Matei Machedon

This professor has taught: AMSC673, AMSC674, MATH241, MATH246, MATH341, MATH405, MATH410, MATH411, MATH461, MATH462, MATH630, MATH673, MATH674, MATH858E

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Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/24/2024	By far one of the best math teachers I've had at umd so far. He really cares about his students whenever someone had a question he'd stop and fully explain it. After he answered a question the student said "thank you" and he said "thank you" back you can really see he cares in his lecture. No quizzes in the discussions which is nice if you can't make in and the homework's are pretty straight forward especially if you work with other people. Test are also not too bad there are usually 1 or 2 tricker questions but as long as you pay attention in class and study you should be fine. He also has a huge curve to his class which was super helpful (I think an 86 was and A). I would definitely recommend taking Prof. Machedon for 246!
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/21/2024	I want to say that he is really a nice professor, but he's lectures are very confusing, I did so many self study in this class. But he's office hour is helpful and you only need to take one mid term.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/17/2024	Pros: Good lecturer, makes material easy to understand, writes very large on chalkboard. Seems like a nice guy. Curve was VERY generous. Cons: Class taught off of very convoluted notes, hard to know what was on final
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/14/2024	Prof. Machedon is a really nice professor and probably one of the best you can have for diff eq. He knows his material, and happily will answer questions during lecture if you have them. His TAs this semester were really excellent as well. Lectures: Not too engaging. He does have a slight accent that is not a problem understanding. They made sense, but they were hard to pay attention to for 75 minutes. He would sometimes go on theoretical tangents and proofs, which were interesting but hard to tell if it was something we were expected to know for the exam. Overall, they were slightly disorganized and many people skipped. The notes came from Dr. Levermore's diff eq online notes. These notes were very thorough and the content could be learned from reading these alone. He assigned a few optional practice problems each lecture from these notes. DO THESE! Prof. Machedon ran the class very well from a logistical standpoint. Very communicative, and kept us up to date on assignment due dates. The canvas page was run very smoothly as well. All assignments were posted promptly. If you have time, the GSS sessions were also good. Homework (HW = 20%, Matlab = 20%): Homework was given as multiple choice quizzes on Canvas -- we had a week or so to do them. There were also 2 written homeworks, graded leniently. We had 3 Matlabs that were very easy. They were Justin's projects, modified slightly. He was very conscious when we were behind in content and extended the homework/Matlabs a couple times when needed. Midterm (25%): We had one midterm. It was very straightforward, and there were no tricks. Significantly less stressful than the other professors this semester. Final (35%): It was a common final which all the professors could contribute to. It was very fair, I just didn't prepare well and therefore, didn't do well on the final. My only complaint is it felt very long and I didn't really have time to finish. Overall, 4 stars. Great communication, friendly lecture hall environment, great course organization. His generous grade brackets are also by 15 points instead of the usual 10. (i.e 85-100 is A-/A/A+ etc.) My only complaint is the content didn't quite feel paced right; we were really rushing at the end of the semester. I would recommend Machedon for sure! But, if you take 75 minute classes with, be prepared for a barrage of math!
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/14/2024	His lectures are not very straightforward and often left me confused, however Levermore and Justin's notes help a lot in this class. His exams are fair and his grade cutoffs are nice (over an 85 is an A). I would recommend taking his class but putting in more effort to stay on top of the material. He only gave my class one midterm, so when it was time to start studying for the final, I was really behind. Going to GSS and doing the practice problems he posts are worth it.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2024	This guy is not very good at teaching math. As someone who can usually follow along in math lectures (i.e. 240 and 241), I’d say I walked out of about 80% of lectures not understanding a word he said. Justin Wyss-Galifent’s notes for this class are pretty much the only reason I was able to do well, so I strongly recommend just using those. The good things about Machedon’s class is that he gives one of the lightest workloads you can get in a math class, with only 5 homeworks and 3 of the easiest Matlabs you’ll ever do, plus just one midterm and a final (although I recommend doing some practice on top of his assignments since learning everything in the couple days before the final was not fun). He also has a pretty nice curve compared to some other teachers (88% is an A). I’m giving him 2 stars because he’s a bad lecturer, but if you want a light workload and trust yourself to learn most of the content on your own (again Justin’s notes give you almost everything you need), you’ll be ok in this class.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/10/2024	I think he would be a very good professor for an upper level course rather than MATH246. He taught it very much theoretical, which as this course is hard enough, that made it very difficult to understand and follow. As the semester went on I went to less and less lectures as it didn't benefit me in anyway, rather have me left in confusion as the only notes I have don't have any real useful examples to help me in practice (I was better off using Justin's online notes as they were extremely detailed with practical examples). There was only one midterm that was 25% of the grade, and the final 35%.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/05/2024	Never went to lecture, he is not the best at explaining at all. He only goes through Levermore's notes and it doesn't make any sense in class. To catch up, please watch Terrance Long's dfq videos on YouTube, although the videos were taken as the class was over the summer, you will have all the necessary notes. He only has one midterm and a final along with matlabs and homework! The Matlab and homework are pretty easy, make sure to utilize those for your grade. The midterm was pretty similar to the practice exam he gave, just know the important things from each chapter and practice. His curve is crazy, a 55 was a C-, if you put in the effort you will do amazing in this class!
