MATH406 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Niranjan Ramachandran MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/10/2024	very hard class. i took it in the summer. there are 10 homework over 6 weeks so around 2 homeworks per week. they take pretty long. exams are hard. however the professor is great and he knows what he's talking about. he is also very nice, pretty chill guy. if you have any struggles in the class, just reach out to him. he also adds a nice curve at the end, but don't rely on it.
Peter Dillery MATH406 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/28/2024	Peter Dillery is a top-tier lecturer, but the organization of his class is a little lacking. His homeworks are difficult but reasonable, and his exams are never too difficult. Overall, I'd recommend him.
Dori Bejleri MATH406 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2024	Apparently, this was his first semester teaching 406. I wouldn't have guessed - we just go over proofs in class and he is pretty good at explaining everything going on. If you do zone out and stop following a proof, he usually goes over the important conclusions at the start of the next class anyway. We have homework posted every Friday due the next Friday and that's pretty much it except for exams. The homeworks are good practice for the exams and don't typically take too long. The two midterms were only four problems that were directly related to what we had covered in class and intuitive, especially because he will give a selected list of problems from the homework to study and solutions to them. He is always willing to give a hint in an email or in class if you are stuck on a problem on the homework too. I haven't been to office hours since I haven't had to but he's pretty chill in class. Assuming he doesn't suddenly get really mean, I thought he was awesome! Learned a lot of cool stuff and none of it was much pressure!
Kendall Williams MATH406 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/04/2024	Pros: - He has some rather fun and engaging lectures where he will ask plenty of questions and entertain any questions students have - Goes through several practice problems during lectures, usually done in groups with classmates - Gives study guides for exams with practice problems that are usually identical to those on the exam - Pretty good pace in lecture, writes everything out on the board, and willing to explain ideas - He is generally a nice guy and makes being in his class for lectures not insufferable Cons - Not mathematically rigorous, so if this is what you're looking for out of a 4XX class, don't take him - Requires proof-writing occasionally without giving structured expectations for such proofs - Honestly, doesn't seem to know the material very well; relies HEAVILY on the textbook - Occasionally made mistakes during lecture (related to the previous point) - Occasionally spent several lectures on unrelated (or generally unimportant) topics, which were testable nonetheless - Missed/Cancelled an unusually high number of classes; Otherwise seems uninterested in teaching this class Generally, he will make MATH406 easy for you if you give it enough effort–take notes, do the practice problems (in class and out), and look at the pre-exam study guides he gives–but if you are mathematically interested, do not take him because you will not learn enough or won't learn the material at a deep level. Ultimately, without all the nuance: he is a lecturer who will give you a good grade but is merely serviceable for actual learning.
Harry Tamvakis MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2023	Professor Tamvakis is just wonderful. When it comes to teaching, he presents great lectures which 95% of the time provide all the information and formulation necessary to complete the exams. He offers outstanding help during office hours which is always useful in completing the homework, and he leads you through the entire process to the final answer rather than some other professors who are afraid of telling you if you answer is right or wrong. The homework is hard, of course, but I appreciate the difficulty because it can make the exams feel easy, which is great of course considering that the homework is only 20% of the final grade. When it comes to exams, he provides exam review problems and goes over most of the problems the class before the corresponding exam. The review problems are always harder than the exam problems so it truly prepares you for what will appear on the exam, in addition to the homework. And best of all, there is a curve AND there is extra credit on every exam and on most of the homework! Definitely would suggest taking MATH406 with Tamvakis as it is one of the hardest math classes you can take!
Harry Tamvakis MATH406 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/17/2023	Professor Tamvakis is a great professor! He is a great lecturer and is always willing to meet with his students to help them out. He assigns weekly homeworks, 2 of which he allows to be turned late for full credit. With that being said, the homeworks can be challenging and long. The exams were pretty straight forward, no big surprises. He is also a quick grader so you'll recieve your exams back within a week. He gives review worksheets prior to each exam covering the content that the exam will be on them. As far as grading goes, he is a fair grader. He also curves the class at the end of the semester which is always nice. On the other hand, be aware that he does not use canvas at all, except to make announcements and distribute reviewsheets. So going to lectures is a MUST. He does not post any notes or slides on canvas or his website. Also, you won't know your grade until the end of the semester, unless you manually calculate it yourself. Overall, I would recommend Professor Tamvakis, you'll definitely learn a lot with him.
William Goldman MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2023	I had Prof. Goldman for Intro to Number Theory. He is very patient, takes time to explain things in detail, and is super responsive to questions. He will approach the same problem or concept in different ways, so you end up with a super thorough understanding of the material covered in lecture. His exams are fair and are based entirely on what's been taught in lecture and practiced in homework assignments, so you're not thrown any unfair curve-ball questions. I really enjoyed his class this semester.
William Goldman MATH406 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2023	really really nice person, understanding of your concerns and values your enjoyment and learning. his lectures can be kind of boring and repetitive at times, but homework and exams are fair
William Goldman MATH406 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/12/2023	I didn't believe people when they said their professor's voice would put them to sleep until I took this class. He seems like a nice enough guy, and I don't think the class is super hard, but I straight up could not learn anything from the lectures. I taught myself the content for the first midterm and did well, and I'll have to do the same for the final. I've definitely had worse professors but I wouldn't recommend him.
Justin Wyss-Gallifent MATH406 Expecting an A ktran58 05/26/2023	I was taking MATH241/406 with Justin in Spring 2023. - MATH241: His lectures were straightforward to follow. Also, he made the quizzes/exams not too hard, so getting high scores would be easy. However, TAs wouldn't go over the discussion/quiz problems for the entire section; if you've ever felt lost, definitely ask for help (My TA was Luis, and he's super helpful). For grading, he dropped the 4 lowest quizzes at the end, and the final grade could replace the lowest midterm if it was higher. - MATH406: This is the most interesting class I've ever taken. The proofs were confusing sometimes, but he made it clear. Homework could be time-consuming but I did enjoy doing it. Exams are pretty similar to the practice.
Peter Dillery MATH406 Anonymous 05/25/2023	Great professor gives examples for everything which is super helpful. Exams are super fair (though I sadly bombed test 2) if you study and actually pay attention. I agree with everything the other reviewers say as well. Although slow at responding emails sometimes but very good professor.
William Goldman MATH406 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/10/2023	Great professor, clearly very passionate about the topics taught. The professor often engaged in discussions with students about math topics. The workload in the class was light(1 homework assignment every 2 weeks), but still allowed a chance to gain an understanding of the content. Dr. Goldman was willing to go over homework problems the class struggled with in class. The final exam was also curved. The only negative was that the professor is not the best lecturer and often seemed to have difficulty conveying topics.
