MATH411 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Lei Chen MATH411 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/24/2024	Pros: - Very willing to help you out in office hours, not as much over email. She might just say come to office hours. - Makes exam reviews and usually posts a video going over it. - SOME exams were like her exam reviews. The ones that were, were comprised of review sheet problems and/or homework problems and basically identical. Cons: - 1st midterm was NOT similar to the review! - Didn't post review video for the final exam review sheet even though multiple people asked and she only went over it on the very last class (which was 2 days before our final exam). - Lectures can be rough and disorganized. She will often ask US if something is correct. I often got lost in a proof of a big theorem because she didn't usually tell us where we were going and how we would get there. She is usually 3 minutes late. So reading the textbook was a MUST for me. - Her notation is not exactly the same as the Fitzpatrick textbook. - She was out of town probably for at least 4 or 5 classes, but she did post a video lecture. - At the beginning of the semester some homework assignments were posted late so we didn't have the full week to do it like we usually do. She also wanted us to turn in our homeworks in paper at first, but then she finally set up Canvas. - Didn't disclose grade cutoffs at the beginning of the semester and the cutoff for A+ ended up being 99! - Assumes some things are trivial in lecture so doesn't go over the whole proof, but often times it wasn't exactly trivial for me. Other info: - Weekly homework assignments come straight from the textbook, usually 6 problems/week. - When you study for her exams, prioritize the review sheet she makes and know the homework problems, but ALSO make sure you know all the other Theorem statements and definitions, etc. - Use Mean Value Theorem when in doubt lol! (Seriously.)
Richard Wentworth MATH411 Anonymous 05/20/2024	Boring professor, but very smart. Homeworks were ok, some are long and some are short. Exams are terribly hard for no reason which reflects from the scores which were around 65%, final avg was around 60% which the avg grade is about 69.5%. Curve was huge, it added almost 30% to my final grade. It doesn't seem like he wants people to fail but makes hard exams.
Richard Wentworth MATH411 Expecting a C- Anonymous 05/18/2024	Great professor, insanely tough class. The tests had around 60% average, but the cutoffs seemed low. My senioritis got the best of me, but overall the grading was fair. My only complaint was that we had a midterm on may 2nd and a final the week after.
Lei Chen MATH411 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2024	She's quite unorganized when it comes to lectures. She often writes down theorems and her proof is not completely fleshed out. However, she does provide more concise proofs compared to the book which especially are useful if it could show up on an exam. The homework is textbook problems which aren't very hard, and she is very helpful in reviewing them and your proofs during her Zoom office hours. She also didn't know how to use ELMS at the beginning and wanted us to hand in our homework in class but after some pushback, she allowed online submissions. Her exams are very similar to her exam reviews, so make sure to meticulously go over every single problem. Also, go over problems from the textbook as those can show up as well. She also held extra office hours for each exam as well. However, unlike previous reviews, she didn't seem to curve.
Lei Chen MATH411 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2024	Really nice professor.
Lei Chen MATH411 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2024	Chen is a really good professor. Her lectures are hard to follow because some of her proofs are not formally written or completely elaborated, but she knows what she is saying and will provide digestible proofs for important problems that you will need to learn how to emulate on the exam. The exams are very similar to the practice exams, but she will also take problems from the textbook. She has 10 extra credit points per exam, but the averages were in the low 70s for the semester. It's also really important to do the reviews the exams contain a lot of those questions. For an exam when she asks for you to "compute" it means to "prove", so keep that in mind. She's helpful during office hours, provides feedback on your proofs, and answers all your questions. She also held extra office hours before each exam to clarify questions. Take Lei Chen for any class she teaches, as you'll likely get a good grade.
Lei Chen MATH411 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/30/2024	This class is VERY HARD. I spend roughly 20 hours a week on this class, but it was well paid-off. Unfortunately, while Dr. Chen is very sweet and nice, she is an extremely disorganized lecturer. Oftentimes it feels like she does no prep work before lecture and is figuring things out on the fly. She has weekly homework, which the average ends up being around 100% on. She does very hand-wavy proofs, but she's okay with you doing hand-wavy proofs too. I quit showing up to class and just learned from the Fitzpatrick book instead. The class is very fast paced, so be prepared to spend a lot of hours doing practice problems. The exams are fairly difficult, both ended up having an average of around 70%. She makes you prove theorems from the book on test, so you have to make sure you know how to prove the book's theorems as well, or at least have the general outline.