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/03/2024	Machedon is not a bad teacher- his lectures just seem to go in one ear and out the other because of the monotone voice. That being said- everything in this class can be learned online or with the notes and the tests and quizzes are very fair. I would take this class if you enjoy self-studying more than going to class itself.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Anonymous 04/28/2024	Dr.Machedon is very nice, if you come to his office hour, he will help you to do the homework and explain everything you don't understand. The only thing bad is sometimes he pay to much attention on the stuff that we don't need to know in the exam. But the boundary is nice, you need an 88% to get A.
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.
Matei Machedon MATH674 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/09/2022	Great professor. He's super smart and knowledgable, but he stays humble and answers every question patiently. We covered chapter 5-6 in Evans and did a bit more on Littlewood-Paley/Strichartz estimates. I personally love the functional analysis aspect of things.
Matei Machedon MATH461 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/23/2021	Dr. Machedon is one of the best math professors at UMD. He makes exams straightforward, assigns homework that helps learn the concepts and applications, and has an incredibly fair grading strategy. He made a fairly complex class straightforward, and focused on applications more than theoretical knowledge which was excellent for a course full of engineers, not mathematicians.
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.
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.
Matei Machedon MATH405 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/03/2020	Professor Machedon is by far one of the nicest professors one could ever take at the university. I think he really takes time to help you succeed if you ask for it. Even so, there were some things that could be improved about the course. I think he lectured a little too slowly. The exams were also really easy, which concerned me, both the people who scored abysmally on them and the people who did well on the exams and did not understand anything that went on in the class. The textbook he uses for 405 (Curtis) I feel is pretty crummy as well.
Matei Machedon MATH241 Anonymous 12/23/2019	Professor Machedon has an incredibly thick accent and his handwriting resembles the writing of a 2nd grader. His Calc 3 exams consisted of 5 questions each worth 20 points(4 realistic ones and 1 problem which he considered "fun"). The "fun" one was incredibly difficult and I would just chuck down as many formulas that I could remember to hope and pray that I'd earn a few points. Luckily, my TA was great so I found discussion, office hours with TA, and constant practice problems to scrape out a 75%. I got 95 percents in calc 1 and calc 2(that was in high school and I know college courses are harder) however, there was no reason this class should've been so hard for me. Try your best to avoid him(I've heard great things about Wisely Wong and Terrance Long).
Matei Machedon MATH405 Anonymous 12/19/2019	Super nice guy, maybe even too nice. He made the class very easy, and gave us exam questions beforehand for practice. We spent a lot of time on basic linear algebra topics, but overall still covered a fair amount of new and challenging material.
Matei Machedon MATH241 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2019	Doing the book problems and previous exams from the testbank are the best way to study. You could probably get buy with these instead of attending lecture tbh.
Matei Machedon MATH241 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2019	Professor Machedon is a nice person that cares a lot about his students. However, he can be a little hard to follow while explaining the more complicated Calc III concepts. MATH241 with him wasn't bad, but having a condescending and ineffective TA (Maia) made it a lot harder.
Matei Machedon MATH405 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/10/2019	He's perhaps the nicest professor I've taken a class with in the math department. One complaint I have about the class in general is that it was too easy. Before the exam he would post "practice problems" and then when we got the exams we would discover that the exams basically had the exact same problems word for word. Essentially by the end of the course we have some students left who do not understand the basics very well as to ask questions which are either straight up incoherent or seemingly "are you seriously asking that at this point in the course?" The textbook for the class kind of sucks. He was very willing to entertain some of my brief after-class discussions of some alternative and wacky ways to prove certain things.