Peter Dillery MATH406 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/08/2023	As for the good, he curves quite substantially. Apart from that, I don't have much else to say. Excessive (and excessively long) homeworks every week (we even have a full length homework assignment due during finals week, something I've never encountered in any class before this), he doesn't post notes at all and his lectures are effectively just a worse presentation of the sections of the textbook (his textbook of choice being abysmal as well), and extremely low exam averages. First exam average was a D, second and third one an F. The exams weren't as difficult as the low averages entail, but barely any material is provided to accurately prepare for these exams, and we are stuck using Justin's practice material and past homeworks, which are extremely excessive. Overall, he's a genuinely nice guy, but is a strict butler for the rules and can be quite a bit of an asshole at times.
Justin Wyss-Gallifent MATH406 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/30/2023	This was my first 400-level math class (taken concurrently with 405). If you are comfortable with proofs (CMSC250 or MATH310), it will probably be pretty easy. The cryptography applications are super fun! Our exams have not been curved so far, but that's because the averages were high. I would not expect anything to get curved. It's just not needed. The homeworks are a bit long, but it makes studying for the exams easier. I suggest at least starting the problems the same day that you cover the material, and then reviewing them at the end of the week. If you can code, it is definitely good practice to code up the algorithms we discuss. Justin is impressively organized. He posts all assignments well in advance (often a whole month). He is very responsive on Piazza. His past exams and solutions are available on his website, so there are plenty of study resources.
Peter Dillery MATH406 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/07/2023	On one end, he's a great lecturer, curves pretty substantially, and administers fair exams. That being said, he doesn't post notes, and homework are quite lengthy, and are graded very stringently.
Antoine Mellet MATH406 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/03/2023	Definitely a great choice for a professor. If you have the opportunity to take Mellet for any course, I would highly recommend it. He teaches the course content very well, and sticks closely to the textbook which makes it easy to learn outside of class. The exams were very fair and the homeworks were not too long but were still helpful. Mellet has a moderate french accent which is easy to understand and I would argue actually improves the course significantly. The course itself is not very difficult compared to other 400 level math courses, and was interesting.
Lutian Zhao MATH406 Expecting an A+ wmy78b 01/23/2023	The class is interesting and Lutian really wants to learn. He's HWs and practice exams are helpful. It would be better to have some pdf notes.
William Goldman MATH406 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/23/2022	Super nice guy, not the best teacher, but I still learned a good amount and the curve was super generous
Lutian Zhao MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2022	Actual GOAT.
Lutian Zhao MATH406 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/16/2022	Amazing professor. Made the class an awesome experience and I would rush to sign up for any class with Lutian. He puts a large emphasis on making sure you're not stressed out and can actually learn and enjoy the material he is teaching, while still making sure you understand it. The only complaint I have is as somebody who is good at math and proofs, sometimes he would lose me because he was moving too fast. In fact, there were numerous times where somebody would have to stop and ask him to slow down or ask him to repeat something. Other then that, 5/5 professor would take him again :)
Peter Dillery MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/16/2022	Great lecturer, and takes time for questions. Poor handwriting but legible. Main issue is that he does not post notes, so you need to take detailed notes in class. About 2-3 hours of homework per week, exams are fair. Attendence is not graded but absolutely critical to pass the class.
Lutian Zhao MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2022	Just stop reading reviews and sign up now before his class gets filed up. Pros: - Clear teaching - Gives practice exams VERY similar to actual exam - Reasonable homework’s - Drops lowest exam - Final is presenting/ making a report on how to solve a theorem that you have weeks to prepare for (you choose the theorem from a list) - Good personality Cons: - (this one is very minor but) when explaining he looks mostly on at the board so if you have a question you either have to say so or you might need to wait a few minutes until he sees you Do yourself a favor, sign up now P.S. Thanks Lutian for a great semester :)
Lutian Zhao MATH406 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/06/2022	He cares a great deal about lowering the pressure of getting a good grade. He is very generous in his grading scheme and teaches the material in such a way that makes it interesting. There were some moments when the material was hard to understand, but not once did I feel stressed about it since he made sure that only what we knew was on the exam or homework. One of the best professors I have ever had.
Nathan Manning MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/02/2022	Nathan is one of the best professors I have had. Don't be fooled by the low reviews; they're probably from 240 students who were upset that they couldn't get an easy A. He is very knowledgeable and cares a lot about his students. His tests are sometimes tricky but definitely doable if you go to lecture, study, do the homework, and go to office hours. He encourages students to ask questions and is always accessible via office hours and email. I have also had him for 240 and 310 and my math thinking and appreciation has grown so much thanks to him!
Thomas Haines MATH406 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/02/2022	great professor
Harry Tamvakis MATH406 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/04/2022	Very straightforward and easy-to-understand lectures, but he gets angry at the American education system (he's Greek) sometimes and takes it out a little on you.
Antoine Mellet MATH406 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/19/2021	He is a good professor and this class isn't too hard if you have prior experience with proofs. However, Mellet's accent can sometimes make it hard to understand what he is saying as he talks quickly and mumbles sometimes. Luckily, he follows the textbook to a T so if you miss something, it's in the textbook. He uses the same examples and everything. He also goes pretty quickly in class in general, so you have to be a quick notetaker-- he starts wiping down the board the second he is done a proof or example. There also was a small curve at the end-- I walked into the exam with an 84 and ended up with an A- in the class, and it was not possible for me to get an A- even if I got 100% on the final. I definitely would have done better in this class if I had studied overall more. He has no quizzes, only weekly homework, 2 tests, and a final. So if you're like me and you do homework in 1-2 days, you may struggle a bit to catch up when it's time for exams.
Yanir Rubinstein MATH406 Expecting a C- Anonymous 04/14/2021	Actually really bad. I had taken this class by mistake and didn't realize it was a mistake until after add/drop, and he was the only available professor. He didn't have any reviews yet; just one from like 5 years ago that said he was awful. I said ehh, it's only 1 bad review, but I should've listened. So far the mean exam grade has been a 60 and he says he isn't going to curve it. Lectures are painful. He does zero prep and reads VERY slowly through the book, and if you ask a question he will either barely answer it or talk down to you. Probably just here for the research. The grade distribution is nice, HW's aren't graded and you get points for making a study guide, but seeing how the exams (basically the only source of a grade: 5 quizzes, ~10% each and he drops the lowest one) it's not looking great. Unless you are really good at Math and it's like your passion/you do Math research for fun, this class is gonna be the death of your GPA. I've taken up to Calc3 and LinAlg, and this class could be interesting, but he makes it tedious to sit through and gets mad when students don't show up to lecture.