Matei Machedon MATH411 Anonymous 01/04/2024	Prof. Machedon is reasonable and clearly cares a great deal for the material of MATH411, being an analyst himself and (I believe) the chair of the course given how often he teaches it. The pacing on lectures could be better, but they weren't bad. He is willing to go over material for review, which was great for the lectures before each exam (one midterm & a final). A few lectures were devoted to topics like integration on manifolds that were marked not to be tested. Homeworks were mostly very easy, almost mechanical, with one harder problem each week or so where you genuinely had to produce a proof. They weren't fully adequate for exam prep, but his many past exams and his reviews covered the gap. The curve ended up being 85/70/55 (A-/B-/C-/F).
Matei Machedon MATH411 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/15/2023	Great professor. knowledgable and very solid lectures. Dr Machedon is one of the best. His class is absolutely intended for students to actually learn things. Assignments are generally helpful and he is very willing to help in his office hours. Very patient and would like to explain things. last but not least, he curved the grade marks so that despite this is a hard class, can certainly expect a decent final grade if did sufficiently fine in assgnment and exams.
Kendall Williams MATH411 Expecting a W Anonymous 03/24/2023	Does not even lecture, just has students learn everything on their own. Has other students answering questions from other students instead of himself. Forced people into groups, and did not respect students (I was only female in his class and treated me like shit). What is the point of lectures when there is no "lecture," just group work that is not beneficial.
Huy Nguyen MATH411 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/02/2022	Huy is an amazing professor! 411 is difficult (it was a lot more difficult for me than 410) and requires a lot of hard work, but he makes it very manageable. His lectures are organized and clear. He is always happy to pause and answer student questions and it's clear that he cares a lot about helping students. He gives one homework assignment a week with about 8 questions which summarize the lectures of the previous week, and office hours are very helpful for the homework and also for general understanding. Exams are fair and reflect homework assignments and practice exams.
Huy Nguyen MATH411 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 08/15/2022	Dr. Nguyen is a great professor! I had him for both MATH410 and 411, which are important classes for going into higher level math, and his lectures are organized, and he involves the class as well. There's also enough humor to make it somewhat fun while still keeping it as professional as it needs to be. The homework assignments are difficult but reasonable, and he is great at helping if you're having any problems with the hw in office hours. The exams are also reasonable. I would 100% recommend taking 410/411 with him
Huy Nguyen MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/20/2022	He is the best math 411 professor. He posts hw solutions and his office hours are very helpful. He cares students more than anyone in the dept. I’m getting B because I took 3 math classes including AMSC460 with no programming skills. Definitely, take him!!
Huy Nguyen MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/20/2022	He is probably one of the best professor for Analysis sequence. Exams are fair and lecture notes are easy to understand. I am getting B because I spent so much time on useless AMSC460 class. Unlike other math professors, he posts HW solutions. Also, his office hour is very helpful. Definitely, I recommend him
Huy Nguyen MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/20/2022	He is probably one of the best professor for Analysis sequence. Exams are fair and lecture notes are easy to understand. I am getting B because I spent so much time on useless AMSC460 class. Unlike other math professors, he posts HW solutions. Also, his office hour is very helpful. Definitely, I recommend him
Huy Nguyen MATH411 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/15/2022	solid lecturer, knows his stuff, very good at explaining things and is great with office hours. however, he has Actual expectations so be prepared to learn, and moves pretty fast (I had tuesday thursday section with him). homeworks felt like they came by really fast.
Matei Machedon MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/19/2021	Professor Machedon is one of the best professors I have encountered at UMD. He makes a difficult class like Math411 digestible and he is also just a really nice and kind person all around. I really enjoyed going to his lectures. Also like the previous poster said, his exams are more than fair and his curve is a fair as well. I would highly recommend him for 411!!
Matei Machedon MATH411 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/14/2021	First of all, he is a great professor. He definitely treats students with respect and wants the best for them. For the most part, his lectures are clear and easy to understand after going through the notes (understandable for a proof based course where it might be difficult to digest everything during lecture). He follows the textbook for the most part, and says when he differs from the textbook. If he does differ, it is usually for a good reason. Exams are quite fair: not too hard and not too easy. If people do worse than expected, he is willing to curve a good amount. Homework is easy (maybe too easy and short, but not a major complaint). Also, in reply to others, his accent is barely noticeable.