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.
Matei Machedon MATH341 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/29/2018	He is an average profession with average expectations. He does want the best for his students, but lectures can be boring. Some topics he does not explain in depth enough for students who are new to certain topics.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/04/2014	Machedon is a decent teacher. He tends to drone on and is extremely vague in his explanations in class. I don't feel like I gain very much from going to lecture. That being said, his expectations are very reasonable. His tests are fair, as are the quizzes. You can learn it all from the internet and by doing the problems from the textbook before the tests. He puts a relatively small emphasis on matlab, which I appreciate because I've never really been taught matlab and feel like i have no idea how to use the software. I'd suggest you take matlab if you want to put minimal effort into this class and you don't expect to gain much of an understanding of the material out of the experience.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B cblumenf 11/05/2014	Machedon's lectures are boring and his accent and handwriting can be hard to understand at times. The tests were pretty difficult and the textbook was hard to understand and in my opinion focused too much on derivations rather than how to get solutions to problems. He does curve the class about 10% which is helpful.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A- parade 07/31/2014	Overall, not a great lecturer, he goes through the material quite fast and is not great at explaining things. Using the online notes by Levermore supplemented with Paul's notes plus the occasional patrickJMT/Khanacademy youtube video was enough to get me through most of the material. I also had a fantastic TA (Jacky Chong), definitely take him if available, he's kind of eccentric but really knows his stuff! His tests are quite fair not easy but not impossible either.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/28/2014	Taking Diff Eq with Machedon, I only went to class for his assessments (3 quizzes, each a week before each of the 3 midterms), and instead of going to class taught myself from the online textbook. Before each assessment, he sends out an email reminding you about it, which sections it covers, and usually a few hints about its content. They were all fairly straightforward, though the midterm with LaPlace was bad, an average of 59, the other two exams had B averages. He curves significantly at the end, 10% for me. The matlab was not bad, and only was on one exam, unlike some other Diff Eq teachers. Paul's Online Notes are great for when the textbook is too wordy.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A kingpinchimp 01/24/2013	I loved taking DiffEQ with Machedon. He is really friendly (the friendliest professor I've had). While the material can sometimes be unclear during lecture, he is approachable and you can clear up the issues you have. Some of the differences in reviews may have been the different TA's that we had. I had Summer as my TA and she was fantastic, and always explained everything clearly that Dr. Machedon may have been unclear on. Those with the other TA may not have had that and thus were unable to clarify a few things. As far as tests go, they are on a curve and fair for the most part. The only issue is the one trick question he likes to put on each test. If you get lucky its only worth a few points, but on one for us it was worth 20/100 and very few people actually knew what to do.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/21/2012	Dr.Machedon isn't the best teacher, but he makes up for it. His grade curve for the class is awesome! Automatically, above a 50% is a C- . Then the rest of the grades are determined based on how well the rest of the class did. Averages were real low for first 2 tests, but the 3rd test was ridiculously easy. But by choosing to take Machedon, prepared to get demolished on the final because the other teacher makes up the majority of the test. As a person, Machedon is probably the nicest math teacher, in which he is always willing to help you and clarify things. So if you don't understand somethin, just stop by his office during office hours and you'll be good.
Matei Machedon MATH410 Expecting an A dfarias 12/19/2012	Dr. Machedon is a great professor! He is really nice and always approachable. It is clear he cares a lot about teaching, and enjoys congratulating students for getting certain problems correct. He teaches very well, and often presents material in a better way than the book. His tests tend to require true understanding of the material instead of memorization, though many questions are "tricky". The test averages for 410 were very low, but he understands this and curves the class fairly in the end. I would highly recommend him as a teacher. You will end up understanding the class material extremely well at the end of it all.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/13/2012	This review is more about Machedon's class than his teaching. I never really went to lecture so I can't say whether or not he was good. But he drops 5 out of 15 hwk. We had three exams and one was extremely easy, the other two were fine and definitely doable. I would advise taking his class if you usually don't go to lecture because you can teach yourself from the book and still get a good grade in this course.
