Though I still have twenty or so more weeks to make the official decision regarding my major, I think I’ve finally come to it. It certainly wasn’t what I had in mind when I entered college, though it hadn’t been entirely ruled out either. I had been considering Psychology, English, Political Science, Economy, Computer Science, and the list goes on. But Math wasn’t ever one of the ones I’d list, until recently.
I took Multivariable Calculus last term, at the end of my Freshman year, and didn’t particularly enjoy it. I had forgotten most of my calculus by the time I finally took it, and it was a lot of work. I ended up having to learn the bulk of the course’s material in the week before the final. That was far from fun and, as a result, I don’t remember much of it now.
I took Linear Algebra this term, mostly because it’s an applied math that has a lot to do with Computer Science, a field I’d gotten more interested in over the last term. I became enamored with the field, admiring how elegant and simple the proofs that construct the field are, and appreciating the abstract beauty in every theorem.
But really, I justify (something I must do, considering the time I’ll be spending studying Math) the decision in how I can apply what I learn. Math is in everything. Learning the insides of Math and thinking like a mathematician will allow me to jump around other fields like Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry and Economics with little difficulty. It is simply a matter of learning the language of the field – the definitions, practices and history, more precisely – and applying it to whatever problem I’d like to tackle.
And in the meantime, before the applications of Math are terribly important, I’ll enjoy the beauty of simplicity of the subject, and challenge myself by solving the puzzles I’ll come across in my studies of it. I don’t find it easy, but I do enjoy the Eureka! moments that come with masochistically agonizing over the literature, and the way that the parts seamlessly click together, forming that arcane body of academia they call Mathematics.
