learn them and show the grad schools that I know them?

 

[Michsund]

Real analysis is useful if you wanna go the PhD route. Differential is important, but I’m sure you could take an extra course one semester or even just do mit edx

 

[bigbadwolf]

How important are differential equations and real analysis? How else can I learn them and show the grad schools that I know them?

If you're going into stochastic theory seriously, then real analysis is indispensable. It seems to cover the same material as calculus but with this annoying obsession with careful definitions, statements of theorems, and proofs. It's a different way of thinking -- more abstract and conceptual. For example, the theorem that a continuous function on a closed interval is Riemann integrable. It's abstract. Whereas in calculus, we're given a function (say cosine x), and asked to integrate it from pi/2 to -pi/2.

There are many books that cover real analysis but woefully few that explain the motivation for both the abstraction, and the careful and rigorous development of the material. The same for instructors and professors.

 

[bigbadwolf]

By the way, what does "denizperi" mean? "Deniz" means sea, but what does 'peri" mean? Dweller?

 

[denizperi]

By the way, what does "denizperi" mean? "Deniz" means sea, but what does 'peri" mean? Dweller?

Oh you know Turkish? Deniz indeed means see and peri means 'fairy' . So yeah I have a weird name :D

 

[bigbadwolf]

Oh you know Turkish? Deniz indeed means see and peri means 'fairy' . So yeah I have a weird name :D

I visited Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia a year and a half back. In Turkey I was in Istanbul, Ankara, Amasya, and Trabzon (ie., mostly Anatolia and the towns that Kemal Ataturk liked so much). I have also taken some Turkish lessons as I believe Turkey will be the heart of the Ottoman Empire 2.0. In Kaidikoy (Istanbul), there is a hotel called "Deniz" and one of the buses I took (I think from Samsun to Trabzon) belonged to the "Karadeniz" company so it occurred to me that "deniz" was probably a word. When I returned to the USA I looked up the word in my Turkish-English dictionary. My mother tongue is Urdu and there are many words that Urdu shares with Turkish. I can even understand much of this Azeri song:

 

[bigbadwolf]

I should be ashamed of myself as the word for "fairy" in Urdu is almost the same (pari) : پری

 

[denizperi]

I visited Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia a year and a half back. In Turkey I was in Istanbul, Ankara, Amasya, and Trabzon (ie., mostly Anatolia and the towns that Kemal Ataturk liked so much). I have also taken some Turkish lessons as I believe Turkey will be the heart of the Ottoman Empire 2.0. In Kaidikoy (Istanbul), there is a hotel called "Deniz" and one of the buses I took (I think from Samsun to Trabzon) belonged to the "Karadeniz" company so it occurred to me that "deniz" was probably a word. When I returned to the USA I looked up the word in my Turkish-English dictionary. My mother tongue is Urdu and there are many words that Urdu shares with Turkish. I can even understand much of this Azeri song:

Oh wow, those are beautiful cities you've visited. There are a ton of words (especially older ones) that are really similar if not identical to those in Greek, Arabic, Urdu, Georgian (many shared words with the Laz language), and Kurdish. The Azeri song is even hard for me to understand for some odd reason especially considering that Azari is basically Turkish with a slightly different accent and a small number of different meaning words.

 

[bigbadwolf]

The Azeri song is even hard for me to understand for some odd reason especially considering that Azari is basically Turkish with a slightly different accent and a small number of different meaning words.

Works like "nefret" and "dushman" (as well as many others in the song) will be recognised by any Urdu speaker.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand: what books does your university use for real analysis and linear algebra and what are the topics covered? Probability and ordinary differential equations will serve you well also, but again the question of books and topics arises.

 

[Michsund]

Works like "nefret" and "dushman" (as well as many others in the song) will be recognised by any Urdu speaker.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand: what books does your university use for real analysis and linear algebra and what are the topics covered? Probability and ordinary differential equations will serve you well also, but again the question of books and topics arises.

Or even Punjabi speakers like me. Urdu and Punjabi are very similar as well.