Matei Machedon MATH411 Anonymous 05/30/2021	I've taken this guy for several courses including an entirely in person class (math241). For 411 it was entirely online, but since I know this professor in person I'll base my review on that as well. First off he's a good dude for real. He genuinely cares abouts his students, you can tell in the way he interacts with students. He's also the nicest professor I've had my entire time at umd. The only real con with this guy is that he sometimes explains things poorly during lecture. If you read the book and do suggested problems/ homework problems you should be okay. Also he gives a generous curve every semester, and I've had him 3 semesters and it's been the same every semester, though he grades much less harshly in person. I knew one of the TlAs before quarantine and he told me that professor machedon always said not to grade too harshly. I guess if I had to summarize I'd say take this guy. He doesn't like to fail people unnecessary, and isn't too bad, for lower or upper level classes or math 411. Also he doesn't have much of an accent. Maybe if you ate a native English speaker you'd have trouble understanding him but otherwise his accent is mild at most.
Justin Wyss-Gallifent MATH411 Anonymous 05/21/2021	He lives up to the hype! Lectures were interesting and he was super understanding about due dates & exams given that everything was online.
Matei Machedon MATH411 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/03/2021	Knowledgeable professor. He almost never makes mistakes. Took the class during a pandemic, exams are slightly easier than usual. Exams are similar to practice problems. If an exam question is not on the practice, it is usually either an application of the proved theorems or a modification of some proving process. However, he does expect you to read the textbook on your own, otherwise, his classes are too fast to follow.
Kendall Williams MATH411 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 09/04/2020	He is one of the best professors in math department. One reason is he follows every step, and make clear explanation to it. Another reason is he sticks to the purview of the textbook, so you will not meet anything unexpected in the assignment or exam. However the exam could be a little challenging and the amount of work is not light at all
Kendall Williams MATH411 Anonymous 06/14/2020	Just don't take him for MATH 411.
Kendall Williams MATH411 Anonymous 06/04/2020	The only bad instructor I had in the math department.
Leonid Koralov MATH411 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/27/2020	Koralov is nice and is always available to answer questions. He'll try to go deeper into the material and make sure you really understand the course. His exams are fair, and although he grades them a bit tough, he will curve the class to make up for it.
Kendall Williams MATH411 Anonymous 03/02/2020	Williams is not a good professor. Please do everything to not have him ever.
Giovanni Forni MATH411 Anonymous 01/23/2020	DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR He is the worst professor I have had during my undergrad studies and he should not be teaching classes. His exams were totally unfair and unrelated to the material he was supposedly teaching and his teaching was totally incoherent. I made the mistake of taking this professor but I hope others avoid making this mistake.
Giovanni Forni MATH411 Anonymous 12/19/2019	He's a funny guy, really smart too. His lectures are ok, but you doesn't follow the textbook very strictly, so oftentimes I had no clue what was going on. His midterms are ridiculously hard, while the final is somewhat more reasonable. That said, he curves to a B average, which is pretty generous. His style of teaching is different from others, but the way his exams destroy your self-confidence gives you great perspective on how little you really know.
Giovanni Forni MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/17/2019	Prof. Forni is a nice and approachable guy. That being said, his lecture was kind of unorganized and through out the semester I had no idea what was going on. But he always appears so understanding and innocent that I just couldn't want to blame him for anything... Do not expect his class to engage you (in this class he assigns problems out of a boring book. I liked the problems he wrote but it only happened for the very first hw :/ ). Take his class if you are especially motivated/determined or you may slip off the way I did... Exams were hard, mostly because they were ~10% similar to the problems from the book... He did generously curve the average of the class final grade to a B (the raw average was failing).
Kendall Williams MATH411 Anonymous 11/26/2019	His lectures are so confusion.
Matei Machedon MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/09/2019	He explained the concepts pretty well and his exams were similar to practice problems and previous exams. He was helpful during office hours as well.
Leonid Koralov MATH411 Anonymous 05/20/2018	Unreasonably difficult exams with no curve
Leonid Koralov MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 03/27/2018	I took this course 2 semesters ago with this professor and received a B. He was not helpful whatsoever. Wrote word for word from the book with very few examples (no examples outside of the book). I essentially read each section and taught myself the material. Exams were difficult with absolutely no partial credit given. I would never take a course with this professor again.
David Hamilton MATH411 Anonymous 12/21/2017	Pretty good for 411, just makes it hard when his lectures are so different from the book material, and he covers a lot. I didn't learn a ton in lecture, but they were interesting (best to learn the material beforehand which I didn't usually do). He's an engaging guy. Usually nice enough. Exams were pleasantly fair. Nice grading system.