Nathan Manning MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/11/2020	Great guy, knows the material well and makes jokes in the class. First exam was too long, he listened and vastly improved exam 2.
Adam Kanigowski MATH406 Expecting an A- Anonymous 10/27/2020	Very understanding man. Definitely cares about students and wants you to understand the material. Did recieve an A- in the class.
Adam Kanigowski MATH406 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/02/2020	Decent professor. Not the best lecturer, but fair and exams are not bad.
Adam Kanigowski MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/06/2020	Professor Kanigowski is phenomenal. I had him for Math 406 as a freshmen. He is so kind and patient. He is the kind of professor who is extremely brilliant but also cares about his students learning the material. He understands that students might not necessarily understand the material through one approach and if you ask questions or he notices that he has lost student in his lecture, he will go back through what he just taught and try to teach it in a different way so it makes sense. ASK QUESTIONS IN CLASS!!! He is so willing to help you understand and he WANTS you to ask questions. He will repeatedly ask during lecture if there are any questions, and every time I have asked (which was a lot) he always made sure to answer it to the best of his abilities and I always understood it better. He is very nice at office hours and will spend however much time it takes going over problems until you feel comfortable. His homework and midterm prep are very useful and you will feel very well prepared for his exams if you complete them. The class breakdown is 6 to 7 graded homework assignments with 1 midterm and 1 final. However the homework and lectures really prepare you for the midterm and final so you will be okay. He does not require you to attend lecture, and the book is helpful, but I found his lectures to be a lot more helpful than the textbook, and he doesn't go in order of everything in the book so you at least need to know what topics he covered in class. I would highly recommend attending lectures. Side note - I had him during the time that UMD went online for the second half of the second semester because of COVID - 19 and he did so much to make sure that all his students were okay. He made sure to modify the curriculum and add more office hours so that we knew we could reach out to him. He said he cares more about his students understanding what he has taught than just bulldozing though material for the sake of saying he completed everything on his timeline. He is great for people who love math, or who struggle with math. He will challenge your brain to think different for those who enjoy it, and he is there to support you and encourage you when you struggle. 100% recommend taking him and I would take his class again if I could.
Manjit Bhatia MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2019	number theory is an easy math400 in general. manjit bhatia is pretty old but he's not a terrible professor in my opinion. he can be very generous with exams as he allowed the first exam to be regraded and turned in for full points back. HOWEVER his grading on exam is BS sometimes. the reason why so many people needed regrades was because of this. he takes off like 90% credit even if you show you know how to do 95% of a problem. you need to make sure you know what he wants. but otherwise a low stress class and i wouldnt avoid taking him for this class by any means. also he didnt show up for our 8am final which was annoying...but the math department was the one being annoying by not letting it be a take-home exam after that happened.
Jonathan Rosenberg MATH406 Expecting a B- Anonymous 01/02/2018	If you want to get an A by just studying given material and don't have experience with proofs, avoid taking any classes taught by Rosenberg! Teaching: He can explain concepts straightforwardly, although he chooses to cover proofs in class instead of problems related to homework or ones you'd find on tests. The homeworks are hard. Even if you do well on the exams, this is where you will be losing your points. Expect to sit down on homework for at least 4 hours unless you are good at proofs. He usually asks 2 to 3 difficult thinking questions that require you to do proofs where you need to think outside of the box. Exam Difficulty: He starts off the class seemingly easy. The first exam took about 20 minutes or less if you just did the homework problems. Its mostly arithmetic / problems memorized from the notes. I got a 97 on it. On the second exam, I got a D... the full exam was all proofs except 1 problem despite the fact that he said it would be more arithmetic based than proofs and easy like the first exam. Rosenberg loves proofs so if you're not a math major like me (comp sci), avoid this class. He likes to make you think intuitively on the exam. Out of the 5 problems, I only saw 1 before, despite reviewing every single hw problem and the notes multiple times before the test. Rosenberg only curves at the end and you have no idea how you did. The final exam is brutal just like the second midterm ... do not be fooled by the curriculum of this class or the first midterm. He made it way more difficult half way through the year and doesn't seem to care about student concerns ... you don't even get the solutions to the homework problems after the first 2 or three. If you do end up taking his class, do all the proofs covered in class. Try to look for previous exams and study everything. Studying all the material is not enough to get an A. You need to practice proofs a lot. Grading Breakdown: In-class exams 100 points each Homework 100 points total Quizzes 50 points total Final Exam 200 points Total 550 points
Niranjan Ramachandran MATH406 Expecting an A Decave 12/26/2012	Dr. Ramachandran is, hands down, the best college professor I've ever had. He is extremely knowledgeable, is very good at communicating information and is a very nice man who essentially embodies everything that is needed in a college professor. Let me begin by admitting that his class was very challenging. The homeworks were tough, the average on the two midterms probably averaged out at a 59 (there was a very generous curve at the end of the course) and you won't get very far by lollygagging and mindlessly memorizing a few formulas. That being said, I thoroughly learned about an immense (almost unbelievable) amount of difficult and very important mathematical concepts and I am very, very happy that I took the course with him. After having taken Rama's course I honestly consider myself a much more mature and knowledgeable mathematician than I did before I took his course (and I had straight As in math beforehand). I guess I should also warn you that Ramachandran is not for everyone. A lot of people in my class didn't like it at all and claimed that he was a bad professor for various lame reasons. Usually, their reasoning was something like, "He's all over the place and is impossible to follow," or, "I feel like we don't learn anything in the class". What that illustrates is that they're not accustomed to rigorous, difficult math courses and that they're either too lazy or not apt enough to study and understand the deeper concepts that are actually worth putting the time and effort in for. One kid in the class said that "Modular arithmetic is dumb because there are no formulas." If you associate yourself with people like that then I recommend dropping out of any upper-level math courses and taking something more your style like communications. In summation, I highly recommend Dr. Ramachandran to anyone who is a serious and mature student and/or to anyone who wants to learn some awesome math. If you're in it for the easy A then take he class with someone else. P.S. His grading is very fair; it's just that his problems and homeworks are challenging and take a fair amount of time and effort to complete.
Melissa Macasieb MATH406 nmendels 12/18/2012	She obviously knows number theory really well but her lectures were devoted more to proving theorems which really weren't tested at all. Also all of the proofs were in the book anyway so she could have just said "for details on the proof for theorem x consult the book." Also her grader was quite draconian and if you said something like "I lost 8/10 points for an arithmetic error", she would say "if you want I could maybe give you a few points back" and then spend a few minutes continuing to expand on how you were wrong which was quite annoying.
