I love maths, I need some suggestions...

[Michael_Light]

Hi, I am currently waiting for my spm result. For the past few days, i did some research on my career path. I love mathematics, so studying actuarial science will be my first priority. However, I am wondering what can i go for besides actuarial science? I hate accounts, therefore i will definitely not want to study any account-related course. I need some alternatives other than actuarial science, i am interested in mathematics and i expect A+ for my mathematics and add maths in spm... any suggestions or advices on what should i study later on? Thanks in advance...

P/S: I am not a big fan for biology/physics/chemistry and other languages subject, but i guess did fairly well on them...

[Young]

May I ask where do you intend on pursuing your degree? Locally or overseas?

[Michael_Light]

May I ask where do you intend on pursuing your degree? Locally or overseas?

Locally... if i have the luck to get a scholarship then i will go for oversea... :))

[weixiang]

Hi, I am currently waiting for my spm result. For the past few days, i did some research on my career path. I love mathematics, so studying actuarial science will be my first priority. However, I am wondering what can i go for besides actuarial science? I hate accounts, therefore i will definitely not want to study any account-related course. I need some alternatives other than actuarial science, i am interested in mathematics and i expect A+ for my mathematics and add maths in spm... any suggestions or advices on what should i study later on? Thanks in advance...

P/S: I am not a big fan for biology/physics/chemistry and other languages subject, but i guess did fairly well on them...

No doubt, if you're interested AND capable in maths, actuarial science will be the best choice as it is still highly sought-after in Msia. You have to learn some basic economics thou.

Btw, if you intend to enter IPTA, only UM, UKM and UiTM (for bumis only) that offer that course.

[ThamayanthyM]

Hi, I am currently waiting for my spm result. For the past few days, i did some research on my career path. I love mathematics, so studying actuarial science will be my first priority. However, I am wondering what can i go for besides actuarial science? I hate accounts, therefore i will definitely not want to study any account-related course. I need some alternatives other than actuarial science, i am interested in mathematics and i expect A+ for my mathematics and add maths in spm... any suggestions or advices on what should i study later on? Thanks in advance...

P/S: I am not a big fan for biology/physics/chemistry and other languages subject, but i guess did fairly well on them...

but, we do study accounts in acturial science, right? not so sure about it...am i rite?

[Michael_Light]

but, we do study accounts in acturial science, right? not so sure about it...am i rite?

From what i know... account is not as must... not sure though... anyone mind to clarify this?

[joshuaoch]

Mathematician, Engineering, Statistician...

[ThamayanthyM]

Mathematician, Engineering, Statistician...

Engineering needs physics too...im not so good in physics also..:wink

[DoomScythe]

Accounting is close to mandatory to be an actuary. You might not study hard accounting per se, but knowledge in accounting would be considered a must. Essentially, Economics, Accounting, Business Management and some Law (if you want to be successful) are part of Actuarial Science too. Excelling in Maths alone would make you a crappy actuary, should you manage to be one.

If you're good in Maths, I suggest take up Mathematics in university. Explore Pure and Applied Maths, and decide which line to specialise in. Alternatively, you can take up Maths and Statistics, and see what do you like. Statistics are often more applied, but then again, there's Mathematical Statistics, which studies the fundamentals and can be quite challenging.

But let me warn you in advance. Pure Maths is hard. It is nothing like SPM or STPM Mathematics (at least in reputable universities). Just to give you some idea about Pure Maths:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_(mathematics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mathematics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_algebra


Those links above are 1st and 2nd year materials.

[Nicholasng925]

but, we do study accounts in acturial science, right? not so sure about it...am i rite?

We do study some simple accounting principles in Actuarial Science. In fact, Actuarial Science is a perfect combination of Maths, Statistics, Economics, Finance and Accounting.

If you love Maths, you can pursue something related to Maths besides Actuarial Science, such as Maths itself? Generally Maths comprises of Pure Maths and Applied Maths [Mechanics (Physics + Maths), and Statistics]. If you want to pursue Actuarial Science, be sure that you are really enthusiastic in it, have deep passion on studying for the professional exams. Else, you will only be suffering throughout the qualifying process.