Leonid Koralov MATH411 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2017	The best professor. Smiles always and tells funny stories about his children. Exam grades sometimes rough (uniform distribution between 0 and 100) but fair.
Wojciech Czaja MATH411 Expecting an A zhangsta 05/30/2014	Dr. Czaja is great professor. He makes a lot of jokes in class and is willing to answer questions in class, but don't expect much help on homework problems in his office hours. The homework problems were assigned out of the book. The exams he wrote were pretty difficult, but then again, so was the material. Some of the questions were problems from the homework, but asked in a way to make you think about the problem in another way.
Justin Wyss-Gallifent MATH411 Expecting an A anonn 05/13/2013	He really cares about his students. He explains concepts extremely clearly and encourages you to think about what's going on in class. I never had to use the textbook because his notes are so clear. Tests are difficult enough to let you see if you actually are understanding the material, but not so difficult that you feel like crap after taking them. I also took the MATLAB course. The tutorial was really helpful and clear. I spent maybe 10 hours total the entire semester on this class, and that includes learning MATLAB from scratch and doing the projects. Take this class as early as possible; it's easy, not a lot of work, and a decent introduction to MATLAB.
Manoussos Grillakis MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 09/23/2012	Grillakis is a well-dressed man who knows this class in and out. Lectures are spent proving theorems, often differently from how the book does it, which can be helpful. Grades are the average of your homework grade (lowest of 7 dropped), your midterm average (lowest of 3 dropped), and your final exam score. Homework is often either plug-n-chug application or intense proof that you may need to go to office hours for help on. However, there is at least a week and a half between due dates, so you always have enough time to complete the assignments. Exams are basically a practical application of the material you learn. He does not put dense proofs on exams, but rather he tests your basic and superficial understanding of the techniques you learn in class. Exams can be tricky, but they are very doable and very much test your understanding of the material. Just as was said in the review below, this class is essentially a multi-dimensional extension of 410. Some of the concepts are very arcane and difficult to grasp (example, proving Stokes Theorum and boundary proofs with Jordan Contents), but Grillakis is great at explaining these concepts.
McBlaine Boyle MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/02/2011	He is really good at teaching, and thoroughly enjoys it. Even in an upper level class, no question was too basic, and the lectures were given at a reasonable pace with full explanation. In other words, all assumptions and previous assertions or connections to previous parts of the problem were made clear at each step. Homework was also very reasonable but helpful, and he strikes a nice balance between proofs and applications (i.e. USING the concepts). Lectures were very helpful, and focused on a lot of examples of methods used to prove and solve things. He is also very helpful (and always present) at office hours. I might say that the class is a little less rigorous than I remember 410 and being and than other 411 classes I've heard about, but he does a healthy amount of relating the material to topo and linear. I would definitely say that even a very introductory view of set theory/topo is extremely useful the first unit in his class.
Manoussos Grillakis MATH411 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/27/2010	He seemed like he knew what he was doing, the tests and homeworks were pretty standard, but he was really boring. He talks kind of softly into the board, and pretty much writes everything he says down (which is also all in the book). There was nothing particularly terrible about his class, but it was hard to pay attention for the whole 50 minutes, especially when the proofs were complicated.
Manoussos Grillakis MATH411 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/29/2010	Grillakis is an effective professor (not great, but definitely a competent teacher). He will answer your questions directly when asked, and his proofs are generally easy to follow, though there are exceptions (not that this is his fault, as some of material is simply a bit complex to get in one go during lecture). His tests were well written - they were definitely short enough to be completed in an hour, but the questions were thorough in covering the content being tested. Also, the questions ranged in difficulty, so the exams weren't devilishly hard or too easy (though the exams certainly seemed easy when I was taking them, because I wasn't paying enough attention to some of the subtleties of some questions). Also, importantly, Grillakis was very responsive to student concerns about the shifting homework schedule after the week of snow, and the work load was never impossibly heavy. MATH411 isn't too bad, basically an extension of 410 into multiple dimensions. You can pretty much expect to do as well in 411 as you did in 410.
Manoussos Grillakis MATH411 Expecting an A almostdone 12/05/2007	I went into this class a little worried because of its reputation as one of the hardest at UMD. But Dr. Grillakis made this class both fun and simple. There is homework every week and 3 tests. The homework can be challenging sometimes but Dr. Grillakis is very helpful and alot of students go to him weekly for help. He also was very clear for what we had to know for tests. Overall if you found 410 easy, 411 with Grillakis is just a little bit harder but it is definitely not hard to get an A.