Melissa Macasieb MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 09/23/2012	Macasieb is great. She understands number theory in and out, and communicates it very well to her students. Lectures are focused on going through basic proofs of the material, and a sufficient number of examples for you to understand what's going on. If you skip class, you can just read the book; it's essentially the same thing. Grades consist of weekly homework from the book (lowest 1-2 grades dropped), weekly quizzes that are homework problems verbatim (again, lowest few dropped), two midterms, and a cumulative final. Exam questions are either computational (and thus simple) or proof-based (almost always come from problems in the textbook that are recommended but not explicitly assigned). Exam averages suck (we're talking 55-65ish), so she will obviously curve a bit in the end. Advice to do well: keep up with the material (early concepts such as Fermat's theorem and modulo arithmetic definitely impact the later material substantially), do extra practice problems from the book. This class requires a bit of work, but if you put in the effort, you'll be fine.
Melissa Macasieb MATH406 Anonymous 05/25/2012	Like most math, number theory is not difficult to understand once you learn to mentally adopt new methods of abstract visualization. How this is best done probably depends on the student. This branch of math really amounts to little more than a massive game of pattern-finding, which can be a lot of fun. My issue with Macasieb is that she takes the fun out of it. She fails to communicate any enthusiasm for the material, or math and problem solving in general, lecturing purely from the book, proof after proof. She makes superficial attempts to engage the class, by occasionally prompting for part of a proof or example, but has no real sense of how to harness classroom energy. Ultimately, there is no reason to go to class if you learn well from books. She uses a good text, and reading it let me focus on the math without the awkward tension of the classroom. YMMV, but for me the point of math is that's it's fun, and this is not a fun class.
Melissa Macasieb MATH406 Expecting an A+ zaqu413 12/24/2011	Macasieb was a great professor, but that comes with a slight catch. She really only wants to help the students who seem serious and study the material often enough to never fall behind on the small things. She gets rather annoyed during lecture if she needs to explain something that we went over last week. That being said if you are on top of things you will do fine. Homework/Quizzes: Was somewhat difficult, but manageable most of the time. 4 questions were often turned in for grading and all the other questions were possibilities to be seen on a quiz the day the homework was due. The quizzes were just redoing the hw problem w/o the book or notes, which wasn't hard to do. The Book: "Intro to Number Theory" by Dudley or something like that. It was a pretty good book. It was short, but effective. Although I must say that the author starts to get impatient and lazy around section 12, but nothing really to worry about. Tests: 2 Midterms and a final (ALL are cumulative, despite what she might say). Number Theory is one of those classes where if you fall behind you stay behind, because there isn't any concept that you can just say "I just wont bother learning that and I can scrape by with a B" because everything builds on the previous stuff. The Midterms were about 75% computation and 25% proofs The Final was about 60/40 computation to proof. Overall I would say make sure you know all the theorems that took a while to prove during class or that she emphasizes, because those are sure to show up on the tests. FINAL NOTES: -MAKE SURE TO GET MODULAR ARITHMETIC DOWN SUPER FAST OR YOU WILL BE LOST. -FERMAT'S THEOREM IS VERY IMPORTANT, AS IS PRETTY MUCH ANY THEOREM PROVED BY EULER OR EUCLID (THERE ARE MANY) -THE ONLY WAY THAT SHE WILL HELP YOU IS IF IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOU HAVE PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO FIGURING SOMETHING OUT AND HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE MATERIAL. IF YOU SEEM LOST SHE WILL NOT HELP, SHE EXPECTS YOU TO BE ABLE TO FIGURE "SIMPLE" THINGS OUT BY YOURSELF BY NOW. (Here "simple" means stuff we did last week) Also I managed an A+ because I destroyed the final, I studied for it for pretty much 4 days straight.
Lawrence Washington MATH406 Expecting an A rockinbassman 03/02/2011	Very nice guy and a pretty good professor. His tests are very reasonable and he gives you practice tests too. He is very approachable during office hours. He assigns homework bi-weekly. He collects 2 or 3 problems and then quizzes you on another 2. However, in class before the quiz, you can ask him ANY homework problem and he will do it. There's usually enough time to do all of them, so you're set for the quiz. He'll also do problems in office hours. With a little effort, you can get a 100% in homework and quizzes.
Joel Cohen MATH406 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/20/2010	Although he's a really nice guy and very amiable, he's not a very good math professor. He clearly cares about his students and tries hard to address questions and concerns, but he seemed to never be able to find ways to clearly explain concepts in the class. He simply walks through proof after esoteric proof, then assigns homework which the student is forced to figure out on their own. Overall, I would recommend taking any other professor for a math class if you have the option.
Joel Cohen MATH406 Anonymous 05/19/2010	He's a pretty nice guy, definitely approachable, and fairly understanding when it comes to extensions. HOWEVER, to be perfectly honest, he is not a good teacher. He rushes through proofs and skips a lot of steps, he rushes through examples and (once again) skips a lot of steps, and all in all, he simply doesn't explain what he's doing. He pretty much takes his lectures directly from the book, and doesn't know how to break things down into a more comprehensible format. If you ask him to explain something, he will stop and try to explain, but he usually just says the same thing he did before, meaning that asking him for help is ultimately not very useful. The exams are fine but you come out of the class feeling more like you memorized a bunch of tricks and rules rather than actually learning number theory well. Homework is useful and usually similar to the questions on the exam. If you REALLY want to learn number theory, I would recommend taking the class with someone else.
Joel Cohen MATH406 Expecting a C- satz24 02/13/2010	He's not a bad guy. In fact, if you can't get your homework in on-time, you can you email him for an extension. However, he is a crappy teacher. He does the examples that are found in the book. These examples are only helpful for a couple problems, then you get stuck. He doesn't give any insight or information other than the book. He brings the book to class, and reads it to you.
Thomas Haines MATH406 keyoung 01/04/2010	Haines was a good and fair prof. His lectures were sometimes boring but he allows time for HW questions. He has 2 exams which are curved and weren't that bad if you keep up with HW. He gave practice exams for both. HWs were very helpful in learning and practicing the material and he drops 3. He told some "funny" jokes to lighten the mood several times. Overall good prof, nice guy.
Justin Wyss-Gallifent MATH406 Expecting an A a778999 05/24/2009	Great professor. Made the material easy to understand. I didn't even need to buy the book because the notes were so clear. However his curve isn't really generous so don't expect a free A.
Joel Cohen MATH406 Expecting an A fuzzyLogic 12/28/2008	Hard to follow during the first half of the course. His lectures follow the course of the text but he will take the time in class to explain any confusions you have. Second half was better as you picked up enough of the number theory background to follow some of the proofs.
Joel Cohen MATH406 Expecting an A samolang 08/25/2008	The class was pretty easy, the test content was always well covered in class/homework, and he kept the lectures somewhat entertaining.
Joel Cohen MATH406 Expecting a B Crispus Attucks 04/23/2008	MATH406 with Prof. Cohen is the only course I've ever been in where you can burst out loud "I have no idea what's going on!" and everything will be explained to you again patiently. In contrast to the other reviews, I find his lectures very clear. If you're really on your stuff with math you will do fine with him.
Kathryn Truman MATH406 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/02/2008	she is awesome. if you are taking math406 take her class. go over your homeworks and any theorems that she says you have to know!! do the work and you will do well.