[Michael_Light]

Accounting is close to mandatory to be an actuary. You might not study hard accounting per se, but knowledge in accounting would be considered a must. Essentially, Economics, Accounting, Business Management and some Law (if you want to be successful) are part of Actuarial Science too. Excelling in Maths alone would make you a crappy actuary, should you manage to be one.

If you're good in Maths, I suggest take up Mathematics in university. Explore Pure and Applied Maths, and decide which line to specialise in. Alternatively, you can take up Maths and Statistics, and see what do you like. Statistics are often more applied, but then again, there's Mathematical Statistics, which studies the fundamentals and can be quite challenging.

But let me warn you in advance. Pure Maths is hard. It is nothing like SPM or STPM Mathematics (at least in reputable universities). Just to give you some idea about Pure Maths:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_(mathematics) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_%28mathematics%29)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mathematics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_%28mathematics))

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_algebra


Those links above are 1st and 2nd year materials.

We do study some simple accounting principles in Actuarial Science. In fact, Actuarial Science is a perfect combination of Maths, Statistics, Economics, Finance and Accounting.

If you love Maths, you can pursue something related to Maths besides Actuarial Science, such as Maths itself? Generally Maths comprises of Pure Maths and Applied Maths [Mechanics (Physics + Maths), and Statistics]. If you want to pursue Actuarial Science, be sure that you are really enthusiastic in it, have deep passion on studying for the professional exams. Else, you will only be suffering throughout the qualifying process.

So what should i do if i still persist to actuarial science? for i am totally inapt on accounting... how should i prepare myself? What job i can get after studying mathematics? Mathematician...? I will probably later on go for form6 unless i get matriculation or scholarship... Please help me...

[youngyew]

I have lost touch with maths for quite a while so I won't be able to give you the ins and outs of all maths-related course. However, as someone who's passionate about maths and physics, with lots of friends with similar passion, I hope I can give you some perspective of what a maths-lover should or could do.

Firstly a question for you is, when you say you love maths, can you elaborate on which aspects of maths that you love? Do you do well in typical, school maths assessments? Do you like solving recreational maths problems? Do you love to explore maths outside textbook? Do you love the theoretical aspects of maths? Does exploring 10 different proofs of Pythagorean Theorem fascinate you? Do you love algorithms and programming? Do you love calculus? Do you love statistics?

Your answer to the questions above would tell us a lot about your suitability for maths related course. One of my school mates who loved maths went to US to study actuarial science, but he realised he didn't like it and went on to study pure maths. A ReCommer studied maths in uni at first, but now he's into economics and is now studying master in economics.

[Michael_Light]

Firstly a question for you is, when you say you love maths, can you elaborate on which aspects of maths that you love? Do you do well in typical, school maths assessments? Do you like solving recreational maths problems? Do you love to explore maths outside textbook? Do you love the theoretical aspects of maths? Does exploring 10 different proofs of Pythagorean Theorem fascinate you? Do you love algorithms and programming? Do you love calculus? Do you love statistics?


I guess i love math because it can solve real-life situation with calculations or something like that... eg: calculate risk and unknown with data just as what actuaries do... I love to explore more about maths, I search internet for help when i don't understand it.... I love to do proofing question! I don't really know what is algorithms but after google-ing it, not too bad i guess... I don't really know whether i love calculus or statistics but at least i don't hate them...

Do i answer your questions? There are a lot... Hope it helps you guys to provide something more detailed...

[ThamayanthyM]

If you love Maths, you can pursue something related to Maths besides Actuarial Science, such as Maths itself? Generally Maths comprises of Pure Maths and Applied Maths [Mechanics (Physics + Maths), and Statistics]. If you want to pursue Actuarial Science, be sure that you are really enthusiastic in it, have deep passion on studying for the professional exams. Else, you will only be suffering throughout the qualifying process.

I consider of taking maths too...but, i have no idea about what people who study maths do after obtaining the degree? what kind of jobs they do? i think i can cope with actuarial science...i love all those subjects mentioned above...i think i should have choose accounts stream in f4...