Lei Chen
MATH411

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/24/2024

Pros: - Very willing to help you out in office hours, not as much over email. She might just say come to office hours. - Makes exam reviews and usually posts a video going over it. - SOME exams were like her exam reviews. The ones that were, were comprised of review sheet problems and/or homework problems and basically identical. Cons: - 1st midterm was NOT similar to the review! - Didn't post review video for the final exam review sheet even though multiple people asked and she only went over it on the very last class (which was 2 days before our final exam). - Lectures can be rough and disorganized. She will often ask US if something is correct. I often got lost in a proof of a big theorem because she didn't usually tell us where we were going and how we would get there. She is usually 3 minutes late. So reading the textbook was a MUST for me. - Her notation is not exactly the same as the Fitzpatrick textbook. - She was out of town probably for at least 4 or 5 classes, but she did post a video lecture. - At the beginning of the semester some homework assignments were posted late so we didn't have the full week to do it like we usually do. She also wanted us to turn in our homeworks in paper at first, but then she finally set up Canvas. - Didn't disclose grade cutoffs at the beginning of the semester and the cutoff for A+ ended up being 99! - Assumes some things are trivial in lecture so doesn't go over the whole proof, but often times it wasn't exactly trivial for me. Other info: - Weekly homework assignments come straight from the textbook, usually 6 problems/week. - When you study for her exams, prioritize the review sheet she makes and know the homework problems, but ALSO make sure you know all the other Theorem statements and definitions, etc. - Use Mean Value Theorem when in doubt lol! (Seriously.)

Richard Wentworth
MATH411

Anonymous
05/20/2024

Boring professor, but very smart. Homeworks were ok, some are long and some are short. Exams are terribly hard for no reason which reflects from the scores which were around 65%, final avg was around 60% which the avg grade is about 69.5%. Curve was huge, it added almost 30% to my final grade. It doesn't seem like he wants people to fail but makes hard exams.

Richard Wentworth
MATH411

Expecting a C-
Anonymous
05/18/2024

Great professor, insanely tough class. The tests had around 60% average, but the cutoffs seemed low. My senioritis got the best of me, but overall the grading was fair. My only complaint was that we had a midterm on may 2nd and a final the week after.

Lei Chen
MATH411

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2024

She's quite unorganized when it comes to lectures. She often writes down theorems and her proof is not completely fleshed out. However, she does provide more concise proofs compared to the book which especially are useful if it could show up on an exam. The homework is textbook problems which aren't very hard, and she is very helpful in reviewing them and your proofs during her Zoom office hours. She also didn't know how to use ELMS at the beginning and wanted us to hand in our homework in class but after some pushback, she allowed online submissions. Her exams are very similar to her exam reviews, so make sure to meticulously go over every single problem. Also, go over problems from the textbook as those can show up as well. She also held extra office hours for each exam as well. However, unlike previous reviews, she didn't seem to curve.

Lei Chen
MATH411

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2024

Really nice professor.

Lei Chen
MATH411

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/12/2024

Chen is a really good professor. Her lectures are hard to follow because some of her proofs are not formally written or completely elaborated, but she knows what she is saying and will provide digestible proofs for important problems that you will need to learn how to emulate on the exam. The exams are very similar to the practice exams, but she will also take problems from the textbook. She has 10 extra credit points per exam, but the averages were in the low 70s for the semester. It's also really important to do the reviews the exams contain a lot of those questions. For an exam when she asks for you to "compute" it means to "prove", so keep that in mind. She's helpful during office hours, provides feedback on your proofs, and answers all your questions. She also held extra office hours before each exam to clarify questions. Take Lei Chen for any class she teaches, as you'll likely get a good grade.

Lei Chen
MATH411

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/30/2024

This class is VERY HARD. I spend roughly 20 hours a week on this class, but it was well paid-off. Unfortunately, while Dr. Chen is very sweet and nice, she is an extremely disorganized lecturer. Oftentimes it feels like she does no prep work before lecture and is figuring things out on the fly. She has weekly homework, which the average ends up being around 100% on. She does very hand-wavy proofs, but she's okay with you doing hand-wavy proofs too. I quit showing up to class and just learned from the Fitzpatrick book instead. The class is very fast paced, so be prepared to spend a lot of hours doing practice problems. The exams are fairly difficult, both ended up having an average of around 70%. She makes you prove theorems from the book on test, so you have to make sure you know how to prove the book's theorems as well, or at least have the general outline.