Niranjan Ramachandran
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
07/10/2024

very hard class. i took it in the summer. there are 10 homework over 6 weeks so around 2 homeworks per week. they take pretty long. exams are hard. however the professor is great and he knows what he's talking about. he is also very nice, pretty chill guy. if you have any struggles in the class, just reach out to him. he also adds a nice curve at the end, but don't rely on it.

Peter Dillery
MATH406

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/28/2024

Peter Dillery is a top-tier lecturer, but the organization of his class is a little lacking. His homeworks are difficult but reasonable, and his exams are never too difficult. Overall, I'd recommend him.

Dori Bejleri
MATH406

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/17/2024

Apparently, this was his first semester teaching 406. I wouldn't have guessed - we just go over proofs in class and he is pretty good at explaining everything going on. If you do zone out and stop following a proof, he usually goes over the important conclusions at the start of the next class anyway. We have homework posted every Friday due the next Friday and that's pretty much it except for exams. The homeworks are good practice for the exams and don't typically take too long. The two midterms were only four problems that were directly related to what we had covered in class and intuitive, especially because he will give a selected list of problems from the homework to study and solutions to them. He is always willing to give a hint in an email or in class if you are stuck on a problem on the homework too. I haven't been to office hours since I haven't had to but he's pretty chill in class. Assuming he doesn't suddenly get really mean, I thought he was awesome! Learned a lot of cool stuff and none of it was much pressure!

Kendall Williams
MATH406

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/04/2024

Pros: - He has some rather fun and engaging lectures where he will ask plenty of questions and entertain any questions students have - Goes through several practice problems during lectures, usually done in groups with classmates - Gives study guides for exams with practice problems that are usually identical to those on the exam - Pretty good pace in lecture, writes everything out on the board, and willing to explain ideas - He is generally a nice guy and makes being in his class for lectures not insufferable Cons - Not mathematically rigorous, so if this is what you're looking for out of a 4XX class, don't take him - Requires proof-writing occasionally without giving structured expectations for such proofs - Honestly, doesn't seem to know the material very well; relies HEAVILY on the textbook - Occasionally made mistakes during lecture (related to the previous point) - Occasionally spent several lectures on unrelated (or generally unimportant) topics, which were testable nonetheless - Missed/Cancelled an unusually high number of classes; Otherwise seems uninterested in teaching this class Generally, he will make MATH406 easy for you if you give it enough effort–take notes, do the practice problems (in class and out), and look at the pre-exam study guides he gives–but if you are mathematically interested, do not take him because you will not learn enough or won't learn the material at a deep level. Ultimately, without all the nuance: he is a lecturer who will give you a good grade but is merely serviceable for actual learning.

Harry Tamvakis
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2023

Professor Tamvakis is just wonderful. When it comes to teaching, he presents great lectures which 95% of the time provide all the information and formulation necessary to complete the exams. He offers outstanding help during office hours which is always useful in completing the homework, and he leads you through the entire process to the final answer rather than some other professors who are afraid of telling you if you answer is right or wrong. The homework is hard, of course, but I appreciate the difficulty because it can make the exams feel easy, which is great of course considering that the homework is only 20% of the final grade. When it comes to exams, he provides exam review problems and goes over most of the problems the class before the corresponding exam. The review problems are always harder than the exam problems so it truly prepares you for what will appear on the exam, in addition to the homework. And best of all, there is a curve AND there is extra credit on every exam and on most of the homework! Definitely would suggest taking MATH406 with Tamvakis as it is one of the hardest math classes you can take!

Harry Tamvakis
MATH406

Expecting a C
Anonymous
12/17/2023

Professor Tamvakis is a great professor! He is a great lecturer and is always willing to meet with his students to help them out. He assigns weekly homeworks, 2 of which he allows to be turned late for full credit. With that being said, the homeworks can be challenging and long. The exams were pretty straight forward, no big surprises. He is also a quick grader so you'll recieve your exams back within a week. He gives review worksheets prior to each exam covering the content that the exam will be on them. As far as grading goes, he is a fair grader. He also curves the class at the end of the semester which is always nice. On the other hand, be aware that he does not use canvas at all, except to make announcements and distribute reviewsheets. So going to lectures is a MUST. He does not post any notes or slides on canvas or his website. Also, you won't know your grade until the end of the semester, unless you manually calculate it yourself. Overall, I would recommend Professor Tamvakis, you'll definitely learn a lot with him.

William Goldman
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/17/2023

I had Prof. Goldman for Intro to Number Theory. He is very patient, takes time to explain things in detail, and is super responsive to questions. He will approach the same problem or concept in different ways, so you end up with a super thorough understanding of the material covered in lecture. His exams are fair and are based entirely on what's been taught in lecture and practiced in homework assignments, so you're not thrown any unfair curve-ball questions. I really enjoyed his class this semester.

William Goldman
MATH406

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/16/2023

really really nice person, understanding of your concerns and values your enjoyment and learning. his lectures can be kind of boring and repetitive at times, but homework and exams are fair

William Goldman
MATH406

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/12/2023

I didn't believe people when they said their professor's voice would put them to sleep until I took this class. He seems like a nice enough guy, and I don't think the class is super hard, but I straight up could not learn anything from the lectures. I taught myself the content for the first midterm and did well, and I'll have to do the same for the final. I've definitely had worse professors but I wouldn't recommend him.

Justin Wyss-Gallifent
MATH406

Expecting an A
ktran58
05/26/2023

I was taking MATH241/406 with Justin in Spring 2023. - MATH241: His lectures were straightforward to follow. Also, he made the quizzes/exams not too hard, so getting high scores would be easy. However, TAs wouldn't go over the discussion/quiz problems for the entire section; if you've ever felt lost, definitely ask for help (My TA was Luis, and he's super helpful). For grading, he dropped the 4 lowest quizzes at the end, and the final grade could replace the lowest midterm if it was higher. - MATH406: This is the most interesting class I've ever taken. The proofs were confusing sometimes, but he made it clear. Homework could be time-consuming but I did enjoy doing it. Exams are pretty similar to the practice.

Peter Dillery
MATH406

Anonymous
05/25/2023

Great professor gives examples for everything which is super helpful. Exams are super fair (though I sadly bombed test 2) if you study and actually pay attention. I agree with everything the other reviewers say as well. Although slow at responding emails sometimes but very good professor.

William Goldman
MATH406

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/10/2023

Great professor, clearly very passionate about the topics taught. The professor often engaged in discussions with students about math topics. The workload in the class was light(1 homework assignment every 2 weeks), but still allowed a chance to gain an understanding of the content. Dr. Goldman was willing to go over homework problems the class struggled with in class. The final exam was also curved. The only negative was that the professor is not the best lecturer and often seemed to have difficulty conveying topics.