Matei Machedon Expecting a B zionismisracism 12/10/2012	The folks below me who are complaining about machedon this semester have nothing to complain about. I am a B student in math (I have even got a C once a long time ago) and this class is a joke. His first and third exam were a total joke, almost 10 people in my section got a 100 percent on the last exam(me included, and I bombed the second exam). His second exam (the one with laplace) was killer for me, but overall this class is very easy. One of his problems on the second exam was even from the homework! (and yet stupid people like me still missed it). Machedon is an incredibly nice and funny professor (Love his accent!). Those who fail in this class don't belong in engineering. I see people who get 7% on the first exam, where they ask basic diff eq calc (separable equations). idiots. Master laplace transforms and everything else should be a joke.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/03/2012	I have to agree with the review below this one. I am a good student who is pretty good at math (Usually get A's) but as a teacher Machedon is not very helpful. He is a nice guy, but he doesn't really teach important concepts.. he gets more caught up on the details of the material. I have never really intentionally skipped a class before this one, but reading the dense book was more helpful than attending lecture. And that says something especially for a math textbook. I wouldn't recommend him as a professor for this class :/
Matei Machedon MATH246 Anonymous 11/06/2012	Machedon is a really nice man, and he seems to genuinely care about his students, but he is not a great teacher. His handwriting is difficult to read and his lectures are not very well-organized. He runs through lessons very quickly, and I personally find it difficult learning Diff Eq from him. I have watched Khan Academy videos and have had to read sections in the textbook (which is mediocre) repeatedly just to catch up to him. I'm also really confused by the comments about his tests being really easy. I guess he's changed his test format since then, because his tests are so ridiculously and unnecessariy complicated. They're long for a 50-minute time period, and the questions are far from direct. I've done all the homeworks and recommended practice problems and I feel like they don't help me with the tests at all. For the first exam, the average was around a 67/100. He does curve the tests, but if you score under a 50, you're out of luck. This seems like a fair grading system at first, until you realize how much the TA's don't like giving out partial credit.
Matei Machedon MATH240 Expecting a B Anonymous 04/06/2011	If you have a TA named Safa, switch out immediately. He grades homework very randomly (takes random points off for not having "neater handwriting", when both he and the professor write in hieroglyphics). The class overall is not too terrible, but there was no curve and I got a B because of the TA's grading based on neatness and quantity of the work you show as opposed to the correctness. If you turn in 10 pages of work, you get a perfect score. If you turn in 2 pages, but get the right answer, you lose points for "not showing enough work"
Matei Machedon MATH240 Anonymous 12/16/2010	Excellent professor. Lectures are good. He does a lot of examples. And exams are very easy. If you attend all his lectures and do all the hw, there's no reason for you to not get an A.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A terp315 07/28/2010	The median grades for the 3 exams in my section: 80/100, 94/100, 98/100. Seriously, they were that easy. Professor Machedon was a very efficient lecturer, so as long as you paid attention in class there was little to no reason not to do well. The final was apparently written by the other professor but I didn't find it that difficult at all. Just review the homeworks and you'll be fine.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A+ keyoung 06/01/2010	I found Machedon to be an excellent teacher as well as a great guy. His lectures were clear and very focused. He taught very straight forward, only covering subjects we needed to know and talked about theory only a few times. He was approachable and responded well to students concerns. His hws were helpful and exams were basically hw problems. Try to take a class with him.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B- mikhail 05/22/2010	Sooooooo... His exams are easy, nevertheless, final exam will bring you back to earth. So just be prepared. Other than that he is a very good math professor. I Recommend!
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2010	His tests are a joke. The only thing is if you make one mistake it could cost you. Final was unfortunately not written by him, so that was a bit rough. However, if you have the option, definitely take Machedon.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A armantheman 05/09/2010	Diffeq is a joke with him, take it with him.
Matei Machedon MATH461 Anonymous 05/05/2010	Personally, I love Matei. He is very approachable and helpful, but the reason I gave him a 4/5 and not 5/5 is because to be truthful he is not particularly user-friendly at times. This is because he has handwriting that American students aren't used to, i.e. cursive, and he doesn't write all that largely. He does indeed have a Russian accent, but it's not difficult to understand after the first class or so...but then again, I know many non-native speakers and may just be used to it.
Matei Machedon MATH461 Expecting an A Fargalas 03/27/2010	I've taken Math461 and currently 246 with Machedon. No joke, as others have said, he is pretty much the nicest guy in the whole CMPS college. He really goes out of his way to explain things outside of class if you want extra help. His exams are fair, homework is generally minimal(in collection, at least), but covers what you really need to know. You will definitely want to do something extra, or review that homework, if you expect to understand the material, though. He does have an accent, but it's not hard to understand, and he really does lecture excellently. I'm really hoping to have more classes with him in the future.