[joshuaoch]

Oh a lot~
Go and watch 'A Beautiful Mind'. It's an old movie... I suppose you can easily find the .torrent for it^^
To make it simple, you need to be specific. Well, what do you REALLYx3 like in Math. Statistics? Physics math? Econs math (forgotten XP since i took it in SPM, something like elasticity coefficient??)? Or just pure Math and those proving kinda things?
There's even someone who loves math mainly because: he hates studying... since math is not like history (eww i hate history)...
Since you're still young, do spend your holidays brainstorming...

[Nicholasng925]

I consider of taking maths too...but, i have no idea about what people who study maths do after obtaining the degree? what kind of jobs they do? i think i can cope with actuarial science...i love all those subjects mentioned above...i think i should have choose accounts stream in f4...

Maths is a very flexible course, in which you can always work in the bank, or college as lecturer. You can actually work in anywhere, and as anything related to Maths depending on which branch of Maths you are specializing in.

[ThamayanthyM]

Oh a lot~
Go and watch 'A Beautiful Mind'. It's an old movie... I suppose you can easily find the .torrent for it^^
To make it simple, you need to be specific. Well, what do you REALLYx3 like in Math. Statistics? Physics math? Econs math (forgotten XP since i took it in SPM, something like elasticity coefficient??)? Or just pure Math and those proving kinda things?
There's even someone who loves math mainly because: he hates studying... since math is not like history (eww i hate history)...
Since you're still young, do spend your holidays brainstorming...

thanks..yup, time for brainstorming...:wink

Maths is a very flexible course, in which you can always work in the bank, or college as lecturer. You can actually work in anywhere, and as anything related to Maths depending on which branch of Maths you are specializing in.


thanks...

hmm, studying mathematics also got scholarships rite? i know that bank negara got? others like petronas, jpa and the rest got or not?

[DoomScythe]

I guess i love math because it can solve real-life situation with calculations or something like that... eg: calculate risk and unknown with data just as what actuaries do... I love to explore more about maths, I search internet for help when i don't understand it.... I love to do proofing question! I don't really know what is algorithms but after google-ing it, not too bad i guess... I don't really know whether i love calculus or statistics but at least i don't hate them...

Do i answer your questions? There are a lot... Hope it helps you guys to provide something more detailed...

youngyew, smart questions you have there. :)

In your case, I'd say go for Applied Mathematics. Actuarial Science also contains a lot of applied statistics. For the proofing questions, it often involves shifting equations around, nothing theoretical about it. Maths and Stats seems to suit you.

With regards to your inaptness to accounting, it's something you have to work on I suppose, if you decide to go into Act Sci. Actuaries need some amount of business knowledge to work.

[Nicholasng925]

thanks...

hmm, studying mathematics also got scholarships rite? i know that bank negara got? others like petronas, jpa and the rest got or not?

Yeah, as far as I know, BNM and JPA.

[Seiryu]

Take Calc 1, 2, 3, the easiest proof base linear algebra, and applied differential equation. Those classes are somewhat required for almost all quantitative fields, be it pure math, actuarial math, applied math, economics, statistics, mathematical statistics, biology, chemistry, physics, or any engineering, etc. (candidates with strong math background are highly preferred in fields of biology, chemistry and physics. They have an upper hand when it comes to admission into Masters program)

From those courses you will be exposed to applied and proof-theorem style mathematics. You can pick up the style you like the most from there. At that point even if you realize that you don't like math, if you switch to a different quantitative field those courses will still help.

In my university Actuarial Studies don't require Accounting.

[Sillyboy]

I guess i love math because it can solve real-life situation with calculations or something like that... eg: calculate risk and unknown with data just as what actuaries do... I love to explore more about maths, I search internet for help when i don't understand it.... I love to do proofing question! I don't really know what is algorithms but after google-ing it, not too bad i guess... I don't really know whether i love calculus or statistics but at least i don't hate them...

Do i answer your questions? There are a lot... Hope it helps you guys to provide something more detailed...