Peter Dillery
MATH406

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/08/2023

As for the good, he curves quite substantially. Apart from that, I don't have much else to say. Excessive (and excessively long) homeworks every week (we even have a full length homework assignment due during finals week, something I've never encountered in any class before this), he doesn't post notes at all and his lectures are effectively just a worse presentation of the sections of the textbook (his textbook of choice being abysmal as well), and extremely low exam averages. First exam average was a D, second and third one an F. The exams weren't as difficult as the low averages entail, but barely any material is provided to accurately prepare for these exams, and we are stuck using Justin's practice material and past homeworks, which are extremely excessive. Overall, he's a genuinely nice guy, but is a strict butler for the rules and can be quite a bit of an asshole at times.

Justin Wyss-Gallifent
MATH406

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/30/2023

This was my first 400-level math class (taken concurrently with 405). If you are comfortable with proofs (CMSC250 or MATH310), it will probably be pretty easy. The cryptography applications are super fun! Our exams have not been curved so far, but that's because the averages were high. I would not expect anything to get curved. It's just not needed. The homeworks are a bit long, but it makes studying for the exams easier. I suggest at least starting the problems the same day that you cover the material, and then reviewing them at the end of the week. If you can code, it is definitely good practice to code up the algorithms we discuss. Justin is impressively organized. He posts all assignments well in advance (often a whole month). He is very responsive on Piazza. His past exams and solutions are available on his website, so there are plenty of study resources.

Peter Dillery
MATH406

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/07/2023

On one end, he's a great lecturer, curves pretty substantially, and administers fair exams. That being said, he doesn't post notes, and homework are quite lengthy, and are graded very stringently.

Antoine Mellet
MATH406

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/03/2023

Definitely a great choice for a professor. If you have the opportunity to take Mellet for any course, I would highly recommend it. He teaches the course content very well, and sticks closely to the textbook which makes it easy to learn outside of class. The exams were very fair and the homeworks were not too long but were still helpful. Mellet has a moderate french accent which is easy to understand and I would argue actually improves the course significantly. The course itself is not very difficult compared to other 400 level math courses, and was interesting.

Lutian Zhao
MATH406

Expecting an A+
wmy78b
01/23/2023

The class is interesting and Lutian really wants to learn. He's HWs and practice exams are helpful. It would be better to have some pdf notes.

William Goldman
MATH406

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/23/2022

Super nice guy, not the best teacher, but I still learned a good amount and the curve was super generous

Lutian Zhao
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/20/2022

Actual GOAT.

Lutian Zhao
MATH406

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/16/2022

Amazing professor. Made the class an awesome experience and I would rush to sign up for any class with Lutian. He puts a large emphasis on making sure you're not stressed out and can actually learn and enjoy the material he is teaching, while still making sure you understand it. The only complaint I have is as somebody who is good at math and proofs, sometimes he would lose me because he was moving too fast. In fact, there were numerous times where somebody would have to stop and ask him to slow down or ask him to repeat something. Other then that, 5/5 professor would take him again :)

Peter Dillery
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/16/2022

Great lecturer, and takes time for questions. Poor handwriting but legible. Main issue is that he does not post notes, so you need to take detailed notes in class. About 2-3 hours of homework per week, exams are fair. Attendence is not graded but absolutely critical to pass the class.

Lutian Zhao
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/06/2022

Just stop reading reviews and sign up now before his class gets filed up. Pros: - Clear teaching - Gives practice exams VERY similar to actual exam - Reasonable homework’s - Drops lowest exam - Final is presenting/ making a report on how to solve a theorem that you have weeks to prepare for (you choose the theorem from a list) - Good personality Cons: - (this one is very minor but) when explaining he looks mostly on at the board so if you have a question you either have to say so or you might need to wait a few minutes until he sees you Do yourself a favor, sign up now P.S. Thanks Lutian for a great semester :)

Lutian Zhao
MATH406

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/06/2022

He cares a great deal about lowering the pressure of getting a good grade. He is very generous in his grading scheme and teaches the material in such a way that makes it interesting. There were some moments when the material was hard to understand, but not once did I feel stressed about it since he made sure that only what we knew was on the exam or homework. One of the best professors I have ever had.

Nathan Manning
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/02/2022

Nathan is one of the best professors I have had. Don't be fooled by the low reviews; they're probably from 240 students who were upset that they couldn't get an easy A. He is very knowledgeable and cares a lot about his students. His tests are sometimes tricky but definitely doable if you go to lecture, study, do the homework, and go to office hours. He encourages students to ask questions and is always accessible via office hours and email. I have also had him for 240 and 310 and my math thinking and appreciation has grown so much thanks to him!

Thomas Haines
MATH406

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
07/02/2022

great professor

Harry Tamvakis
MATH406

Expecting a C
Anonymous
05/04/2022

Very straightforward and easy-to-understand lectures, but he gets angry at the American education system (he's Greek) sometimes and takes it out a little on you.

Antoine Mellet
MATH406

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/19/2021

He is a good professor and this class isn't too hard if you have prior experience with proofs. However, Mellet's accent can sometimes make it hard to understand what he is saying as he talks quickly and mumbles sometimes. Luckily, he follows the textbook to a T so if you miss something, it's in the textbook. He uses the same examples and everything. He also goes pretty quickly in class in general, so you have to be a quick notetaker-- he starts wiping down the board the second he is done a proof or example. There also was a small curve at the end-- I walked into the exam with an 84 and ended up with an A- in the class, and it was not possible for me to get an A- even if I got 100% on the final. I definitely would have done better in this class if I had studied overall more. He has no quizzes, only weekly homework, 2 tests, and a final. So if you're like me and you do homework in 1-2 days, you may struggle a bit to catch up when it's time for exams.

Yanir Rubinstein
MATH406

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
04/14/2021

Actually really bad. I had taken this class by mistake and didn't realize it was a mistake until after add/drop, and he was the only available professor. He didn't have any reviews yet; just one from like 5 years ago that said he was awful. I said ehh, it's only 1 bad review, but I should've listened. So far the mean exam grade has been a 60 and he says he isn't going to curve it. Lectures are painful. He does zero prep and reads VERY slowly through the book, and if you ask a question he will either barely answer it or talk down to you. Probably just here for the research. The grade distribution is nice, HW's aren't graded and you get points for making a study guide, but seeing how the exams (basically the only source of a grade: 5 quizzes, ~10% each and he drops the lowest one) it's not looking great. Unless you are really good at Math and it's like your passion/you do Math research for fun, this class is gonna be the death of your GPA. I've taken up to Calc3 and LinAlg, and this class could be interesting, but he makes it tedious to sit through and gets mad when students don't show up to lecture.

Nathan Manning
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/11/2020

Great guy, knows the material well and makes jokes in the class. First exam was too long, he listened and vastly improved exam 2.

Adam Kanigowski
MATH406

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
10/27/2020

Very understanding man. Definitely cares about students and wants you to understand the material. Did recieve an A- in the class.