Matei Machedon
MATH411

Anonymous
01/04/2024

Prof. Machedon is reasonable and clearly cares a great deal for the material of MATH411, being an analyst himself and (I believe) the chair of the course given how often he teaches it. The pacing on lectures could be better, but they weren't bad. He is willing to go over material for review, which was great for the lectures before each exam (one midterm & a final). A few lectures were devoted to topics like integration on manifolds that were marked not to be tested. Homeworks were mostly very easy, almost mechanical, with one harder problem each week or so where you genuinely had to produce a proof. They weren't fully adequate for exam prep, but his many past exams and his reviews covered the gap. The curve ended up being 85/70/55 (A-/B-/C-/F).

Matei Machedon
MATH411

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
11/15/2023

Great professor. knowledgable and very solid lectures. Dr Machedon is one of the best. His class is absolutely intended for students to actually learn things. Assignments are generally helpful and he is very willing to help in his office hours. Very patient and would like to explain things. last but not least, he curved the grade marks so that despite this is a hard class, can certainly expect a decent final grade if did sufficiently fine in assgnment and exams.

Kendall Williams
MATH411

Expecting a W
Anonymous
03/24/2023

Does not even lecture, just has students learn everything on their own. Has other students answering questions from other students instead of himself. Forced people into groups, and did not respect students (I was only female in his class and treated me like shit). What is the point of lectures when there is no "lecture," just group work that is not beneficial.

Huy Nguyen
MATH411

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/02/2022

Huy is an amazing professor! 411 is difficult (it was a lot more difficult for me than 410) and requires a lot of hard work, but he makes it very manageable. His lectures are organized and clear. He is always happy to pause and answer student questions and it's clear that he cares a lot about helping students. He gives one homework assignment a week with about 8 questions which summarize the lectures of the previous week, and office hours are very helpful for the homework and also for general understanding. Exams are fair and reflect homework assignments and practice exams.

Huy Nguyen
MATH411

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
08/15/2022

Dr. Nguyen is a great professor! I had him for both MATH410 and 411, which are important classes for going into higher level math, and his lectures are organized, and he involves the class as well. There's also enough humor to make it somewhat fun while still keeping it as professional as it needs to be. The homework assignments are difficult but reasonable, and he is great at helping if you're having any problems with the hw in office hours. The exams are also reasonable. I would 100% recommend taking 410/411 with him

Huy Nguyen
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/20/2022

He is the best math 411 professor. He posts hw solutions and his office hours are very helpful. He cares students more than anyone in the dept. I’m getting B because I took 3 math classes including AMSC460 with no programming skills. Definitely, take him!!

Huy Nguyen
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/20/2022

He is probably one of the best professor for Analysis sequence. Exams are fair and lecture notes are easy to understand. I am getting B because I spent so much time on useless AMSC460 class. Unlike other math professors, he posts HW solutions. Also, his office hour is very helpful. Definitely, I recommend him

Huy Nguyen
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/20/2022

He is probably one of the best professor for Analysis sequence. Exams are fair and lecture notes are easy to understand. I am getting B because I spent so much time on useless AMSC460 class. Unlike other math professors, he posts HW solutions. Also, his office hour is very helpful. Definitely, I recommend him

Huy Nguyen
MATH411

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/15/2022

solid lecturer, knows his stuff, very good at explaining things and is great with office hours. however, he has Actual expectations so be prepared to learn, and moves pretty fast (I had tuesday thursday section with him). homeworks felt like they came by really fast.

Matei Machedon
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/19/2021

Professor Machedon is one of the best professors I have encountered at UMD. He makes a difficult class like Math411 digestible and he is also just a really nice and kind person all around. I really enjoyed going to his lectures. Also like the previous poster said, his exams are more than fair and his curve is a fair as well. I would highly recommend him for 411!!

Matei Machedon
MATH411

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/14/2021

First of all, he is a great professor. He definitely treats students with respect and wants the best for them. For the most part, his lectures are clear and easy to understand after going through the notes (understandable for a proof based course where it might be difficult to digest everything during lecture). He follows the textbook for the most part, and says when he differs from the textbook. If he does differ, it is usually for a good reason. Exams are quite fair: not too hard and not too easy. If people do worse than expected, he is willing to curve a good amount. Homework is easy (maybe too easy and short, but not a major complaint). Also, in reply to others, his accent is barely noticeable.