Matei Machedon MATH461 Expecting an A talonstriker 12/19/2009	Aliesh pretty much nailed it. The guy is a brilliant professor and an overall nice guy. The 1 homework per week is a bit annoying, only because I hate going to discussions. The exams will be easy if you understand the practice exams and attend the review sessions. In every exam, 70% of the points will be for basic problems that are absolutely pre-requisite. The next 20% is a bit more challenging but not too hard. 10% will be hard as ajkhdajlkshd. He uses this to weed out people who actually understand the material and those two regurgitate formulas well (such as myself). The final was incredibly hard for those who didn't do the practice exams. Those who did the practice exams, found it a cakewalk.
Matei Machedon MATH461 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2009	His class was a bit too easy in hindsight, but seeing as this was my last semester here and I was juggling a job, interviews, research and coursework, it's probably a good thing. Machedon knows his audience; if you take him for a general level math or engineering course (200 level and 461 etc) he is NOT really going to challenge you very much. If you take him for a pure math course, however, he will expect a lot more out of you. He assigns homework every week which I essentially copy pasted from the solutions manual (many times without looking twice at it) and there was one laughably easy MATLAB assignment. Aside from being incredibly intelligent, Matei is a really nice guy and it will come across clear as day the moment you are in class with him. He is devoted to the subject and if you put in an effort, it will be rewarded. Not a bad class, but I would have liked a bit more of a challenge.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Anonymous 11/14/2009	I can't believe how many good reviews there are of this professor! He just down right does not know how to teach. You MUST go to lecture to even try to have a shot at a good grade and it is impossible to get an A. Whoever the other professors are take them, cause they have to be better then Machedon!
Matei Machedon MATH461 guru 10/01/2009	Sometimes lectures are difficult to follow but the fact that he is probably the nicest professor you will ever meet makes up for it. If you ever need extra time on homework or something just talk to him he'll probably allow you to do so. Sometimes he requires you to solve matrix equations using tricks that he teaches in class, so go. FYI his final was also somewhat difficult.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/29/2008	Not the best teacher but the material is not that hard. If you read the book you should have no problem grasping the concepts with the help of your TA's, dont expect much help from the professor. Grading is fair, if you get higher than 50%, you get a C. Then the passing grades are divided up
Matei Machedon MATH461 Anonymous 12/22/2008	The lectures are at times tough to understand, but overall a decent lecturer. There was very little MATLAB for this course and his exams were usually pretty fair.
Matei Machedon MATH461 aleish 12/19/2008	Professor Machedon definitely knows what he is talking about and while he does have an eastern European accent, his diction and grammar is better than almost any native English speaker that I know. I can understand every word, it is just not as easy on the ears as Sean Connery. In this class, the homework assignments are graded by the TA's and we have two mid-term exams and a final. The material comes across as abstract and without applications, but I realized that he is giving us is the theory and we will apply it in later engineering classes. The material is also very different from previous math courses because a lot of it cannot be visualized, which made it difficult for me at first. But with study and practice it is not impossible to do well on the exams. I am glad that I took this class. Also, the author of the book has video lectures on iTunes U and on the MIT website, where there is also other practice material. This is extremely useful and I would definitely recommend using this resource!! I decided not to take MATH240 because it met almost everyday, whereas 461 only has lecture twice a week.
Matei Machedon MATH461 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/17/2008	I wasn't a fan of his teaching style but his exams were generally easy. No quizzes and his grade breakdown was fairly simple. The book he uses is horrible. If you could take the other professor Lay, I would. His exams were really straight up but his final was difficult...so conceptual.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2008	Even though he has a thick accent and horrible handwriting, go to class and just see what you're supposed to know. The written homework is not graded, but you should do it because it's the best way to prepare for weekly quizzes. The TAs do really good jobs at explaining stuff from lecture but it's not enough. Exams are fair but MATLAB hw was a bit hard.
Matei Machedon MATH246 Anonymous 04/22/2008	Very very confusing when he teaches, but you should go to the classes and try to just get the general flow of what is going on because you have to make it click during discussion because there is a quiz almost every week. he often goes ahead in the book right before tests when it would be better if he just reviewed. he is bearable but if you don't understand make sure you go to your ta and the matlabs for this class are horrible