 

[denizperi]

Works like "nefret" and "dushman" (as well as many others in the song) will be recognised by any Urdu speaker.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand: what books does your university use for real analysis and linear algebra and what are the topics covered? Probability and ordinary differential equations will serve you well also, but again the question of books and topics arises.

Econometrics linear algebra uses: 'Bernard Kolman, David, R, Hil Introductory Linear Algebra' With Applications and 'Gilbert Strang, Linear Algebra and Its Applications'

Maths linear algebra uses: 'Serge Lang Linear Algebra' and 'T.S. Blyth and E.F. Robertson, "Basic Linear Algebra"

Maths real analysis uses: 'Hals L. Royden and Patrick M. Fitzpatrick, Real Analysis, 4th ed', 'A. N. Kolmogorov and S. V. Fomin, Introductory Real Analysis, Prentice Hill, Inc' and like 40 other books

I can't write the topics now since they are all written in Turkish and I'd have to translate but I can send them later if you'd like. What do you think about the econometrics content? You think it is good enough or will I have to take math?

 

[bigbadwolf]

Econometrics linear algebra uses: 'Bernard Kolman, David, R, Hil Introductory Linear Algebra' With Applications and 'Gilbert Strang, Linear Algebra and Its Applications'

Maths linear algebra uses: 'Serge Lang Linear Algebra' and 'T.S. Blyth and E.F. Robertson, "Basic Linear Algebra"

Maths real analysis uses: 'Hals L. Royden and Patrick M. Fitzpatrick, Real Analysis, 4th ed', 'A. N. Kolmogorov and S. V. Fomin, Introductory Real Analysis, Prentice Hill, Inc' and like 40 other books

I can't write the topics now since they are all written in Turkish and I'd have to translate but I can send them later if you'd like. What do you think about the econometrics content? You think it is good enough or will I have to take math?

Royden is a graduate level text. I can't believe it is being used as an undergrad text at a Turkish university. The Kolmogorov book is also not easy, despite its title. I don't understand the choice as there are several excellent undergraduate analysis texts on the market.

Lang and Blyth and Robertson are okay and cover enough for your needs (i.e., up to eigenvalues and a little beyond). I'm not a great fan of Strang's book but it's okay for applications once you have some real linear algebra under your belt.

Since you're investing time and effort (and perhaps money as well) into learning these subjects, you want to be sure that the right books are being used and the right syllabus is there.

 

[denizperi]

Royden is a graduate level text. I can't believe it is being used as an undergrad text at a Turkish university. The Kolmogorov book is also not easy, despite its title. I don't understand the choice as there are several excellent undergraduate analysis texts on the market.

Lang and Blyth and Robertson are okay and cover enough for your needs (i.e., up to eigenvalues and a little beyond). I'm not a great fan of Strang's book but it's okay for applications once you have some real linear algebra under your belt.

Since you're investing time and effort (and perhaps money as well) into learning these subjects, you want to be sure that the right books are being used and the right syllabus is there.

Which books do you suggest? From the few suggestions I've got and my limited research, I will probably go for the econometrics double major which means I will not have differential equations or analysis (and also real analysis) classes. I'll try to take them if the summer school allows me to. Is the summer of freshmen year too early for DE and/or analysis 1? (I will be done with Calc2 by then)I'm also planning to take some intro C++ or Phyton classes if I can. I'd love to hear any other suggestions you have.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Which books do you suggest? From the few suggestions I've got and my limited research, I will probably go for the econometrics double major which means I will not have differential equations or analysis (and also real analysis) classes. I'll try to take them if the summer school allows me to. Is the summer of freshmen year too early for DE and/or analysis 1? (I will be done with Calc2 by then)I'm also planning to take some intro C++ or Phyton classes if I can. I'd love to hear any other suggestions you have.

The C++ and Python is not where the problem lies -- you can learn these at any time. But math requires a slow and careful buildup, usually over years. With analysis, it's not so much prior calculus knowledge that's a stumbling block -- in theory one can do analysis without knowing any calculus to begin with. It's the "mathematical maturity" that the problem. Which here means being comfortable with reading and writing proofs. In the USA, undergrads generally take a course on understanding and writing proofs before they take upper division courses in analysis and abstract algebra.