Matei Machedon
MATH411

Anonymous
05/30/2021

I've taken this guy for several courses including an entirely in person class (math241). For 411 it was entirely online, but since I know this professor in person I'll base my review on that as well. First off he's a good dude for real. He genuinely cares abouts his students, you can tell in the way he interacts with students. He's also the nicest professor I've had my entire time at umd. The only real con with this guy is that he sometimes explains things poorly during lecture. If you read the book and do suggested problems/ homework problems you should be okay. Also he gives a generous curve every semester, and I've had him 3 semesters and it's been the same every semester, though he grades much less harshly in person. I knew one of the TlAs before quarantine and he told me that professor machedon always said not to grade too harshly. I guess if I had to summarize I'd say take this guy. He doesn't like to fail people unnecessary, and isn't too bad, for lower or upper level classes or math 411. Also he doesn't have much of an accent. Maybe if you ate a native English speaker you'd have trouble understanding him but otherwise his accent is mild at most.

Justin Wyss-Gallifent
MATH411

Anonymous
05/21/2021

He lives up to the hype! Lectures were interesting and he was super understanding about due dates & exams given that everything was online.

Matei Machedon
MATH411

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/03/2021

Knowledgeable professor. He almost never makes mistakes. Took the class during a pandemic, exams are slightly easier than usual. Exams are similar to practice problems. If an exam question is not on the practice, it is usually either an application of the proved theorems or a modification of some proving process. However, he does expect you to read the textbook on your own, otherwise, his classes are too fast to follow.

Kendall Williams
MATH411

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
09/04/2020

He is one of the best professors in math department. One reason is he follows every step, and make clear explanation to it. Another reason is he sticks to the purview of the textbook, so you will not meet anything unexpected in the assignment or exam. However the exam could be a little challenging and the amount of work is not light at all

Kendall Williams
MATH411

Anonymous
06/14/2020

Just don't take him for MATH 411.

Kendall Williams
MATH411

Anonymous
06/04/2020

The only bad instructor I had in the math department.

Leonid Koralov
MATH411

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/27/2020

Koralov is nice and is always available to answer questions. He'll try to go deeper into the material and make sure you really understand the course. His exams are fair, and although he grades them a bit tough, he will curve the class to make up for it.

Kendall Williams
MATH411

Anonymous
03/02/2020

Williams is not a good professor. Please do everything to not have him ever.

Giovanni Forni
MATH411

Anonymous
01/23/2020

DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR He is the worst professor I have had during my undergrad studies and he should not be teaching classes. His exams were totally unfair and unrelated to the material he was supposedly teaching and his teaching was totally incoherent. I made the mistake of taking this professor but I hope others avoid making this mistake.

Giovanni Forni
MATH411

Anonymous
12/19/2019

He's a funny guy, really smart too. His lectures are ok, but you doesn't follow the textbook very strictly, so oftentimes I had no clue what was going on. His midterms are ridiculously hard, while the final is somewhat more reasonable. That said, he curves to a B average, which is pretty generous. His style of teaching is different from others, but the way his exams destroy your self-confidence gives you great perspective on how little you really know.

Giovanni Forni
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/17/2019

Prof. Forni is a nice and approachable guy. That being said, his lecture was kind of unorganized and through out the semester I had no idea what was going on. But he always appears so understanding and innocent that I just couldn't want to blame him for anything... Do not expect his class to engage you (in this class he assigns problems out of a boring book. I liked the problems he wrote but it only happened for the very first hw :/ ). Take his class if you are especially motivated/determined or you may slip off the way I did... Exams were hard, mostly because they were ~10% similar to the problems from the book... He did generously curve the average of the class final grade to a B (the raw average was failing).

Kendall Williams
MATH411

Anonymous
11/26/2019

His lectures are so confusion.

Matei Machedon
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/09/2019

He explained the concepts pretty well and his exams were similar to practice problems and previous exams. He was helpful during office hours as well.

Leonid Koralov
MATH411

Anonymous
05/20/2018

Unreasonably difficult exams with no curve

Leonid Koralov
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
03/27/2018

I took this course 2 semesters ago with this professor and received a B. He was not helpful whatsoever. Wrote word for word from the book with very few examples (no examples outside of the book). I essentially read each section and taught myself the material. Exams were difficult with absolutely no partial credit given. I would never take a course with this professor again.

David Hamilton
MATH411

Anonymous
12/21/2017

Pretty good for 411, just makes it hard when his lectures are so different from the book material, and he covers a lot. I didn't learn a ton in lecture, but they were interesting (best to learn the material beforehand which I didn't usually do). He's an engaging guy. Usually nice enough. Exams were pleasantly fair. Nice grading system.

Leonid Koralov
MATH411

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/15/2017

The best professor. Smiles always and tells funny stories about his children. Exam grades sometimes rough (uniform distribution between 0 and 100) but fair.