Adam Kanigowski
MATH406

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/02/2020

Decent professor. Not the best lecturer, but fair and exams are not bad.

Adam Kanigowski
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/06/2020

Professor Kanigowski is phenomenal. I had him for Math 406 as a freshmen. He is so kind and patient. He is the kind of professor who is extremely brilliant but also cares about his students learning the material. He understands that students might not necessarily understand the material through one approach and if you ask questions or he notices that he has lost student in his lecture, he will go back through what he just taught and try to teach it in a different way so it makes sense. ASK QUESTIONS IN CLASS!!! He is so willing to help you understand and he WANTS you to ask questions. He will repeatedly ask during lecture if there are any questions, and every time I have asked (which was a lot) he always made sure to answer it to the best of his abilities and I always understood it better. He is very nice at office hours and will spend however much time it takes going over problems until you feel comfortable. His homework and midterm prep are very useful and you will feel very well prepared for his exams if you complete them. The class breakdown is 6 to 7 graded homework assignments with 1 midterm and 1 final. However the homework and lectures really prepare you for the midterm and final so you will be okay. He does not require you to attend lecture, and the book is helpful, but I found his lectures to be a lot more helpful than the textbook, and he doesn't go in order of everything in the book so you at least need to know what topics he covered in class. I would highly recommend attending lectures. Side note - I had him during the time that UMD went online for the second half of the second semester because of COVID - 19 and he did so much to make sure that all his students were okay. He made sure to modify the curriculum and add more office hours so that we knew we could reach out to him. He said he cares more about his students understanding what he has taught than just bulldozing though material for the sake of saying he completed everything on his timeline. He is great for people who love math, or who struggle with math. He will challenge your brain to think different for those who enjoy it, and he is there to support you and encourage you when you struggle. 100% recommend taking him and I would take his class again if I could.

Manjit Bhatia
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/21/2019

number theory is an easy math400 in general. manjit bhatia is pretty old but he's not a terrible professor in my opinion. he can be very generous with exams as he allowed the first exam to be regraded and turned in for full points back. HOWEVER his grading on exam is BS sometimes. the reason why so many people needed regrades was because of this. he takes off like 90% credit even if you show you know how to do 95% of a problem. you need to make sure you know what he wants. but otherwise a low stress class and i wouldnt avoid taking him for this class by any means. also he didnt show up for our 8am final which was annoying...but the math department was the one being annoying by not letting it be a take-home exam after that happened.

Jonathan Rosenberg
MATH406

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
01/02/2018

If you want to get an A by just studying given material and don't have experience with proofs, avoid taking any classes taught by Rosenberg! Teaching: He can explain concepts straightforwardly, although he chooses to cover proofs in class instead of problems related to homework or ones you'd find on tests. The homeworks are hard. Even if you do well on the exams, this is where you will be losing your points. Expect to sit down on homework for at least 4 hours unless you are good at proofs. He usually asks 2 to 3 difficult thinking questions that require you to do proofs where you need to think outside of the box. Exam Difficulty: He starts off the class seemingly easy. The first exam took about 20 minutes or less if you just did the homework problems. Its mostly arithmetic / problems memorized from the notes. I got a 97 on it. On the second exam, I got a D... the full exam was all proofs except 1 problem despite the fact that he said it would be more arithmetic based than proofs and easy like the first exam. Rosenberg loves proofs so if you're not a math major like me (comp sci), avoid this class. He likes to make you think intuitively on the exam. Out of the 5 problems, I only saw 1 before, despite reviewing every single hw problem and the notes multiple times before the test. Rosenberg only curves at the end and you have no idea how you did. The final exam is brutal just like the second midterm ... do not be fooled by the curriculum of this class or the first midterm. He made it way more difficult half way through the year and doesn't seem to care about student concerns ... you don't even get the solutions to the homework problems after the first 2 or three. If you do end up taking his class, do all the proofs covered in class. Try to look for previous exams and study everything. Studying all the material is not enough to get an A. You need to practice proofs a lot. Grading Breakdown: In-class exams 100 points each Homework 100 points total Quizzes 50 points total Final Exam 200 points Total 550 points

Niranjan Ramachandran
MATH406

Expecting an A
Decave
12/26/2012

Dr. Ramachandran is, hands down, the best college professor I've ever had. He is extremely knowledgeable, is very good at communicating information and is a very nice man who essentially embodies everything that is needed in a college professor. Let me begin by admitting that his class was very challenging. The homeworks were tough, the average on the two midterms probably averaged out at a 59 (there was a very generous curve at the end of the course) and you won't get very far by lollygagging and mindlessly memorizing a few formulas. That being said, I thoroughly learned about an immense (almost unbelievable) amount of difficult and very important mathematical concepts and I am very, very happy that I took the course with him. After having taken Rama's course I honestly consider myself a much more mature and knowledgeable mathematician than I did before I took his course (and I had straight As in math beforehand). I guess I should also warn you that Ramachandran is not for everyone. A lot of people in my class didn't like it at all and claimed that he was a bad professor for various lame reasons. Usually, their reasoning was something like, "He's all over the place and is impossible to follow," or, "I feel like we don't learn anything in the class". What that illustrates is that they're not accustomed to rigorous, difficult math courses and that they're either too lazy or not apt enough to study and understand the deeper concepts that are actually worth putting the time and effort in for. One kid in the class said that "Modular arithmetic is dumb because there are no formulas." If you associate yourself with people like that then I recommend dropping out of any upper-level math courses and taking something more your style like communications. In summation, I highly recommend Dr. Ramachandran to anyone who is a serious and mature student and/or to anyone who wants to learn some awesome math. If you're in it for the easy A then take he class with someone else. P.S. His grading is very fair; it's just that his problems and homeworks are challenging and take a fair amount of time and effort to complete.

Melissa Macasieb
MATH406

nmendels
12/18/2012

She obviously knows number theory really well but her lectures were devoted more to proving theorems which really weren't tested at all. Also all of the proofs were in the book anyway so she could have just said "for details on the proof for theorem x consult the book." Also her grader was quite draconian and if you said something like "I lost 8/10 points for an arithmetic error", she would say "if you want I could maybe give you a few points back" and then spend a few minutes continuing to expand on how you were wrong which was quite annoying.

Melissa Macasieb
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
09/23/2012

Macasieb is great. She understands number theory in and out, and communicates it very well to her students. Lectures are focused on going through basic proofs of the material, and a sufficient number of examples for you to understand what's going on. If you skip class, you can just read the book; it's essentially the same thing. Grades consist of weekly homework from the book (lowest 1-2 grades dropped), weekly quizzes that are homework problems verbatim (again, lowest few dropped), two midterms, and a cumulative final. Exam questions are either computational (and thus simple) or proof-based (almost always come from problems in the textbook that are recommended but not explicitly assigned). Exam averages suck (we're talking 55-65ish), so she will obviously curve a bit in the end. Advice to do well: keep up with the material (early concepts such as Fermat's theorem and modulo arithmetic definitely impact the later material substantially), do extra practice problems from the book. This class requires a bit of work, but if you put in the effort, you'll be fine.