Hello Michael Light! The best thing that you can do now is to expose yourself to all sorts of Mathematics! Read up some A levels or STPM material for starters. A word of caution, A levels and STPM maths are still very much methods based. When I said methods based, I meant that one can always learn how to do the questions without actually understanding the fundamentals. Nonetheless, you will at least get a flavour of how higher mathematics

[sengloon]

[quote=Sillyboy;348679]Hello Michael Light! The best thing that you can do now is to expose yourself to all sorts of Mathematics! Read up some A levels or STPM material for starters. A word of caution, A levels and STPM maths are still very much methods based. When I said methods based, I meant that one can always learn how to do the questions without actually understanding the fundamentals. Nonetheless, you will at least get a flavour of how higher mathematics

[youngyew]

To find some suitable material for you I did a quick google on "which maths field am i suitable for (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=which+maths+field+am+i+suitable+for)". Guess what, a ReCom thread was in the first page of results (so proud!):

ReCom.org - Mathematics: Career Prospects (http://www.recom.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7038)

There are some helpful posts in that thread. Find a copy of the book that Bluez suggested, it's a very good read.

[Nicholasng925]

OMG Sillyboy! Kudos for all your brilliant advices to junior! I'm not really sure whether Maths is my cup of tea, but I literally dig out the syllabus for Actuarial Science undergraduate programme and clicked on their links one by one just to see what will I be studying later! Stochastic process, Survival models, Weibull distribution, etc. I couldn't say much of it now but I found out that I will relearn everything (FM Statistics) in my first year, at least for Statistics part. I pretty much fascinated with it and hope to understand everything when the time comes, with some little sense of overwhelmed as well of course, since I haven't start my FM Statistics yet. I'm just too excited to start learning FM Statistics after this holiday! :amuse I even tried my best to know what is this and that, and tried to understand it as well but somehow just couldn't understand most of them.

After all, I don't think I would ever regret taking this path. Somehow I like Pure Maths as well, though almost all of my classmates dislike it cause it's tough and couldn't understand in the first place. Though Pure Maths has very little applications in the real life, but still it is fun to study, at least so much better than Mechanics. For Mechanics, I just have to calm down and think logically all the time, which I think is somewhat difficult inside the exam hall, especially when I encounter some difficult above par questions. Perhaps just lack of exercises before exams. Never mind, I will have plenty of time after this! :)

Michael_Light, better be sure that you have a extremely deep passion towards Maths before jumping into a conclusion that you like Maths and would like to do Maths for the rest of your life. You will be exposed more to Maths during Pre-U level such as STPM and A-Levels, and by that time you will know whether you suit this path or not, though it is just a little fraction of the whole field! I'm taking a subjects combination of Maths, FM, Physics and Economics, with Economics is the only reading subject and others be calculating subjects. Still I'm pretty much enjoying my life now as Maths is my cup of tea! :wink Good luck!

[youngyew]

Just a digression here, pure maths does have some application in real life. For example, the modern cryptology (e.g. how internet banking is kept secure between your computer and the banking site server) is largely based upon works in number theory. While it's true that the most of pure maths is still irrelevant to the modern technology (e.g. why does it matter whether the infinite hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert's_paradox_of_the_Grand_Hotel) could fit an extra guest or whether Fermat's Last Theorem is proven to be true), some people think that a pure maths invention today could eventually prove useful in science and technology tomorrow. Just like what happened to research in prime numbers from the medieval times.

[Michael_Light]

Thanks for every replies, they are really inspiring... I will take everything into consideration and think twice whether which course suit me most... Another question here, whether i take pure/applied maths or actuarial science, i am advised to take maths T and further maths T if i go for form6, right? Thanks again!

[Nicholasng925]

Thanks for every replies, they are really inspiring... I will take everything into consideration and think twice whether which course suit me most... Another question here, whether i take pure/applied maths or actuarial science, i am advised to take maths T and further maths T if i go for form6, right? Thanks again!

Actuarial Science involves a lot of probability and statistics, which means applied maths. However, if you want to take Further Maths T, you have to take Maths T at the same time, so you're advisable to do so. Take up Maths T and Further Maths T then, but be acknowledged that not every school offer Further Maths T. Most of the time you will need to study on your own, which requires you to be discipline, have high determination and deep passion towards Maths at the same time. But you can always find teachers who teach Further Maths T and seek for their help through any possible convenient way.