Wojciech Czaja
MATH411

Expecting an A
zhangsta
05/30/2014

Dr. Czaja is great professor. He makes a lot of jokes in class and is willing to answer questions in class, but don't expect much help on homework problems in his office hours. The homework problems were assigned out of the book. The exams he wrote were pretty difficult, but then again, so was the material. Some of the questions were problems from the homework, but asked in a way to make you think about the problem in another way.

Justin Wyss-Gallifent
MATH411

Expecting an A
anonn
05/13/2013

He really cares about his students. He explains concepts extremely clearly and encourages you to think about what's going on in class. I never had to use the textbook because his notes are so clear. Tests are difficult enough to let you see if you actually are understanding the material, but not so difficult that you feel like crap after taking them. I also took the MATLAB course. The tutorial was really helpful and clear. I spent maybe 10 hours total the entire semester on this class, and that includes learning MATLAB from scratch and doing the projects. Take this class as early as possible; it's easy, not a lot of work, and a decent introduction to MATLAB.

Manoussos Grillakis
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
09/23/2012

Grillakis is a well-dressed man who knows this class in and out. Lectures are spent proving theorems, often differently from how the book does it, which can be helpful. Grades are the average of your homework grade (lowest of 7 dropped), your midterm average (lowest of 3 dropped), and your final exam score. Homework is often either plug-n-chug application or intense proof that you may need to go to office hours for help on. However, there is at least a week and a half between due dates, so you always have enough time to complete the assignments. Exams are basically a practical application of the material you learn. He does not put dense proofs on exams, but rather he tests your basic and superficial understanding of the techniques you learn in class. Exams can be tricky, but they are very doable and very much test your understanding of the material. Just as was said in the review below, this class is essentially a multi-dimensional extension of 410. Some of the concepts are very arcane and difficult to grasp (example, proving Stokes Theorum and boundary proofs with Jordan Contents), but Grillakis is great at explaining these concepts.

McBlaine Boyle
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
11/02/2011

He is really good at teaching, and thoroughly enjoys it. Even in an upper level class, no question was too basic, and the lectures were given at a reasonable pace with full explanation. In other words, all assumptions and previous assertions or connections to previous parts of the problem were made clear at each step. Homework was also very reasonable but helpful, and he strikes a nice balance between proofs and applications (i.e. USING the concepts). Lectures were very helpful, and focused on a lot of examples of methods used to prove and solve things. He is also very helpful (and always present) at office hours. I might say that the class is a little less rigorous than I remember 410 and being and than other 411 classes I've heard about, but he does a healthy amount of relating the material to topo and linear. I would definitely say that even a very introductory view of set theory/topo is extremely useful the first unit in his class.

Manoussos Grillakis
MATH411

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/27/2010

He seemed like he knew what he was doing, the tests and homeworks were pretty standard, but he was really boring. He talks kind of softly into the board, and pretty much writes everything he says down (which is also all in the book). There was nothing particularly terrible about his class, but it was hard to pay attention for the whole 50 minutes, especially when the proofs were complicated.

Manoussos Grillakis
MATH411

Expecting a B
Anonymous
04/29/2010

Grillakis is an effective professor (not great, but definitely a competent teacher). He will answer your questions directly when asked, and his proofs are generally easy to follow, though there are exceptions (not that this is his fault, as some of material is simply a bit complex to get in one go during lecture). His tests were well written - they were definitely short enough to be completed in an hour, but the questions were thorough in covering the content being tested. Also, the questions ranged in difficulty, so the exams weren't devilishly hard or too easy (though the exams certainly *seemed* easy when I was taking them, because I wasn't paying enough attention to some of the subtleties of some questions). Also, importantly, Grillakis was very responsive to student concerns about the shifting homework schedule after the week of snow, and the work load was never impossibly heavy. MATH411 isn't too bad, basically an extension of 410 into multiple dimensions. You can pretty much expect to do as well in 411 as you did in 410.

Manoussos Grillakis
MATH411

Expecting an A
almostdone
12/05/2007

I went into this class a little worried because of its reputation as one of the hardest at UMD. But Dr. Grillakis made this class both fun and simple. There is homework every week and 3 tests. The homework can be challenging sometimes but Dr. Grillakis is very helpful and alot of students go to him weekly for help. He also was very clear for what we had to know for tests. Overall if you found 410 easy, 411 with Grillakis is just a little bit harder but it is definitely not hard to get an A.

Reviews for MATH411