Melissa Macasieb
MATH406

Anonymous
05/25/2012

Like most math, number theory is not difficult to understand once you learn to mentally adopt new methods of abstract visualization. How this is best done probably depends on the student. This branch of math really amounts to little more than a massive game of pattern-finding, which can be a lot of fun. My issue with Macasieb is that she takes the fun out of it. She fails to communicate any enthusiasm for the material, or math and problem solving in general, lecturing purely from the book, proof after proof. She makes superficial attempts to engage the class, by occasionally prompting for part of a proof or example, but has no real sense of how to harness classroom energy. Ultimately, there is no reason to go to class if you learn well from books. She uses a good text, and reading it let me focus on the math without the awkward tension of the classroom. YMMV, but for me the point of math is that's it's fun, and this is not a fun class.

Melissa Macasieb
MATH406

Expecting an A+
zaqu413
12/24/2011

Macasieb was a great professor, but that comes with a slight catch. She really only wants to help the students who seem serious and study the material often enough to never fall behind on the small things. She gets rather annoyed during lecture if she needs to explain something that we went over last week. That being said if you are on top of things you will do fine. Homework/Quizzes: Was somewhat difficult, but manageable most of the time. 4 questions were often turned in for grading and all the other questions were possibilities to be seen on a quiz the day the homework was due. The quizzes were just redoing the hw problem w/o the book or notes, which wasn't hard to do. The Book: "Intro to Number Theory" by Dudley or something like that. It was a pretty good book. It was short, but effective. Although I must say that the author starts to get impatient and lazy around section 12, but nothing really to worry about. Tests: 2 Midterms and a final (ALL are cumulative, despite what she might say). Number Theory is one of those classes where if you fall behind you stay behind, because there isn't any concept that you can just say "I just wont bother learning that and I can scrape by with a B" because everything builds on the previous stuff. The Midterms were about 75% computation and 25% proofs The Final was about 60/40 computation to proof. Overall I would say make sure you know all the theorems that took a while to prove during class or that she emphasizes, because those are sure to show up on the tests. FINAL NOTES: -MAKE SURE TO GET MODULAR ARITHMETIC DOWN SUPER FAST OR YOU WILL BE LOST. -FERMAT'S THEOREM IS VERY IMPORTANT, AS IS PRETTY MUCH ANY THEOREM PROVED BY EULER OR EUCLID (THERE ARE MANY) -THE ONLY WAY THAT SHE WILL HELP YOU IS IF IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOU HAVE PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO FIGURING SOMETHING OUT AND HAVE A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE MATERIAL. IF YOU SEEM LOST SHE WILL NOT HELP, SHE EXPECTS YOU TO BE ABLE TO FIGURE "SIMPLE" THINGS OUT BY YOURSELF BY NOW. (Here "simple" means stuff we did last week) Also I managed an A+ because I destroyed the final, I studied for it for pretty much 4 days straight.

Lawrence Washington
MATH406

Expecting an A
rockinbassman
03/02/2011

Very nice guy and a pretty good professor. His tests are very reasonable and he gives you practice tests too. He is very approachable during office hours. He assigns homework bi-weekly. He collects 2 or 3 problems and then quizzes you on another 2. However, in class before the quiz, you can ask him ANY homework problem and he will do it. There's usually enough time to do all of them, so you're set for the quiz. He'll also do problems in office hours. With a little effort, you can get a 100% in homework and quizzes.

Joel Cohen
MATH406

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/20/2010

Although he's a really nice guy and very amiable, he's not a very good math professor. He clearly cares about his students and tries hard to address questions and concerns, but he seemed to never be able to find ways to clearly explain concepts in the class. He simply walks through proof after esoteric proof, then assigns homework which the student is forced to figure out on their own. Overall, I would recommend taking any other professor for a math class if you have the option.

Joel Cohen
MATH406

Anonymous
05/19/2010

He's a pretty nice guy, definitely approachable, and fairly understanding when it comes to extensions. HOWEVER, to be perfectly honest, he is not a good teacher. He rushes through proofs and skips a lot of steps, he rushes through examples and (once again) skips a lot of steps, and all in all, he simply doesn't explain what he's doing. He pretty much takes his lectures directly from the book, and doesn't know how to break things down into a more comprehensible format. If you ask him to explain something, he will stop and try to explain, but he usually just says the same thing he did before, meaning that asking him for help is ultimately not very useful. The exams are fine but you come out of the class feeling more like you memorized a bunch of tricks and rules rather than actually learning number theory well. Homework is useful and usually similar to the questions on the exam. If you REALLY want to learn number theory, I would recommend taking the class with someone else.

Joel Cohen
MATH406

Expecting a C-
satz24
02/13/2010

He's not a bad guy. In fact, if you can't get your homework in on-time, you can you email him for an extension. However, he is a crappy teacher. He does the examples that are found in the book. These examples are only helpful for a couple problems, then you get stuck. He doesn't give any insight or information other than the book. He brings the book to class, and reads it to you.

Thomas Haines
MATH406

keyoung
01/04/2010

Haines was a good and fair prof. His lectures were sometimes boring but he allows time for HW questions. He has 2 exams which are curved and weren't that bad if you keep up with HW. He gave practice exams for both. HWs were very helpful in learning and practicing the material and he drops 3. He told some "funny" jokes to lighten the mood several times. Overall good prof, nice guy.

Justin Wyss-Gallifent
MATH406

Expecting an A
a778999
05/24/2009

Great professor. Made the material easy to understand. I didn't even need to buy the book because the notes were so clear. However his curve isn't really generous so don't expect a free A.

Joel Cohen
MATH406

Expecting an A
fuzzyLogic
12/28/2008

Hard to follow during the first half of the course. His lectures follow the course of the text but he will take the time in class to explain any confusions you have. Second half was better as you picked up enough of the number theory background to follow some of the proofs.

Joel Cohen
MATH406

Expecting an A
samolang
08/25/2008

The class was pretty easy, the test content was always well covered in class/homework, and he kept the lectures somewhat entertaining.

Joel Cohen
MATH406

Expecting a B
Crispus Attucks
04/23/2008

MATH406 with Prof. Cohen is the only course I've ever been in where you can burst out loud "I have no idea what's going on!" and everything will be explained to you again patiently. In contrast to the other reviews, I find his lectures very clear. If you're really on your stuff with math you will do fine with him.

Kathryn Truman
MATH406

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/02/2008

she is awesome. if you are taking math406 take her class. go over your homeworks and any theorems that she says you have to know!! do the work and you will do well.

Reviews for MATH406